Hillingdon

Fresh from riding the tour series at Colchester this week, Nicci raced at Hillingdon in the womens only race.  Having chased down many attacks in the latter stages of the race and keeping the bunch together, Nicci finished well to place 6th in the sprint.  A great result.

Johnson Health Tech - Round 3 Colchester

Colchester hosted the 3rd round of the Johnson Health Tech series and it turned out to be a wet and windy race.  The length cut down from 45mins to 35mins and the weather conditions meant all attacks were neutralised and no riders managed to escape the bunch.  Jo scooped more points in the sprints competition by placing second in both primes.  This means that she lies 2nd overall with a slim margin of 1pt over Hannah Barnes in 3rd.  An unfortunate crash where Louise Mahe took out Bex going into the last sprint prime 3 laps before the finish meant that she would never regain contact with the lead bunch.  Bex did however manage to finish well in 13th, while Jo finished in the lead group in 9th.  Adel finished high up in the 2nd group on the road to take 15th, Caroline in 25th and Nicci in 27th.  This was a very strong ride by the team and they claimed 2nd place on the night.  The team go into the penultimate round at Woking on tuesday night in 3rd place overall in the series.  Jo will wear the sprinters jersey at Woking, earned by her 2nd place to Annie Simpson in the overall standings for that competition.

Start of the race

Overall Team Standings, post-Round Three
1)    Matrix Fitness - Prendas, 108pts
2)    Node4 - Giordana Racing, 108pts
3)    VC St Raphael, 58pts
4)    Mule Bar Girls, 50pts
5)    Look Mum No Hands!, 45pts
6)    WyndyMilla UK Youth, 6pts

Sprints standings, post Round Three
1)    Annie Simpson, Matrix Fitness - Prendas, 24pts
2)    Jo Tindley, VC Raphael, 13pts
3)    Hannah Barnes, Team Ibis Cycles, 12pts
4)    Harriet Owen, Node4 - Giordana Racing, 8pts
5)    Lucy Garner, Node4 - Giordana Racing, 5pts
6)    Hannah Walker, Matrix Fitness - Prendas, 5pts
7)    Helen Wyman, Kona Factory Racing, 5pts

For full report and results:
http://www.velouk.net/2012/06/08/report-johnson-health-tech-gp-colchester/

Jubilee Road Race - Womens team series

A wet and hilly race saw our 5 riders of Jo Tindley, Adel Tyson-Bloor, Bex Heath, Ellie Gilham and Eleanor Jones tackle 4laps of an undulating circuit...with a killer climb.  The hill split the bunch into 3 groups on the road from the first lap, Jo and Bex in the front group and Adel and Ellie in the second.  Valiant efforts of all our riders on the hill and at the finish meant they took 5th team on the day with Jo finishing in 8th, Bex 11th, Adel 27th, Ellie 48th and Eleanor Jones 54th.  Well done to all the girls on such a tough circuit in miserable
conditions!

Jo at the top of the 14% climb

For more details and full results:
http://www.velouk.net/2012/06/03/report-womens-team-series-banbury/

Womens National Omnium series - Welwyn 2nd June

VC riders included: Adel Tyson-Bloor, Caroline Harding, Eleanor Jones, Laura Clode

Caroline attacked in the scratch race and soloed to victory.  Adel and Caroline came 3rd and 4th in the pursuit respectively.  More aggressive riding from Adel and Eleanor in the points race saw them clear up the points in the last sprint.

Final results: Adel 6th, Caroline 7th, Eleanor 11th and Laura 15th.  Great result for the team.

The bunch strung out

Eleanor and Laura in the bunch

Hillingdon GP - Womens National Series

Riding this race we had Jo Tindley, Adel Tyson-Bloor, Eleanor Jones, Bex Heath, Ellie Gilham, Caroline Harding and Nicci Meadows.

The brief for this race was to be aggressive and attack to force a break-away, that would be our best chance to win the race as Lucy Garner, the world junior road race champion was riding.  The girls did just this and there were several moves that went up the road with one of our riders featuring in each of them.  Bex Heath was away with a group early on in the race but the other riders she was with weren't working so it was doomed to fail.  Adel did a brilliant lead-out for Jo who took one of the primes. 

Jo taking a prime, lead out by Adel

A move just over half way through the race saw Adel, and 3 other riders clear of the bunch.  They were soon joined by Lucy Garner and Elinor Barker.  With the major teams represented this move stuck and saw them clear of the bunch by over a minute.  Adel ended up 6th and Jo did a very respectable sprint to come in 4th in the bunch gallop and take 10th overall! 

Adel in the 6-(wo)man break!

 The girls worked brilliantly as a team, putting in work for team-mates when required.  Great team work!

Post race hug, Ellie, Adel, Bex, Caroline, Jo

Having taken 10th place at the Cheshire Classic, the first round of the National series back in April, Jo now lies in 10th place in the standings.  Adel lies in 17th overall having been away racing the Tour of Korea when Cheshire was on.

For full report and results:
http://www.velouk.net/2012/05/27/report-hillingdon-grand-prix/

Johnson Health Tech Round 2 - Peterborough

Riders for this round included Jo Tindley, Adel Tyson-Bloor, Bex Heath, Caroline Harding and Laura Clode.

Jo in the Sprinters Jersey at the start of the race

The second round at Peterborough was not such a technical circuit but wasn't without its challenges....and crashes.  Jo started this round wearing the sprinters jersey, earnt for her 2nd place in the standings.  Luck was not with us for this round as Caroline and Adel had both been ill coming into the round.  Also crashes meant that the girls were held up along the way.  Unfortunately Bex was caught up in an early crash and an epic chase back on to the hurtling bunch is testiment to her strength that she managed to get back on.  Both Jo and Bex were safely in the bunch but had missed out on the move of 3 riders up the road.  This move was never brought back and so it was a bunch sprint for the group of 20ish riders.  Some questionable sprinting saw a rider go down just in front of Jo and Bex who were then held up and unable to get through.   Bex ended up 14th and with the crashes and illnesses of both Adel and Caroline, the team slipped down to 5th in the round and 5th overall.  Jo lies in 9th place overall.

For full report and results:
http://www.velouk.net/2012/05/30/harriett-owen-conquers-peterborough-for-node4/

Johnson Health Tech Round 1 - Oxford

The first round of the televised tour series (ITV4) saw our 4 riders, Jo Tindley, Adel Tyson-Bloor, Eleanor Jones and Nicci Meadows, tactic a highly technical circuit.  The tight circuit and dead turns suited Jo down to the ground.

Taken from Velouk.net

A 50-rider strong field had assembled on St Giles in Oxford for the first round of the Johnson Health Tech Grand Prix Series in a strong entry headlined by World Champion Garner and last year’s Series Champion Helen Wyman.

The main move of the race came halfway through, when five riders went clear with Simpson joined by British Circuit Race Champion Hannah Barnes, Corrine Hall, Jo McRae and Jo Tindley.

Jo Tindley sprints to a victory in one of the mid race sprints.

The five worked well together to build what looked an unassailable lead. But over the closing laps the gap gradually came down thanks to the work of Garner who pulled a small group closer and closer.

Simpson and Tindley duked it out in an incredibly close second Sprint, which the VC St Raphael rider just edging Simpson, but there was no stopping the Northumbria University student who did enough to collect the Sprint honours for the evening.

Onto the final lap and Simpson attacked coming onto the long back straight, powering clear of her four breakaway companions. Through the final hairpin of the St Giles circuit the group closed, with the Garner led chasers in turn closing.

Simpson held on though, just crossing the line ahead of Barnes and Tindley for the win and the Series lead.

Having taken 1st place in one of the primes Jo moves into 2nd place in the standings for the sprints competition.  Adel finished in the bunch behind in 14th place and the team were 4th in this round, 1pt off 3rd place.

For full report and results:
http://www.velouk.net/2012/05/23/report-clean-sweep-of-prizes-for-annie-simpson-in-oxford/