The Racing Chance Foundation and Team 22 are very pleased to announce a joint venture that will enhance the opportunities available to Under 23 and Junior Women riders within the UK.
A true pathway for success
From 2017, Team 22 will act as the Under 23 and Junior development squad for The Racing Chance Foundation (“Racing Chance”). This will allow Racing Chance to offer a complete development pathway for riders. This pathway will cover and support progression for riders from novice-focused intro- to-racing days and race skills development sessions for more advanced riders, through to a development squad (Team 22). Then beyond that, there will be the opportunity to race overseas through organised racing trips, as introduced and run by Racing Chance in 2015.
(c) Dan Monaghan Photography
Talent identification and development
Within this partnership structure, Team 22 will continue to operate as a separate team and will be supported as it is now through commercial sponsorship, thus ensuring that there is no drain on existing Racing Chance funds. Riders joining Team 22 will be supported through its existing structure of coaching and financial support, but will also have access to the additional opportunities available from Racing Chance. Both Racing Chance and Team 22 are already putting in place a scouting network that will allow us to identify and offer places to some of the brightest young bike racing talent in the UK, providing opportunities to riders not on an existing development pathway.
(c) Dan Monaghan Photography
What does this mean?
Team 22 owner Colin Batchelor says: “This is an amazing opportunity for everyone involved in this partnership. For us, it’ll be great to be part of a true development pathway and the level of support and opportunity we will be able to offer riders is something everyone involved in Team 22 is very excited about.”
Racing Chance Foundation Chair Heather Bamforth says “By creating an alternative road based pathway, we hope to be able to encourage Youth A riders to continue racing once they leave that age category by easing the transition into road racing with the junior and senior women. This development can only be seen as a positive for all people who are keen to see numbers participating increasing, and the Foundation hopes to offer training opportunities for all young women in the junior and under-23 categories regardless of whether they go on to race for Team 22.”
The Racing Chance Foundation is a charity registered in England and Wales which was set up in April 2014 to provide an alternative pathway for women in competitive cycling. They focus on road-based events, providing training and racing opportunities from novice through to elite level.
Racing Chance have membership opportunities available, where you can join for £5. They will have a membership area up and running on their website shortly, but in the meantime, they are affiliated with British Cycling, you can sign up here. Not only will you be supporting a charity dedicated to women’s cycling, but the Foundation is also affiliated to Cycling Time Trials and the Manchester & District Ladies Cycling Association for those of you who want to have a go at time trialling but are not sure about what it is all about. So, whether you are already a member of a club or are currently riding on your own, why not sign up today? Men are welcome as much as women! In return you get exclusive access to their members and coaching area on the website (launching shortly), a discount off all purchases in the Racing Chance Shop for the duration of your membership (more benefits to be announced soon). You can also book and attend the charity’s heavily subscribed training events, for details of the latest events click here or why not visit the Racing Chance Foundation shop to purchase some stylish race kit, all profits from sales are put straight back in to the charity to provide more cycling opportunities for members. Even the smallest donation make a huge difference.
The Racing Chance Foundation is a not for profit registered charity: 1156835.
Since their incorporation as a charity last year, The Racing Chance Foundation has been providing cycle training and racing opportunities for women in the UK, and have provided coached sessions for over 200 women since January 2014.
Limited funding has meant that the majority of racing opportunities so far that the Foundation has been able to provide have been restricted to the UK scene, however, since receiving a generous donation from the Fred Whitton Challenge, the Foundation has been able to secure places in two international stage races, the first of which is this weekend: The Ladies Tour of Norway.
The Foundation are pleased to announce that their first team to travel abroad will consist of the following riders:
The Racing Chance Foundation is a charity registered in England and Wales which was set up in April 2014 to provide an alternative pathway for women in competitive cycling. They focus on road-based events, providing training and racing opportunities from novice through to elite level.
RCF have membership opportunities available, where you can join for £5. They will have a membership area up and running on their website shortly, but in the meantime, they are affiliated with British Cycling, you can sign up here. Not only will you be supporting a charity dedicated to women’s cycling, but the Foundation is also affiliated to Cycling Time Trials and the Manchester & District Ladies Cycling Association for those of you who want to have a go at time trialling but are not sure about what it is all about. So, whether you are already a member of a club or are currently riding on your own, why not sign up today? Men are welcome as much as women! In return you get exclusive access to their members and coaching area on the website (launching shortly), a discount off all purchases in the Racing Chance Shop for the duration of your membership (more benefits to be announced soon). You can also book and attend the charity’s heavily subscribed training events, for details of the latest events click here or why not visit the Racing Chance Foundation shop to purchase some stylish race kit, all profits from sales are put straight back in to the charity to provide more cycling opportunities for members. Even the smallest donation make a huge difference.
The Racing Chance Foundation is a not for profit registered charity: 1156835.
Jean-Pierre Drucker produced the sprint of his life to win the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic today beating Britain’s Ben Swift and Dutchman Mike Teunissen on The Mall in central London to claim the first victory of his professional career.
The 28-year-old was part of an eight-strong group of cyclists that burst clear of the peloton with a quarter of the 200-kilometre race to go before four riders hared up Whitehall and under Admiralty Arch in pursuit of glory.
Swift led them up The Mall with the Finish Line in sight and Buckingham Palace visible in the distance, the Team Sky sprinter desperate to make amends for last year when he lost by a hair’s width to Adam Blythe.
But Drucker had been tailing him home and the Luxembourg rider launched his attack with 50 metres to go, surprising the Briton and Lotto NL-Jumbo’s Teunissen to take a hard-earned victory built on brilliant teamwork by his experienced BMC Racing Team.
Drucker threw his arm in the air as he crossed the line to thunderous roars, a huge grin breaking out on his bearded face.
“To get my first professional win in front of Buckingham Palace is so special,” said Drucker. “The crowd here is so crazy about cycling, it’s fantastic to get my first win here.
“I love racing in England. I did the Tour of Yorkshire this year and that was fantastic too. After getting my first pro win here, I love it even more.”
Swift broke his shoulder in the Yorkshire race but fought his way back from surgery to bid for victory in this event, still smarting from last year’s defeat. He led the three medallists in a hard chase along Millbank to reel in Teunissen’s team-mate Sep Vanmarcke, who had made a lone bid for victory 12km out.
Once they’d overpowered the Belgian, all the smart money was on the Sheffield man, a renowned finishing kicker. But Drucker had finished just behind ‘Manx missile’ Mark Cavendish in California earlier this year and was confident of his chances.
“I was feeling good all day and at the end I just kept my eye on Swift,” said Drucker. “I could see he was very motivated and really wanted victory in front of his own crowd. I knew he would go for the win, but I worked hard as well.
“I’m a fast guy too and I just tried not to make any mistakes. I love it when it’s hard and that was our plan. We tried to make it a hard race by moving guys to the front. It always feels so good when a plan works out.”
As for Swift, in the end he was happy enough to make the podium for the second year in a row after missing three months’ training, although he admitted to miscalculating his finish.
“I had to go really hard in the last few kilometres and I started to cramp up a little bit from the effort of chasing,” said Swift. “Even though I’d have loved to have won, I’m really, really happy.
“I had three months out of competition so this is a really nice way to come back to racing and get a good result straight away. It was good to be on the podium.
“I couldn’t see any metres-to-go boards so I got caught on the front, trying to get the others to come round me, but you could see the guys coming from behind so you couldn’t play too much cat-and-mouse.”
As for Cavendish, the much-fancied Briton was missing his key lead-out man Mark Renshaw and was not at his best after a week-long illness following the Tour de France. It quickly became clear that he wasn’t going to save himself for a final sprint as he spearheaded not one, but two attacks during the race, and coasted home 44th.
In fact, Cavendish was barely out of the camera lens in the early stages as he could be seen chatting with Britain’s other big-name star Sir Bradley Wiggins as the field of 143 riders rolled off the red carpet and away from the signing-on point at Horse Guards Parade, and he was among a group of four in a mini-break shortly after the peloton passed over Hampton Court Bridge.
The Briton was soon at the back of the race, however, where he stopped to receive mechanical attention to the front of his bike, leaving him briefly off the pace.
Madison Genesis rider Erick Rowsell, brother of Olympic gold medallist and RideLondon-Surrey 100 rider Joanna, was among a group of five who then escaped as the peloton rattled through Byfleet to Ripley and on to the sun-splashed Surrey countryside.
Another Briton, Peter Williams of One Pro Cycling, was also in the breakaway, along with the young Italian Riccardo Stacchiotti of Vini Fantini, Topspot Vlaanderen’s Sander Helven, and Lander Seynaeve of Wanty-Group Gobert.
They opened a gap of five minutes with just over a quarter of the race gone and stayed away over the first four of the event’s five categorised climbs up Leith Hill and over Ranmore Common three times.
Rowsell, from Sutton, was racing in his own backyard and the Surrey man used his local knowledge to lead up the narrow lanes and over the summits, amassing points for the King of the Mountains competition, while Williams concentrated on securing the sprint title, out-battling Stacchiotti for the honour.
BMC sent their young Dutch stagiaire Floris Gerts up the road to try and bridge the gap, and by the time they’d completed the three Ranmore loops, he had replaced Seynaeve among the leaders. The peloton broke up on the third Ranmore climb, and Lotto NL-Jumbo charged out to reel them in like a pack of wolves hunting down their prey.
Seven men reached the base of Box Hill with just over 50km to go. But their time alone was numbered and Gerts’s team-mates Philippe Gilbert and Rohan Dennis emerged from the pack for the first time to lead the chase up the slopes, driving on at the top in an attempt to leave the race sprinters in their wake.
With an hour’s racing still to go, it was now a case of heads down for the city. Cavendish briefly launched himself out in front with Dennis, then eight burst clear to open a gap that grew to more than a minute as they reached Kingston for a second time.
Among them were Swift, Drucker, Vanmarcke and Tuenissen. The gap grew to two-and-a-half minutes and with just 15km to go the main field called off the hunt.
Vanmarcke attacked as they skirted Wimbledon Common and he opened a 16-second lead as he crossed the river at Putney Bridge. A well-practised one-day rider, the Belgian seemed to be pulling away. But he was he gasping for air, and the lead vanished as Swift led the chasers on the run-in to along Millbank and past the Houses of Parliament.
It was a hard slog. Too hard as it turned out for the Briton, as Drucker burst off his shoulder for the win of his life.
Swift may have missed out, but there was some good news for Britain as a delighted Rowsell bagged the King of the Mountains contest on the rolling hills he’s been riding since he was 14.
“They are all local roads to me,” said the 25-year-old. “I grew up riding around here and have been up Box Hill and Leith Hill hundreds of times. I knew no one in the race would know these hills as well as me.
“So to win King of the Mountains here made it a perfect day.”
It was a perfect day for Jean-Pierre Drucker too.
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The Orica-GreenEDGE rider expects this year’s Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic to come down to a bunch sprint on The Mall when the riders roll into the capital after conquering the Surrey Hills.
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Velocio Sports deliver team leader Barbara Guarischi to the line in the Prudential RideLondon Grand Prix.
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DOWSETT, SIMMONDS AND DAVIES TAKE TIME TRIAL TITLES AT BRITISH CYCLING NATIONAL ROAD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Alex Dowsett, Hayley Simmonds and Scott Davies took the time trial titles at the 2015 British Cycling National Road Championships in Lincolnshire today.
Alex Dowsett produced a world-class performance at Cadwell Park to equal Stuart Dangerfield’s record of four British time trial titles, while earlier in the day, Hayley Simmonds and Scott Davies took the women’s and under-23 men’s crowns.
Dowsett set a scorching time of 1:00.11 over the testing 44.8-kilometre course that combined the open roads of Lincolnshire and the swooping tarmac of the Cadwell Park motor racing circuit.
SportGrub Kuota Cycling Team’s Ryan Perry set a marker of 1:04.28 before NFTO’s Edmund Bradbury dropped below the 1:04 mark with a 1:03.42 as title favourites Bottrill and Dowsett ploughed around the three laps of the open road sector of the Lincolnshire course, two of just six riders remaining with a chance of challenging for the medals.
As Dowsett passed Bottrill, it became clear that the 26-year-old Movistar pro was headed for a record-equalling fourth title – it was just a case how big the winning margin would be.
In the end Dowsett’s win was emphatic, a time of 1:00.11, ensuring that the British title was added to his remarkable year of UCI Hour record and Bayern Rundfahrt stage race triumphs.
Bottrill eventually finished fourth, four minutes and 20 seconds down on Dowsett, with Bradbury taking silver and Perry taking bronze.
Speaking after regaining the National Title, Alex Dowsett told British Cycling:
“It’s lovely to get it back,” said Dowsett. “It’s really significant being national champion. Now every time I do a time-trial I get to wear this!”
“I couldn’t have lost it to a more talented guy last year in Brad (Sir Bradley Wiggins) but it’s nice to have it back.
“That was tough. I didn’t have a radio so I had no idea where I was in relation to anyone else.
“The course itself – in training, I thought it would be easier in the race but it was actually harder, so I had no idea how well I was going out there. But when I saw Matt (Bottrill) I knew that either he was on a horrendous day or I was on a good one.
“I had a bit of a moment on the second to last corner around here. I’ve got quite a few friends who race British Superbike and I’m not going to hear the end of it from missing that apex!”
Team Velosport’s Hayley Simmonds produced a superb ride to take the British women’s title, defying the form book and finishing over a minute ahead of silver medallist Molly Weaver and bronze medallist Dame Sarah Storey.
Simmonds, who moved from rowing in 2009, took the lead from early pacesetter Ciara Horne over the 33.6-kilometre course. Posting a time of 51:39.89, the 2014 10-mile and 50-mile time-trial champion, threw the gauntlet down in resounding fashion, with Katie Archibald and Dame Sarah Storey still out on the course.
Liv Plantur’s Molly Weaver soon pushed Horne into third with a 52.58.18 time and within minutes, the pundits’ favourite was dropping out of medal contention.
Molly Weaver of Team Liv Plantur chats to Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc about her podium result in the 2015 British Cycling National Road Time Trial 2015.
Dame Sarah Storey couldn’t challenge the time of Simmonds, the multiple Paralympic champion stopping the clock at 53.00.61 and dropping into third with just a few challengers left out on course.
Storey’s team-mate Katie Archibald, who took silver in 2014, was the last challenger to finish but could only manage sixth, handing the women’s crown to a delighted Simmonds.
Hayley Simmonds was crowned British Cycling National Road Time Trial Champion 2015 on the 25th June. She chats to Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc about her win.
“It’s completely overwhelming – I’ve worked really hard for this,” said Simmonds. “I hoped it was going to be really close and I just went out and did the ride that I thought I could, did the effort I thought I could and obviously it paid off.
“I was just trying to focus on getting out the ride that I was capable of and not necessarily concentrating on the other big names that were starting after me.”
“After I finished and I was half collapsing over my bike I could just hear the commentator say my time and then say ‘will anyone go under 50 minutes’. Dame Sarah and Katie Archibald are both capable of going under 50 and at that point I wasn’t even sure that I was in the lead, let alone that I was going to win by a minute.”
Cycling Shorts caught up with Hayley after her ride to victory.
She told me that the race had went really well for her. After spending time looking around the course outside of Cadwell Park, She knew that she would be capable of setting a competitive time by sticking to her plan.
Hayley has won a few Time Trial Championships over different lengths in recent years. Coming into this race, she had recently won the Holme Valley Wheelers 2 Day in early June, beating the likes of Dame Sarah Storey and National Road Race Champion Laura Trott. This had gave her confidence to trust her ability, and ride the race at a pace that suited her.
She is currently studying for her PhD, and should have it submitted by March next year. Once that’s out of the way, Hayley said that she would like to take up professional bike riding full-time.
I asked her about the National Road Race coming up on Sunday in Lincoln. “Yes” she told me, “I’m riding it”. But she went on to say that her main objective this week, had been the Time Trial today. That’s were all her focus has been recently. Going out and checking out the course route, the twists and turns, and figuring out the best way to approach each corner, each climb.
For the near future, Hayley said she was going to have a go at a 100, something she’s not attempted before. So it won’t be long before you get to see the Red & Blue Strip Jersey on the road again somewhere around the UK.
Earlier in the day, 100%ME’s Scott Davies successfully defended his British under-23 time trial title.
The 19-year-old from Carmarthen fought off a strong challenge from fellow Welshman, Team Wiggins’ Owain Doull, recording a time of 47:20.32 to retain the jersey he won in Monmouthshire 12 months ago.
Axeon Cycling Team’s Tao Geoghegan Hart had been the first to break into the 47-minute times with 47:37.90, only for Doull to immediately strike back with a stunning 47:26.53.
But Davies, continuing the stellar form demonstrated earlier in the year at Tour de Yorkshire, did not falter, besting Doull’s time by six seconds with a 47:20.32 masterclass, joining Alex Dowsett and Sam Harrison as only the third rider to win back-to-back under-23 time trial titles.
A relieved Davies commented after the race:
“It was pretty tough – I think the nature of the course meant holding a rhythm wasn’t that easy today,” said Davies following his effort.
“It’s quite rolling so there’s no real stretch where you can hold the same pace. It’s up, down and up. That steep hill is quite tough as well – quite a testing course.
“Relieved is the word that I’d use to describe how today went. I came up to it with a bit more pressure than last year – relieved to have defended it.”
Highlights of the time trials will be shown on British Eurosport 2 tomorrow (Friday 26 June) at 6pm.
The 2015 British Cycling National Road Championships continue on Sunday 28 June with the road races, which start and finish in Lincoln city centre. The women’s and men’s race will be broadcast live on British Eurosport from 11:30am with highlights on ITV4 on Monday evening at 6pm.
Hayley Simmonds was crowned British Cycling National Road Time Trial Champion 2015 on the 25th June. She chats to Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc about her win.
Hayley Simmonds was crowned British Cycling National Road Time Trial Champion 2015 on the 25th June. She chats to Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc about her win.
Molly Weaver of Team Liv Plantur chats to Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc about her podium result in the 2015 British Cycling National Road Time Trial 2015.
Molly Weaver of Team Liv Plantur chats to Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc about her podium result in the 2015 British Cycling National Road Time Trial 2015.
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