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Clancy Wins And It's Rapha's Night

Tour Series Round Two, Aberystwyth | Thursday 26 May 2011

Organiser's Report

Ed Clancy's clenched fist says it all as he wins on a great night for his team

Rapha Condor Sharp mastered the blustery conditions in Aberystwyth to take another clean sweep of the honours at Round Two of The Halfords Tour Series on the Welsh coast.

Olympic Champion Ed Clancy took the individual win on the night, out sprinting a select five rider group that formed in the latter stages of the race, containing second and third placed riders Chris Opie and Jonny McEvoy.

Endura Racing once again took second place on the evening, to stay in the hunt just two points behind Rapha Condor Sharp in the standings, with defending Halfords Tour Series Champions Motorpoint moving up to third place, following a second successive fourth placed finish.

With The Halfords Tour Series' first ever visit to Wales getting underway after a brief to delay to allow for the running of support events that were temporarily suspended because of high winds, the action soon rewarded the hardy spectators on Aberystwyth's sea front.

Repeated riders attempted to escape the peloton, which soon became stretched out on the circuit that combined a technical back section over a slight rise, with an open sweeping seaside section, albeit one where the riders switched from headwind to sidewind to tailwind in the blustery conditions.

Endura Racing's Scott Thwaites was one notable attacker, while Team UK Youth's James Stewart spent several laps out in front alone, but ultimately to no avail.

A six rider move eventually stuck as the race progressed, containing Clancy, Opie, McEvoy, Welshman Dale Appleby, Marcel Six and Evan Oliphant, with the sextet building a race winning advantage over the peloton.

With a lap to go Oliphant made his move to try and secure and help Endura overhaul Rapha Condor Sharp, but after jumping away on the leeward side of Aberystwyth Castle, Clancy made good use of the tailwind to drag himself and his companions back to the Scotsman's rear wheel.

Having made the catch, Clancy then slowed things down in the knowledge that he was arguably the best sprinter from the bunch. And so it proved, with the Olympian comfortably outsprinting Opie on the seafront, with McEvoy, Six, Oliphant and Appleby coming in just behind.

With all at stage behind it was Endura Racing and Rapha Condor Sharp leading in the main field, with Ian Wilkinson taking the bunch kick from Andrew Tennant. Kristian House's presence in ninth secured a second team win for Rapha Condor Sharp, and a third on the bounce taking into account the final round of the 2010 Halfords Tour Series, which the men in black also won.

Pendragon Le Col Colnago enjoyed one of their best ever Halfords Tour Series events, with second on the road through Chris Opie helping them to third on the night in the team competition, a tremendous improvement on their tenth place at Durham. Aberystwyth's home team, containing local rider and Welsh Champion Gruff Lewis came home seventh, but remain fifth in the Series standings.

Highlights of Round Two from Aberystwyth will be shown on ITV4 at 20.00 on Friday 27th May, with a repeat on Saturday 28th May at 09.50.

Week Two sees The Halfords Tour Series make its third visit to Peterborough, on Tuesday 31st May for Round Three, before the team based Series moves onto Essex, and Colchester for Round Four on Thursday 2nd June. Peterborough sees the return of criterium specialists Dean Downing, Dean Windsor and James McCallum to the Rapha Condor Sharp line-up, making the task of Endura Racing and the others even harder, as they seek to topple the team of John Herety from the top of the podium.

Peterborough also plays host to Round One of the new for 2011 Johnson Health Tech Women's Grand Prix Series, which will see Britain's top female cyclists competing in a four round city centre race series. The Women's Grand Prix gets underway at 17.00, with the men's Halfords Tour Series race beginning at 19.00.

The Rapha Condor Sharp team enjoy their moment on the podium

Report: Rapha Condor Sharp (Tom Southam)

A shrewd tactical line-up change saw Rapha Condor Sharp take their second Tour series clean sweep in two rounds, with National Criterium Champion Ed Clancy taking his first win of this years series in Aberystwyth.

After the challenge of the cobbled climb at Durham in round one, many had expected the Tour Series' first ever visit to Wales to be a much easier affair, however cold and windy conditions in the Welsh seaside town proved for a tough night of racing.

Clancy had sat out the first round in Durham on Tuesday and his fresh legs proved to be the strongest of a six man break that dominated the closing stages of the race, taking the win ahead of another rider who skipped round one Chris Opie of Pendragon.

Before leaving for Ireland to oversee the team currently at the An Post RAS, team manager John Herety commented:

"We were happy to have Ed in the break, as it was a small move with no teams managing to get two riders there. While we were pretty confident then of the win on the night, the boys behind really had to concentrate to make sure they made the most of the result to make sure we took home the team prize. Andy & Kristian did the business there, just like they had done on Tuesday".

"We have had to mix up the teams over this first week of the series, some of our specialist criterium riders have been absent at the Ras in Ireland. These first two rounds have both proven to be hard races though, that have been well suited to all-round guys like Kristian, Andy and Zak. This series more than any other is a team game and we'll keep applying our resources intelligently. Moral is good in the camp at the moment, but we know from last year we cannot take our foot off the gas- even for an instant".

The team's other counting riders Kristian House and Andy Tennant came in at the head of the main bunch in 8th and 9th positions securing the men in black, sporting the distinctive orange leaders jerseys, another win ahead of rivals Endura racing. The icing on the pink trimmed Rapha Condor Sharp cake came with Kristian House's second visit to the podium as the winner of the Boardman bikes sprints competition.

The Rapha Condor Sharp team now lead Endura racing by two points at the head of the overall classification, with last year's winners Motorpoint back in 3rd spot.

The race will be televised on Friday May 27th at 20.00 on ITV4, and repeated on Saturday May 28th at 11.00.

RESULTS

Team

1) Rapha Condor Sharp
2) Endura Racing
3) Pendragon Le Col Colnago
4) Motorpoint Pro Cycling
5) Sigma Sport - Specialized
6) Twenty3c - Orbea
7) Team UK Youth
8) CyclePremier.com - Metaltek
9) Team Raleigh
10) Wilier GoSelfDrive.com

Individual Results
1) Ed Clancy Rapha Condor Sharp
2) Chris Opie Pendragon Le Col Colnago
3) Jonny McEvoy Motorpoint Pro Cycling
4) Marcel Six Twenty3c - Orbea
5) Evan Oliphant Endura Racing
6) Dale Appleby CyclePremier.com - Metaltek
7) Ian Wilkinson Endura Racing
8) Andrew Tennant Rapha Condor Sharp
9) Kristian House Rapha Condor Sharp
10) Scott Thwaites Endura Racing

Boardman Bikes Sprints winner
Kristian House Rapha Condor Sharp

Team Standings, after Round Two
1) Rapha Condor Sharp 20pts
2) Endura Racing 18pts
3) Motorpoint Pro Cycling 14pts
4) Team Raleigh 10pts
5) Team UK Youth 10pts
6) Twenty3c - Orbea 10pts
7) Pendragon Le Col Colnago 9pts
8) Sigma Sport - Specialized 8pts
9) CyclePremier.com - Metaltek 6pts
10) Wilier GoSelfDrive.com 5pts

Boardman Bikes Sprints standings, after Round Two
1) Kristian House Rapha Condor Sharp 27pts
2) Jonny McEvoy Motorpoint Pro Cycling 11pts
3) Ian Bibby Motorpoint Pro Cycling 8pts

For more information on The Halfords Tour Series, please visit: www.tourseries.co.uk. Follow The Halfords Tour Series on Facebook and Twitter www.twitter.com/TourSeries