Team News: Mallorca Masters Week Success for British Team

Nuun-Sigma Sport-London RT winner again of the Copa Europa Masters and Vuelta Masters a Mallorca

RST Cycle Clothing & Trigon Bikes

Team News: Mallorca Masters Week Success for British Team

Team Press Release
Having won both races in 2016, Nuun-Sigma Sport-London headed out to Mallorca last weekend for the Semana Masters Mallorca (Mallorca Masters Week) with a strong 9-man team. This years’ field included strong teams from Mallorca, mainland Spain, Portugal, Germany and a greater British team presence in Southdown Bikes-Casco Pet, Morvelo-Basso and Rhino Velo Racing.

The Masters Week kicked off on Monday 16th with the Copa Europa Masters – a 84km kermesse-style road race in Palma. With perfect racing conditions and light winds the racing was fast and attacking. On the 8th of 10 laps a small breakaway was allowed a modest advantage which contained a strong British contingent.

Finishing on the sea-front in Palma, Ken Buckley (guesting Nuun-Sigma Sport) powered to claim the Masters 30 title with Chris Pook (Rhino Velo Racing) placing 3rd. The breakaway was essentially caught on the finish line with Nuun-Sigma Sport’s Tom Hargreaves (defending) winning the bunch sprint to take 7th. A strong ride in the break from Simon McNamara paid off taking 4th and the Masters 40 title. Rhino Velo’s Stuart Glover completed the top 10.

Tuesday 17th saw the start of the challenging four-stage Vuelta Masters Mallorca in Cala d’Or with a 98km road stage. The stage win and leaders jersey went Rhino Velo’s Chris Pook with Nuun-Sigma Sport’s Tom Hargreaves sprinting to 2nd.
… continued after advert

2016_ShuttVeloRapideAdvert

Wednesday 18th – the queen stage. A 106km road stage which headed into the mountains near Pollenca. As Rhino Velo, containing former World Champion Colin Sturgess, rode strongly for the majority of the stage, it ultimately came down to the main climb of the Col de sa Bataia where Nuun-Sigma Sport rode a perfect team ride to place Chris McNamara, Rob Moore (defending) and Tom Hargreaves into the selection over the climb, joined by Rhino Velo’s Matt Garthwaite and Southdown’s Simon NcNamara.

The stage was won by Portugal’s Andre Filipe however Hargreaves claimed the leaders jersey taking yet another 2nd on the stage. Strong team riding saw Martin Lonie (guesting Nuun-Sigma Sport-London) winning both intermediate sprints to take the points leaders jersey.

Thursday 19th – the decisive 8km individual time trial around Puerto Pollensa. In very wet conditions, once again Rob Moore rode to victory and into yellow beating teammate McNamara by 5 seconds and Rhino Velo’s Garthwaite by a further 4 seconds. A very impressive ride by Tom Hargreaves saw him finish 8th on the stage.

Friday 20th – the final 103km road stage in Alcudia. With three riders in the top four and two leaders jerseys, it was Nuun-Sigma Sport’s to lose. Attacking riding from Southdowns, Rhino Velo and the Portugese team attempted to split the race however a solid team performance secured the green jersey in the second of two intermediate sprints and nullified any breakaways. Southdown’s Steve Calland sprinted to 2nd on the stage behind the German Vladi Riha.
… continued after advert

2016_ShuttVeloRapideAdvert

The final classification saw Moore crowned two-time winner with teammates NcNamara and Hargreaves finishing 2nd and 4th respectively. Rhino Velo’s Garthwaite took the 3rd podium step.

Nuun-Sigma Sport-London claimed the green points leaders jersey, 1st team on GC, 1st Master 30 and 40 on GC and 1st foreign rider.

Team owner/manager of Nuun-Sigma Sport-London Cameron Fraser said of this years’ race “We are delighted to return to Mallorca once again for this superbly well organised week of racing. It was difficult to see how we could better our performance last year, especially due to the number of other British outfits fielding strong teams and the general level of riding being higher. We have had an unlucky season with Chris (McNamara) contracting pneumonia in March and Rob (Moore) crashing heavily in June however we have all pulled together, recovered, trained and prepared for this event, our last road race of the 2017 season.

Respect to the other British teams and individual riders who kept pushing and challenging us all the way to the finish line. There was a competitive vibe during the race but friendly off the bike and we shouldn’t forget that we are all representing British cycling on the international stage.

Masters racing is very fast, attacking and competitive racing (for all those under 30 year olds wondering if its a bit soft!) but we hope we have further inspired more riders and teams to give this type of racing in the UK and abroad a go.”

AlpsCyclesMidstory

 

Send your results as well as club, team & event news here

Cero

Other Results on VeloUK (including reports containing results)

Other News on VeloUK

Tags: