Tour du Pays de Vaud (UCI 2.1)

Junior International Stage Race (Switzerland)

 

Event Website:  http://www.tpv.ch/index.htm

In Switzerland for the four day Junior International, the UCI ranked Tour du Pays de Vaud is a team of five British riders racing in GB colours looking to try and repeat the success the team had last year when Ian Stannard won the race overall. The riders racing in the event this year are:

Russell Hampton (British RR Champion, ODP rider)
Alex Dowsett (Olympic Development Programme - ODP - rider)
Jonathan Bellis (Olympic Development Programme - ODP - rider)
Mark McNally (Guesting for GB)
Jonathan McEvoy (Guesting for GB)

They will be up against riders in 10 other National Teams (Switzerland, Austria, Czech Rep, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, USA, Solvenia and Uzbekistan) as well 6 regional teams from around Europe and 6 trade teams.

 

STAGE 3

The final stage of the race saw a break of around 8 riders get away and with no Great Britain rider in it, aspirations they had for the overall were dashed as they went on to lose 2 minutes to the break which dominated the final overall.

 

FINAL OVERALL
13. Jonathon Bellis, Gbr @3.27
20. Alex Dowsett, Gbr @3.53
43. Jonathon McEvoy, Gbr, @7.28
67. Russell Hampton, Gbr @13.29
71. Mark McNally, Gbr, @14.46

STAGE 3
1. RATTO Daniele ITA 2:50:35.
2. VANGARDEREN Tejay USA 2:50:35. 0.
3. RECKWEG Morten DEN 2:50:35. 0.

13. MC-EVOY Jonathan GBR 2:04.
27. DOWSETT Alex GBR .
35. BELLIS Jonathan GBR
61. MCNALLY Mark GBR 5:52
93. HAMPTON Russell GBR 11:20

 

STAGE 2A & 2B

It was an up and down day for the Junior Great Britain riders today as they tackled two stages in the Swiss stage race. First on the menu was a mountain stage from Ecublens to Morgins over 82km. 'Horrible' was how the manager Darren Tudor described the final climb which was 21kilometres in length, a true Alpine mountain finish which the GB juniors had neither trained for or had experience riding over.

Prior to the mountain, a group of 13 riders had escaped the bunch and in there for Great Britain was Jonathon McEvoy, silver medallist in the British Cycling Road Race championship for juniors two weeks ago, but the Danish team saw to it that the break didn't succeed and it was together for the finish climb.

At the foot of it, Mark McNally punctured and he had to dig into his reserves to get back to the group before the jumping around started which was with 4 kilometres to go. After a strong tempo had been set by various teams looking for success on the mountain, two Italian riders made the first real move of the climb and the increase in pace saw the field spread out over the climb with Jonny Bellis the leading British rider around a minute down at the line. Behind him, Alex Dowsett was around 2 minutes down and the rest of the GB boys came in with different groups.

It was a shock to our riders who had done the race before as it wasn't a climb that was included in the race last year and it saw our leading riders drop down the overall classification with Jonny Bellis now in around 16th place. Afterwards the manager was pleased with how the riders had handled the climb considering last week they were training on the track with the Europeans in their sights.

Better was to come in the afternoon though, a time-trial in Bex over 7.8km. It was quite a technical one, around 14 bends and a steep climb with a rough surface among the obstacles for the riders. Winner, for Great Britain was Alex Dowsett who did the distance in 11.02 whilst teammate Russell Hampton was 4th in 11.11. For Russell, it was a good result considering he has had heatstroke in the race and not far behind him on the stage today, and also not 100 per cent, was Jonny Bellis in 20th with a 11.26. A ride that moved him back up to 10th overall.

A stage win in a race of four days, five stages, is always a welcome result for a team of this quality and they were by no means disgraced on the road either. They did in fact surprise a lot of the team managers who found out they were on the track as part of their preparation for the race. The fact they got up the climbs at all was an indication of what good all-rounders they are.

The final stage tomorrow is not as bad as the one this morning, and there are hopes they can again, do something as a team and perhaps who knows, fire off Jonny Bellis for a sprint win and consolidate his top 10 position. We'll have more from the team tomorrow.

 

STAGE 1 -- 112 kilometres

The first road stage of the stage race ended with two Great Britain riders in the top 5 with Jonny Bellis finishing 4th and Mark McNally in 5th place. The stage today featured a 5 kilometre climb where most of the team managed to stay with the leaders whilst Mark McNally, who struggled on it, got back when there was a regrouping on the descent. Two more climbs followed and with them came a lot of attacks which the team were able to cover although none of the breaks came to anything.

Then, the winner of the Axel tour in Holland recently attacked and got away with an Italian and the tandem managed to hold off the group, just, with the Dutch rider winning the stage. In the 60 strong bunch though, around 10 seconds behind them, the GB team got behind Jonny Bellis and in the big bunch sprint, he finished second to be fourth on the stage with Mark McNally just behind him in 5th place and Alex Dowsett also not far away.

With the big day tomorrow with a stage containing a 15km climb followed by another stage Time Trial stage in the afternoon, all the riders are still in contention with Jonny Bellis and Alex Dowsett two of the favourites from the team to do something on the overall.

RESULT
1. RECKWEG Morten (DEN) 2h50'02"
2. MANERI Sergio (ITA) @2"
3. BRAMBILLA Giorgio (ITA) @10"

4. BELLIS, Jonathan (GBR)
5. MCNALLY, Mark (GBR)
10. DOWSETT, Alex (GBR)
32. MC-EVOY, Jonathan (GBR)
61. HAMPTON, Russell (GBR)

Overall
6. Alex Dowsett @3 secs
9. Russell Hampton, @ 8 secs
11. Jonathon Bellis, @ 10 seconds
31. Mark McNally, @15 seconds
46. Jonathon McEvoy, @22 seconds

Prologue -- Lausanne
Tonight saw the first stage in the race and the lads from Britain did well with Alex Dowsett in 4th place, Russell Hampton 11th and overall hopeful, Jonny Bellis in 13th, 9.4 seconds back on the winner. Manager Darren Tudor explained it was a very technical time trial starting downhill for a kilometre before a sharp left hander and then another 1km up hill before a twisty section before they entered the Velodrome through the tunnel to finish on the track.

Overall, the manager said he was pleased with the performances ahead of a 112 kilometre stage tomorrow which is over a rolling course.

RESULT
1. NAVARDAVSKAS Ramunas (CMC) 3'25"5
2. GIRARD Thomas (FRA) @2.4 secs
3. KROL Jan-Martin (FRI) @2.4

4. DOWSETT, Alex (GBR) @2.9
11. HAMPTON, Russell (GBR) @8.2
13. BELLIS, Jonathan (GBR) @9.4
39. MCNALLY, Mark (GBR) @15.0
69. MCEVOY, Jonathan (GBR) @22.0