Graham Briggs won a rain soaked round 3 of the Pearl Izumi Tour Series but for the first time in this years competition, there was a new team tops on the night, Madison Genesis
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Live! Tour Series Edinburgh
Graham Briggs won a rain soaked round 3 of the Pearl Izumi Tour Series but for the first time in this years competition, there was a new team tops on the night, Madison Genesis.Â
Defending Pearl Izumi Tour Series champions Madison Genesis rose back to the top in a rain-drenched Edinburgh round to survive a battle of the wettest and take victory in the second of two races to be held in Scotland this week.
Madison Genesis headed home Series leaders JLT Condor presented by Mavic, to trim their advantage to four points at the top of the standings. Their eventual winning margin across their four riders was a minute and a half over JLT Condor, who in turn pipped Pedal Heaven by just two seconds.
Pedal Heaven also enjoyed a bumper evening, with Rory Townsend starring throughout to take the Brother Fastest Lap award, and enough points to move into the lead of the Chain Reaction Cycles Points jersey with a 12-point advantage over Team Raleigh GAC rider Morgan Kneisky.
In such conditions a lone winner was always a possibility and a rider tipped by a few insiders as having a strong chance, ‘Brigga’ took his opportunity well and lapped a lot of riders on the way to victory.
Star individual man on the night was Graham Briggs, chalking up JLT Condor’s third individual win of the 2016 Pearl Izumi Tour Series, a 100% hit rate after wins in Ramsey for Chris Lawless and Motherwell for Jon Mould.
His impressive solo victory, by almost a minute over Rory Townsend, was also his fifth in Tour Series history, drawing him level with Team Manager Dean Downing and making him only the second rider to have won races in five different years.
While Townsend pipped Lawless for runners-up spot from the bunch, it was the work of Tom Stewart in fourth, and crucially the trio of Gruff Lewis, Alexandre Blain and Matt Cronshaw, who chased hard on a soaking, and often perilous, circuit to hand Madison Genesis the team win.
Rory Townsend of Pedal Heaven showed just how fast he is beating a very quick Chris Lawless to second place
Matt Nowell hung in as top guest team rider in ninth overall for Wheelbase Altura MGD, helping his team win on the night to move into a lead on countback over the Planet X Northside team. Battle in this competition resumes in ten days at the Durham round on Tuesday 31 May.
Madison Genesis, having claimed their tenth ever team win in the Tour Series, now lie on 35-points, five ahead of Team Raleigh GAC but four in arrears from JLT Condor presented by Mavic. Pedal Heaven are fourth, a point behind Raleigh, with NFTO fifth and Team WIGGINS yet to score.
For full results and standings for the Pearl Izumi Tour Series following Edinburgh please click here.
Highlights of the Edinburgh race are on ITV4 at 1900 on Friday 20 May, with a repeat at 0900 on Saturday 21 May. You can also watch the action on demand via the ITV Player catch-up service.
The Pearl Izumi Tour Series resumes on Thursday 24 May with Round Four in Redditch, Worcestershire, which will also see the women’s teams back in action at 1800 before the men’s event at 1930. The races will again take place on the testing town centre circuit, which includes the ascent of Unicorn Hill at the end of each lap.
Madison Genesis, defending champions, were tops on the night
But JLT Condor held on to the lead overall despite a heavy crash for Alex ‘A Frame’ who may need to be rested depending on his injuries.
A great night for Rory Towsend, fastest lap, sprints winner on the night and now in the jersey as well.
One of my favourite photos showing just how much fight is required to do their team justice and deliver the team victory, Alex Blain and Matt Cronshaw of Madison Genesis.
The only round we get a ‘birds eye’ view of the race. After the races before were held in sunshine, the heavens opened seconds before the start and made the circuit a skating rink.
Chris Lawless on the attack early on
World Champion on the track, Seb Mora, (Raleigh GAC) chasing Chris Lawless. Mora was to crash late in the race but got back up and finished the race for his team
‘Hank’ James Lowsley Williams and riders from Pedal Heaven lead the race up the main climb
Rory Townsend of Pedal Heaven on the attack
A corner expected to be a possible challenge for riders to stay upright was taken cautiously but another one up near the castle, took out many riders including Seb Mora (Raleigh GAC) who remounted and finished 14th.
Much better weather for the support race – results when we get them.
More soon,
Chatting to 4th placed Tom Stewart of Madison Genesis
Dave Povall, Madison Genesis DS on his team’s win in the race
… continued after advert
RESULTS
Brother Fastest Lap Winner: Rory Townsend Pedal Heaven 2:32.737 37.71 kph
Points Competition Round Winner: Rory Townsend Pedal Heaven
Points Competition Overall Leader: Rory Townsend Pedal Heaven
Individual Race Winner: Graham Briggs JLT Condor P/B Mavic
Team Round Winner: Madison – Genesis
Alex Blain, Matt Cronshaw, Felix English, Gruff Lewis, Tom Stewart
Team Overall Leader: JLT Condor P/B Mavic
Team Classification for Round 3
1 Madison – Genesis 4:56:27 10
2 JLT Condor P/B Mavic 4:58:08 9
3 Pedal Heaven 4:58:10 8
4 Team Raleigh GAC 4:58:53 7
5 NFTO 5:26:55 6
6 Team Wiggins 5:56:55 0
Team Overall Classification after Round 3
1 JLT Condor P/B Mavic 39
2 Madison – Genesis 35
3 Team Raleigh GAC 30
4 Pedal Heaven 29
5 NFTO 27
6 Team Wiggins 0
Individual Round Classification
(Adjusted Times for Team Competition)
1 Graham Briggs JLT Condor P/B Mavic 1:12:56.039
2 Rory Townsend Pedal Heaven 1:13:49.892
3 Chris Lawless JLT Condor P/B Mavic 1:13:49.986
4 Tom Stewart Madison – Genesis 1:13:50.944
5 Albert Torres Team Raleigh GAC 1:13:51.358
6 Jack Pullar Pedal Heaven 1:13:52.391
7 Jon Mould JLT Condor P/B Mavic 1:13:53.115
8 James Lowsley-Williams NFTO 1:14:03.417
9 Matt Nowell Wheelbase Altura MGD 1:14:04.735
10 Alex Paton Pedal Heaven 1:14:08.533
11 Gruff Lewis Madison – Genesis 1:14:10.114
12 Alex Blain Madison – Genesis 1:14:11.931
13 Matt Cronshaw Madison – Genesis 1:14:14.059
14 Sebastian Mora Team Raleigh GAC 1:14:17.419
15 Matthieu Boulo Team Raleigh GAC 1:14:57.195
16 Sam Harrison Team Wiggins 1:15:09.642
17 Morgan Kneisky Team Raleigh GAC 1:15:46.966
18 Evan Oliphant Team Raleigh GAC 1:15:47.042
19 Will Fox Pedal Heaven 1:16:19.096
20 Johnny McEvoy NFTO 1:16:19.717
21 Russell Downing JLT Condor P/B Mavic 1:17:28.658
22 Joe Nally Scotland Cycling Team 1:17:35.486
23 David Lines Wheelbase Altura MGD 1:17:35.915
24 Ryan Davis Planet X Northside Pro Cycling 1:17:36.684
25 Jake Womersley Pedal Heaven 1:17:37.671
26 Ben Hetherington Planet X Northside Pro Cycling 1:19:25.967
27 Will Brown Planet X Northside Pro Cycling 1:19:37.823
28 Ben Rowe Wheelbase Altura MGD 1:19:47.759
29 Felix English Madison – Genesis 1:19:57.075
30 Ryan Coulton Pro Vision SJ Junior Academy 1:19:59.995
31 Brad Stokes Planet X Northside Pro Cycling 1:20:03.124
32 Alex Orrell-Turner Wheelbase Altura MGD 1:20:03.261
33 Stuart Reid Wheelbase Altura MGD 1:20:08.161
34 Jordan Doig Pro Vision SJ Junior Academy 1:23:13.060
35 Alex Littlewood Planet X Northside Pro Cycling 1:25:13.349
36 Tomos Owens Pro Vision SJ Junior Academy 1:25:30.962
37 Ian Bibby NFTO 1:25:37.344
38 Andy Brown Scotland Cycling Team 1:25:42.200
39 Ruari Yeoman Scotland Cycling Team 1:25:55.051
40 Morgan Hughes Pro Vision SJ Junior Academy 1:27:59.236
41 Lewis Mulholland Scotland Cycling Team 1:29:24.978
42 Dale Appleby NFTO 1:30:54.978
43 Owen Line Pro Vision SJ Junior Academy 1:31:04.978
44 Alex Frame JLT Condor P/B Mavic 1:31:24.978
45 Edmund Bradbury NFTO 1:31:54.978
46 Liam Holohan Team Wiggins 1:33:54.978
47 Mark Christian Team Wiggins 1:33:54.978
48 Scott Davies Team Wiggins 1:33:54.978
49 Luc Hall Team Wiggins 1:33:54.978
50 Stuart Balfour Scotland Cycling Team 1:33:54.978
Guest Teams North — Round 2 Classification
1 Wheelbase Altura MGD 5:11:32 5
2 Planet X Northside Pro Cycling 5:16:44 4
3 Pro Vision SJ Junior Academy 5:36:43 3
4 Scotland Cycling Team 5:38:38 2
Guest Teams North — Overall Classification
1 Wheelbase Altura MGD 9
2 Planet X Northside Pro Cycling 9
3 Scotland Cycling Team 4
4 Pro Vision SJ Junior Academy 3
5 VCUK PH Mas Cycling Team 3
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