by Holly Seear | Jun 3, 2016
Style, Performance and Individuality from New UK Based Online Store OMNIUM
I met Claire Pepper on a Bike Ride with Brunch organised by Queen of the Mountains and was excited to hear of her plans to launch OMNIUM a brand new, UK based, online store bringing together some previously hard-to-buy or as yet undiscovered cycling apparel from independent designers. Their focus is high performance road cycling kit and accessories, bringing together lots of smaller brands who are doing really interesting stuff and making them more accessible, especially to the UK market.
Claire’s background is photography, specialising in fashion and sportswear in e-commerce, and as a runner, cyclist and triathlete, she found women’s cycling clothing to be much more limited in terms of choice than the rest of the active wear market and decided to do something about it! With her partner Jonathan, a creative director and active racer for Dulwich Paragon, they have launched OMNIUM.
Most of the OMNIUM brands are small companies with a bit of a cult following, and until now some have been hard to get hold of in the UK. OMNIUM solves the problems of buying internationally such as customs charges and complicated returns!
The products are stylish, high performance, individual brands which will only be stocked in limited runs, keeping the offering of fresh and current items in-demand.
Starting with 7 brands and with 2 more coming soon, the selection comprises mostly of men’s and women’s jerseys, shorts, socks and caps. There are some eye-catching full kits from Minneapolis brand Twin Six and graphic-patterned base layers from Good Cycling, a brand from the Netherlands. One of the most popular items is a cap by Canadian brand Forward, which features a pair of cat-eyes on the underside of the peak.
Well worth taking a look if you would like to stand out from the crowd this summer!
OMNIUM BRANDS
- Twin Six – USA – men’s & women’s jerseys with matching shorts, caps, socks, bidons
- Angeles Creative – USA – men’s and women’s jerseys, high performance and distinctive
- Queen of the Mountains – UK – high performance women’s jerseys, shorts and caps
- Forward – Canada – women’s jerseys and caps, fun, playful designs
- God & Famous – USA – caps and socks (apparel coming soon) urban styling
- The Wonderful Socks – Italy – socks and caps, Italian craft heritage with quirky designs
- Good Cycling – The Netherlands – men’s and women’s jerseys, base layers and gilets
WEBSITE : weareomnium.cc
TWITTER: @omniumcc
INSTAGRAM: @omniumcc
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Weareomnium/
by Jo Ann Carver | May 25, 2016
Spin London
Brick Lane, in the heart of London’s East End and formerly known as Whitechapel Lane has always been a vibrant melting pot of a place and the earliest known record of its existence was on a woodcut map that was printed sometime during the 16th Century. It has been home to many communities of immigrants throughout its colourful history. Always a staging post to upward mobility. That mobility sometimes being slow, sometimes quite rapid. It has been home to French Huguenots, Ashkenazi Jews, and then Eastern European and Russian Jews in the early 20th century. It has been an epicentre of changing small scale industries centred around the clothing industry. Weaving, Leather making, Exquisite tailoring and the sweatshops of the rag trade. Home to Fagin and Jack The Ripper. It still retains its flavour of an amalgam of the new and tentative amidst wide boy small entrepreneurs. Shops momentarily flourishing displaying “vintage” clothing….aka, overpriced elegantly displayed jumble sales. The earnest Guardian reading fashionistas leaving their tatty chic boutiques to browse scratched vinyl records and other vendors tatty chic furniture. 35mm cameras that will never be used and they buy their fabulous Indian sub continent, Eastern European and Far Eastern street food lunches in cheap and plentiful non eco friendly styrofoam boxes.
The Truman Brewery’s disused premises opened above a now drained well in 1863 are themselves a tatty chic exhibition space in keeping with the area and ideal therefore to house the show “SPIN” devoted to the urban cycling revolution taking place in London, with a nod here and there to the sporting and serious leisure cycling side of things enabling the hipsters their radical touch of the esoteric work of cycling.
Spin was a show for Hipsters. No doubt whatsoever about that. There was the very deliberate wearing of 20,30,50 year old continental race team kit. I saw one guy. Beard long enough to plait and use as a climbing rope in his Gan team kit, hanging on Chris Boardman’s every word and nodding sagely as he munched on his tofu burger before clattering away in an ancient pair of wooden soled track shoes, converted to take the cleats of a set of middle ‘80s Look Classic pedals. Yes, it really was that sort of occasion. The exhibition was a truly enjoyable reflection of Brick lane’s very nature on to the world of cycling. There was a plentiful amount of beautifully crafted clothing, hand built bespoke bicycles (in steel of course) and the feeling that rather like the place 100 yards down Brick Lane that has now ceased attempting to trade in contemporary Vietnamese Folding food, many of them, for all of their skill and genuine innovation would struggle to stay in business much beyond two years or so. That is a great pity, because in the reviews that will follow shortly, I am going to take you on a wander through the best of SPIN and introduce you to some of the start up businesses that are attempting to take root.
If you’d not seen Rollapaluzza before, you might have been forgiven for turning away before you entered the place. They’d set up their usually thriving space and were attracting their usually lengthy queues accompanied by music so loud and a commentary so unintelligible that you have to walk away or give in. We walked away and that was the point at which we recognised the advantage of this very solid old building, step into the next room and the sound that filled the entrance hall was all but eliminated by the purposeful 19th century walls. A moment to reflect on some art work, depicting some of the greats of our sport….up to the 1990s (yes that was the first indicator) Bartolli, Coppi, Simpson, Merckx, Rijs, Anquetil, LeMond, Hinault, Boardman, Obree, Yndurain, Abdujaporov, and my hero (shut up… its my article) the finest climber of all time Marco(Il Pirate) Pantani. None of them were particularly flattering, but at Brick Lane prices I wasn’t going to be hanging one in my shed anyway.
The whole feel of the show was not so much a display of products to do with the world of cycling, but products that were designed to fit lifestyle choices of which cycling is but a part. Cycling fits very nicely into the choices made by the eco friendly….correction, obsessively eco friendly and thats not necessarily a bad thing, but there is a pedantic quirkiness about almost every exhibitor that makes sense to some. Indeed, with the exception of one or two of cycling better known brands. Boardman Elite and Bianchi, most were at the end of the cycling spectrum that says commuter or courier rider that seek form over function. Indeed the more conventional the product on offer the more out of place it looked.
A number of the products quirky or not, really did impress and I shall review them and in some cases road test them too. There was the stuff that did interest me. The bespoke frame builders, some of whom were brazing but joint and brazed steel frames that are becoming popular again amongst some sections of the regular cycling community. Sadly when we were there these craftsmen were not drawing anywhere near as much attention as the stand selling those bloody ridiculous Dura Ace equipped Bamboo framed bikes…… yes, exactly what I thought!
As I say, there was a kind of studied pedantry to the wares on offer. Quill stems, rat trap pedals with old style toe clips barely a modern pedal on view. I fell in love with a gorgeous titanium framed bike… The frame was brand spanking new, but everything on it was a (admittedly beautifully done) restored and refurbished ‘80s item. The entire group and finishing kit was old style 5 speed friction shift Campagnolo record. It gleamed. It stunned….. its price tag made me wince……. no, trust me you don’t want to know.
When it comes to anything approaching regular bike choices these folk are cautious. Yes I want something that says serious cyclist, but I don’t feel comfortable going into my LBS, so I’ll stick my nose in the trough with names I recognise Boardman, Bianchi and Cinelli… We can’t be seen to be going into Halfords or Evans and buying something cheaper and far more appropriate to our needs, it has to say chic. It has to say, “at weekends my other bike is a Porsche and my winters are spent at Cortina or Chamonix”.
Yes it was a Hipsters show and if thats your thing, good on yer. You’re riding a bike and anyone who has read my drivel before, knows that this will always get my vote. I half begged to be given this assignment and I’m glad I went for the few products that were in my jaded opinion worthy of attention and for the wonderful (and well attended) interview and Q&A with my hero of the entire show, Martyn Ashton. Will I go again next year? No. But I love Brick Lane, the street food etc, the tiny record stalls and the markets. I even like the quirky nature of SPIN….it’s just that very little of it was for me.
by Chris Maher | May 18, 2016
Images ©CyclingShorts.cc/www.chrismaher.co.uk
Woaw! A Big Deal for Eileen Roe as she seals her first win of 2016 in Round One of the Matrix Fitness GP in Scotland, wining a four-way sprint up-to the finish-line for Lares.
Round one of the Matrix Fitness Grand Prix took place in Motherwell this year. One of six-in-the-series, saw former National Circuit Champion and Scottish local Eileen Roe take the victory in a four-way sprint up-to the finish-line to the cheers of a home crowd.
Now riding for Belgium outfit Lares-Waowdeal on the continent, Eileen had wanted to returned home, feeling a little lonely after a nine-week stint in Europe. Being the only fluent English speaking girl on the squad, rode the first Women’s Lincoln Grand Prix on the weekend before finishing tenth, behind winner Alice Barnes, Drops Cycling Team, and Nikki Juniper, Team Ford Ecoboost who came in seventh.
It was Barnes that initiated the first move in Motherwell after Aprire-HSS Hire, Team WNT and Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa drove the peloton for a couple of laps of the relatively square one-point-two-kilometre-circuit that finished with a long drag from the bottom final corner.
Juniper had counter-attacked and Roe knew which girls she had to look out for. She had seen how well Barnes rode to victory at Lincoln, and decided to go with group, with Annasley Park, Team Breeze joining them as the peloton strung apart, they soon built up a fifteen second lead.
The race was run over forty-five minutes with five final count-down laps to the finish line.
With two laps to go there was a pile up which unfortunately took out Mel Lowther who was later taken to hospital to be checked over.
The four leading riders increased to a twenty-five second gap on the chasing group as they started passing back-markers. An aggressive ride by Barnes also saw her claiming the two sprints and the jersey along the way.
It looked at one point like the main peloton would reel-them-in with Podium Ambitions Gabby Shaw and Lauren Creamer chasing hard, and Jo Tindley and Lydia Boylan, Team WNT taking over, but the impetus went off and the four extended their lead.
With the final laps quickly approaching, the girls started looking across at each-others moves, trying to anticipate who would be their biggest rival.
As the final one-hundred meters marker pasted, it was Eileen that kicked the hardest to win the second visit to the Motherwell round on the Matrix Fitness GP.
Chris Maher of CyclingShorts.cc catches up with the delightful Eileen Roe after her solo effort at round two of the Matrix Fitness GP in Motherwell.
Talking to Eileen after the race she had said, “There was a rider represented from each team” in their group, and she though if they worked together, they would say away to the end”.
“I guess that they weren’t bothered about myself because the Tour Series is all about the “team” this year. So I think they were happy to have me along with them and contributing to the work”.
She went on to say that she wouldn’t be contesting any more of the Matrix Series as she returning back to her own team duties shortly before starting a big block of European racing on the continent. Firstly a big 1.1 UCI event in Belgium, the Gooik-Geraardsbergen-Gooik on May 29th, from then-on it continues every week, she went on to say. Check out this Testogen review that is one of the most popular fitness products that can really work out for you.
This is Eileen’s first win of the season, finishing third in the recent Dwars door Vlaanderen.
Results:
Team Classification & Overall after Round One
Rank Team Points
1 Drops Cycling Team 98
2 Team Breeze 79
3 Team Ford Ecoboost 78
4 Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa 70
5 Team WNT 52
6 Aprire HSS Hire 25
7 Velo Schils – Interbike RT 23
8 Sunsport Velo 21
Sprint 1
1 100 Alice Barnes Drops Cycling Team 5
2 147 Annasley Park Team Breeze 4
3 256 Eileen Roe Lares Waowdeals 3
4 180 Nikki Juniper Team Ford Ecoboost 2
5 27 Jo Tindley Team WNT 1
Sprint 2
1 100 Alice Barnes Drops Cycling Team 5
2 256 Eileen Roe Lares Waowdeals 4
3 147 Annasley Park Team Breeze 3
4 180 Nikki Juniper Team Ford Ecoboost 2
5 27 Jo Tindley Team WNT 1
Sprints Classification & Overall after Round One
1 100 Alice Barnes Drops Cycling Team 10
2 256 Eileen Roe Lares Waowdeals 7
3 147 Annasley Park Team Breeze 7
4 180 Nikki Juniper Team Ford Ecoboost 4
5 27 Jo Tindley Team WNT 2
Individual Round Classification
Rank – Bib – Name – Team – Race Time – Laps Completed – Points
1 256 Eileen Roe Lares Waowdeals 0:46:02.227 24 40
2 100 Alice Barnes Drops Cycling Team 0:46:02.404 24 38
3 180 Nikki Juniper Team Ford Ecoboost 0:46:02.803 24 36
4 147 Annasley Park Team Breeze 0:46:02.817 24 34
5 102 Ellie Dickinson Drops Cycling Team 0:46:10.183 24 32
6 20 Lydia Boylan Team WNT 0:46:10.751 24 30
7 142 Hayley Jones Team Breeze 0:46:11.007 24 29
8 109 Annie Simpson Drops Cycling Team 0:46:11.495 24 28
9 2 Lauren Creamer Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa0:46:12.406 24 27
10 11 Gabriella Shaw Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa0:46:12.605 24 26
11 65 Louise Laker Aprire HSS Hire 0:46:12.661 24 25
12 182 Charlotte Broughton Team Ford Ecoboost 0:46:13.067 24 24
13 120 Lou Collins Velo Schils – Interbike RT 0:46:13.164 24 23
14 27 Jo Tindley Team WNT 0:46:15.979 24 22
15 205 Alice Sharpe Sunsport Velo 0:40:18.392 24 21
16 243 Neah Evans Scotland Cycling Team 0:46:53.406 24 20
17 110 Abi Van Twisk Drops Cycling Team 0:46:59.443 24 19
18 183 Henrietta Colborne Team Ford Ecoboost 0:47:00.483 24 18
19 4 Amy Gornall Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa0:47:00.952 24 17
20 143 Emily Kay Team Breeze 0:47:14.119 24 16
21 3 Grace Garner Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa0:48:09.436 24 15
22 187 Charline Joiner Team Ford Ecoboost 0:45:43.561 23 14
23 28 Hannah Walker Team WNT 0:45:43.972 23 13
24 160 Madison Campbell Team Footon Velosport 0:45:44.071 23 12
25 106 Rose Osbourne Drops Cycling Team 0:45:46.540 23 11
26 47 Jenny Holl Team Jadan-Weldtite 0:45:49.554 23 10
27 85 Kelly Murphy Boot Out Breast Cancer Cycling Club0:45:57.220 23 9
28 163 Suzetta Guerrini Team Footon Velosport 0:46:13.646 23 8
29 68 Gemma Sargent Aprire HSS Hire 0:40:13.426 20 7
30 203 Josie Knight Sunsport Velo 0:40:14.430 20 6
31 184 Julie Erskine Team Ford Ecoboost 0:40:15.218 20 5
32 61 Lucy Chittenden Aprire HSS Hire 0:40:16.366 20 4
33 208 Genevieve Whitson Sunsport Velo 0:40:16.870 20 3
34 206 Maddy Scott Sunsport Velo 0:40:17.026 20 2
35 84 Nikola Matthews Boot Out Breast Cancer Cycling Club0:40:18.558 20 1
36 82 Monica Dew Boot Out Breast Cancer Cycling Club0:40:18.574 20
37 246 Tanya Griffths Starley Racing 0:40:30.932 20
38 126 Nicola Soden Velo Schils – Interbike RT 0:41:02.256 20
39 41 Sarah Bradford Team Jadan-Weldtite 0:41:15.743 20
40 21 Sam Burman Team WNT 0:41:23.097 20
41 44 Rhona Callander Team Jadan-Weldtite 0:41:23.302 20
42 200 Eileen Burns Sunsport Velo 0:41:32.233 20
43 124 Sandra MacKay Velo Schils – Interbike RT 0:39:56.977 19
44 123 Katherine Kimber Velo Schils – Interbike RT 0:40:32.075 19
45 121 Caroline Guest Velo Schils – Interbike RT 0:41:12.207 19
46 80 Ellie Coster Boot Out Breast Cancer Cycling Club0:39:46.289 18
47 83 Kristy Howells Boot Out Breast Cancer Cycling Club0:40:41.746 17
Non-finishers
146 Melissa Lowther Team Breeze
25 Keira McVitty Team WNT
9 Katie Prankerd Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa
by Holly Seear | May 14, 2016
The Matrix Fitness Grand Prix Series will enter its sixth season in 2016, running alongside the well-established Pearl Izumi Tour Series on spectator friendly town and city centre circuits and this year has grown to six rounds with 11 teams.
The series attracts a high calibre of rider, including previously Olympic Champions Joanna Rowsell and Dani King and double Junior World Champion Lucy Garner. Podium Ambition presented by Club La Santa have been champions for the past two editions with Paralympic Champion Dame Sarah Storey and World Champion Katie Archibald in their squad. Team Ford EcoBoost has last year’s individual champion Nikki Juniper and Commonwealth Games medallist Charline Joiner. This year Team Velo Schils Interbike are pitting themselves against some of the best teams in the UK.
The newly formed team consists of Nicola Soden, Sandra Mackay, Iona Sewell, Katherine Kimber, Caroline Guest, Natalie Hodson and Louise Collins and they are keen to both race and play hard.
Katherine Kimber said “As a team we are all about supporting each other, developing each other, enjoying our racing, trying new things, working for each other, and giving and receiving confidence. We will be entering a team into the Tour Series, experiencing some racing in Belgium and generally progressing positively throughout the season. We will be targeting 2/3/4 road races, some national road races, and the National Crit Champs.”
She goes on to say “Patrick Schils and his family are as crazy as we are, so it is a perfect fit – they don’t take things too seriously AND drink Cherry beer for recovery…. What more could you want from a sponsor?! Patrick is an extremely strong and experienced rider with a wealth of knowledge he can offer to the team. The team also enjoy joining in on their weekly shop rides, anyone can come along”. You can find details here.
Nicola says “I love racing with these girls – everyone is fun and friendly with no egos and up for having a good time in and out of racing”.
Back in 1948 Jef Schils was the founder of Schils frames and bikes, and a Belgian National Champion! The Director and Owner of Velo Schils Interbike, Patrick Schils, followed in his father’s footsteps as a Belgian Professional Rider and continued making the Schils bikes here in the UK.
I spoke to Patrick Schils and asked:
Why did you decide to sponsor a women’s team in 2016?
The women’s cycling scene is ever growing and we saw this as a fantastic opportunity to get even more ladies into it and also promote ourselves.
What are the targets for the team in 2016?
For them to enjoy and improve themselves, gaining valuable experience racing throughout the year, in the UK and Europe.
Our main goals for this year are:
The Tour Series
Racing in Belgium and Europe
Track Cycling
Hill Climbs
Long term what are your hopes for the team?
We hope that the team will grow and succeed in races and have great experience of racing in different countries.
Sum up the team in three words?
Dedicated, Funny & Charming.
Who are the main sponsors for the team?
Schils Bikes
Doltcini cycle clothing
Luck Custom Cycling Shoes
Schils Hairdressing
Parenesis.com
Do you have a men’s team? Cycling club? Shop events/rides?
Yes, we have had a Velo Schils cycle team for racing and a club since 1997 when the retail shop first started. Back then it was only a handful of riders and now we have over 100 current members. Some of them race and some enjoy leisure, charity rides and sportives. We have club runs every weekend starting from the Velo Schils InterBike shop at 9.30am on Saturdays and Sundays and have also started a Tuesday evening ride now the better weather has started. The team also enjoy our Sportive in January and Majorca Training Camp in February, along with our race The Jef Schils Memorial in September and a few races and sportives in Belgium throughout the year.
Why do you think more shops are sponsoring teams generally?
I think it’s a great collaboration to have a team connected to a shop. It’s good advertisement for bikes, clothing and products and great to add a new dimension to a shop.
Do you think the traditional club structure is disappearing with more sponsored teams and shop rides? How will this impact on the sport?
I think that cycling within the UK over the past couple of years has grown massively and still is. From new riders wanting to get fit, cycle with friends and family or start racing or doing charity rides or sportives. It’s fantastic to see just how many people are getting the cycling bug and we will embrace it. Our club structure has pretty much stayed the same over the past few years, but just on a larger scale Schils are known for their custom cycles.
Why should a rider consider a custom build?
We have been building custom built Schils bikes since 1948 with Jef Schils who was Belgian Professional National Champion. As you can imagine his passion for cycling transpired into his bikes and now it has carried on throughout the Schils Family. Customers appreciate a personal service where you can come enjoy a coffee while choosing everything for your bike and the end result is a bike that fits you comfortably, is unique to you, you can choose your own colours and design of frame and have a great after service.
Is it true you can get your helmet hair done while having your bike serviced at Velo Schils?
Ha ha, yes the rumours are true. The trick is to be different, so yes you can have your hair cut and coloured at Velo Schils Interbike. Schils Hairdressing is based within the shop and it’s great to add something different and a new dimension to the shop. www.schilshairdressing.com
You can find the shop here:
Interbike
Unit 5, 85 London Road
Marks Tey
Colchester
Essex
England
CO6 1EB
www.interbike.co.uk
You can follow the team here:
http://www.youvebeenchicked.co.uk/home.html
Matrix Grand Prix Series Dates
Round One – Tuesday 17 May – Motherwell
Round Two – Thursday 26 May – Redditch
Round Three – Thursday 2 June – Stoke-on-Trent
Round Four – Monday 6 June – Stevenage
Round Five – Tuesday 7 June – Croydon
Round Six – Thursday 9 June – Portsmouth
Matrix Fitness Grand Prix Series Teams
Aprire HSS Hire
Drops Racing Team
Boot Out Breast Cancer Cycling Club
Podium Ambition p/b Club La Santa
Sunsport Velo
Team Breeze
Team Footon Velosport
Team Ford EcoBoost
Team Jadan Weldtite
Team WNT
Velo Schils Interbike
by Anna Magrath | Apr 30, 2016
Words by Anna Magrath Images by Chris Maher
Record Crowds for Spectacular Day 2 of Tour de Yorkshire
Over one million spectators came out to cheer on the riders for the second day of the Tour de Yorkshire, as the county celebrated a ground breaking day for women’s cycling.
Glorious sunshine started the day in Otley for the hotly anticipated Asda Tour de Yorkshire Women’s Race where World Champion Lizzie Armitstead led the peloton out of her hometown.
Crowds bigger than those who witnessed the Grand Départ in Otley cheered on as 100 of the world’s best female riders took part including Rio hopeful Emma Pooley; Dani King and Lucy Garner from British squad Wiggle High5, Hitec Products brought one of the world’s strongest sprinters Kirsten Wild and Dame Sarah Storey took part – Great Britain’s most decorated female Paralympian in history.
Speaking before the start Lizzie Armitstead, racing in her World Champions jersey for the first time in the UK, paid tribute to her home town of Otley and the immense support she was receiving.
The 136km race was a game changer for women’s cycling in the UK as it took the same route as the men’s and offered over £50,000 (€63,623) – currently the biggest prize pot in women’s cycling.
The winner of the Asda Women’s Tour de Yorkshire was Kirsten Wild from Team Hitec Products who crossed the finish line in Doncaster before thousands of cheering fans.
Sir Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire said:
“Today has been an historic day for women’s cycling and it’s been a spectacular day of racing. The crowds were once again phenomenal and to see how the people of Yorkshire have taken this event to their hearts is just overwhelming. There was so much spirit and positivity in Yorkshire today it was magnificent to see. Clearly the one thing we would have changed if we could was the fact we had intermittent live TV coverage but I must stress that safety is paramount. Unfortunately there was a serious technical fault with the plane relaying the TV signal, the plane had to be grounded and the TV coverage could not continue for this reason.
“Fans and communities have continued their spectacular support for the Tour de Yorkshire not just from the routes but also digitally by sharing images, footage and updates to keep the public informed. Please keep tweeting and following @letouryorkshire and we will be putting highlights online tonight.
“We are now focussed on the day ahead tomorrow from Middlesbrough to Scarborough which promises to be an exhilarating race!”
Kirsten Wild: The plan was to let a little group go with one of us in the break, unfortunately that didn’t work out, the girls did a good chase and we caught them in the final, it was really good work. The sprint was hard, I started a bit too early, and I thought maybe not, there was a really strong headwind, so I let one girl pass and I could follow her and then pass her in the final again. There were a lot of people on the roadside it was really nice to have that support. It’s good to win here in Doncaster.
Lucy Garner: “I couldn’t quite get around Kirsten for the sprint, everyone know she’s an awesome sprinter, she’s definitely the one to beat here today in a sprint, actually for me I’ve not been 100% healthy coming into this race so I couldn’t have asked for more today, especially from my team Wiggle High-5, they did an awesome job to bring the three that were away back. It would have been great if we had a rider up in the break, so we did have to work hard to bring them back but there were other teams working with us who also wanted a sprint finish. We caught the back [of the train] with 4km to go and then it was just a case of focusing on the sprint finish. We knew we had to look out for Lizzie [Armitstead] she’s on great form this season and has won so many races, it’s just lucky for us her breakaway didn’t stay away.”
Lizzie Armitstead: “I wanted to put on an aggressive race and a bit of a show, it’s what it’s all about cycling, it’s a bit of an entertainment show at the end of the day. I wanted to be able to get stuck in and have a go. There were a couple of moments where I thought we could stay away [from the peloton] we were holding them at about a minute and the team car came up and they told us the organisation in the chase is not very good so just keep plugging away, but when we tried towards Doncaster and it was just a block headwind we weren’t getting above 45km per hour I thought, right they are going to be closing that gap pretty quickly.
By the time we were caught I’d burnt all my matches, I tried to get stuck in and help some of the younger girls on my team but actually they didn’t need it, they were quicker than me, so i was really proud of the way GB rode today, there are some young girls in the team and I think they have very bright futures. The course lived up to my expectations, in fact it was better, stating in Otley it was a goose pimple moment. All along the course there were people shouting so thank you to everyone who turned out.”
Jersey winners:
Overall, the winner of the blue Asda Women’s Tour de Yorkshire jersey was Kirsten Wild; her Hitech teammate Lauren Kitchen took the navy jersey of the Aunt Bessie’s sprint; Rossella Ratto of Cyclance Pro Cycling won the pink Mug Shot Queen of the Mountain jersey; the Howden’s Joinery/RNLI white jersey for best young newcomer went to Lucy Garner and the purple best team classification was awarded by Doncaster Sheffield Airport/Flybe to the Great Britain team.
More images and interviews from the race to come so watch this space!
by Chris Maher | Apr 29, 2016
L-R: Christian Prudhomme, Lucy Garner, Caleb Ewan, Lars-Petter Nordhaug, Dani King & Sir Gary Verity.
Saturday the Men’s and Women’s Stages of Champions take place.
Pre Race Press Conference for the 2016 Tour de Yorkshire
28 April 2016
Anthony McCrossan welcomes the press on the eve of the Tour de Yorkshire 2016 at the Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington, before introducing Welcome to Yorkshire CEO Sir Gary Verity and A.S.O. Director of Cycling Christian Prudhomme.
Joining them on stage, last years defending champion, winning from start to finish, Lars-Petter Nordhaug of Team Sky and Orica Green-EDGE’s sensational young sprinter Caleb Ewan, making his debut, Olympic Champion, World Champion and European Champion Wiggle High5’s Dani King, and twice Junior World Champion Lucy Garner as the Tour readies itself for the second edition, 29th April to 01st May.
Pre Race Press Conference for the 2016 Tour de Yorkshire
28 April 2016
Anthony McCrossan welcomes the press on the eve of the Tour de Yorkshire 2016 at the Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington, before introducing Welcome to Yorkshire CEO Sir Gary Verity and A.S.O. Director of Cycling Christian Prudhomme.
Joining them on stage, last years defending champion, winning from start to finish, Lars-Petter Nordhaug of Team Sky and Orica Green-EDGE’s sensational young sprinter Caleb Ewan, making his debut, Olympic Champion, World Champion and European Champion Wiggle High5’s Dani King, and twice Junior World Champion Lucy Garner as the Tour readies itself for the second edition, 29th April to 01st May.
Anthony McCrossan: “This evening the Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour Down Under will sign an agreement to promote each other races across each others territories.”
Sir Gary Verity: The significance of stage two. “Linking Otley, near Leeds, home to our latest world champion Lizzie Armitstead with Doncaster where we pass through Harworth, just to the south, the home of Tom Simpson, our first world Champion.”
“One of the big changes from this year to last is the revolution in women’s cycling.”
Christian Prudhomme applauds 2015 Winner, Lars-Petter Nordhaug, Team Sky.
Christian Prudhomme: “The passion that people from Yorkshire have for cycling is just unbelievable. Huge crowds we saw for the Tour de France! One year after, we thought impossible to have the same for the first edition of the Tour de Yorkshire. But yes, huge crowds again.”
“The second edition of the Tour de Yorkshire is one step forward again. On Saturday we have women and men the same distance, the same media coverage. We don’t know today what Saturday will mean for the future of cycling.”
Lars-Petter Nordhaug: “We hope to win. We are the biggest team here. We really want to make the race.”
Sir Gary Verity welcomes Caleb Ewan (Orica GreenEDGE) to the Tour de Yorkshire.
Caleb Ewan: “I don’t really know how my form is now.” Coming out of a block of training. “I’ve not raced for six weeks.” Calab is hoping to improve towards the end of the race. Although the first stage is billed as a sprinters stage. “It’s not a straight forward sprint as I thought it would be”. Referring to the un-categorised climb on the Settle finish loop!
Dani King: Saturday’s Asda Women’s Race. “I’m really excited to ride here in Yorkshire, we did a reccy today and there were school kids on the side of the road screaming to cheer us.” “I feel proud that Britain is leading the way with the same media coverage.” “It’s amazing the step forward for women’s cycling and I think it’s only going to go further after this race.”
Lucy Garner: Billed also as a sprint finish for the women’s race. “It’s not flat! It’s definitely rolling. I think the weathers going to play a roll in the race, setting off early in the morning”.
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