Young GB Dominate in Europe Trip

 

Story posted April 30

Video: http://www.wielersite-zvl.com/

Hot on the heels of a British victory in the Junior Paris-Roubaix classic, a group of riders from the British Cycling Olympic Development Programme and Talent Team travelled to Holland and Belgium where they triumphed over the home based riders much to the delight of the team management but not so much delight for the locals. The team sent this report to the British Cycling press office...

 

Wim Hendriks Trofee
The 2008 Wim Hendriks Trofee took place on Saturday 26th April in unseasonally warm and sunny conditions. Starting in Belgium and finishing in Holland, this 70km race for Neiuwlingen riders was contested by 165 starters.  British Cycling sent two teams of three riders Daniel McLay, Sam Harrison, Lewis Balycki and Ben Dunn, Chris Nicholson and Tom Moses.

 

The 70km route included three sections of cobbles on the way out to a finishing circuit, where two more sets would be covered three times in total.  After 40 mins of waiting on the start line in the shadeless pen, the race began with a short neutralised section in which holding your position was a challenge alone.

Following a frantic opening section where all moves were short lived, a brief lull provided Welsh rider Sam J Harrison with the opportunity he was looking for… Harrison attacked as they approached the finishing circuit with still more than half the race to go, taking one other Belgium rider with him.

 

As the race crossed the cobbled section for the first time here, Leicestershire's McLay seized his opportunity and made a solo move to quickly cross to the leaders. This now combined force was too much and the Belgium rider quickly slipped back to the main peloton. Meanwhile in the main peloton, a chasing group of seven had formed. Behind them, another four riders were also trying to cross, including Brit Ben Dunn.

When these four failed to commit to the chase, Dunn jumped across to the next chase group alone. At this point, Balyckyi, Nicholson, and Moses were all contained in the main group of 60-70 riders at around 40sec. Having seized a prime opportunity, the two Olympic Development Programme (ODP) riders were now out alone and riding strongly together.

 

As they came through to take the bell, the gap remained at around 40sec to the chase group, containing a well placed Dunn and now over 1 minute to the remainder of the peloton which was now missing Nicholson who was riding alone after an unfortunate moment stuck behind a crash.

Coming in to the finish, McLay and Harrison sprinted it out between them to decide the race winner. McLay started to wind it up from the front and jumped with 150m to go to take the win, however, both riders celebrated their dominant performance as they crossed the line.

 

Dunn took 6th place in the sprint from the chasing group. Balyckyi finished 34th in the bunch and as third counting rider for the British Cycling A Team, gave them the win in the Team prize. Moses followed in 58th and Nicholson finished in 92nd which led the British Cycling B Team to take 4th in the Team prize.

Results
1st  D.McLay     1hr37.50        68.6km
2nd  S.Harrison  @st
3rd  J.Meijers  @00.23

6th  B.Dunn  @00.30

 

34th L.Balycki  @01.41
58th T.Moses  @01.41
92nd C.Nicholson @07.49

 

Roeselare Kermesse 27th April
On yet another sunny morning, 64 riders assembled to complete eight laps of a 7.5km circuit that looped in and out of Roeselare. After having a free hand the day before, we discussed what we could do as a team in the event, and with a flat course and with fairly calm conditions the race plan was to cover any moves with at least one rider, with an emphasis that all riders were active and prominent in the race.

 

With less than half a lap gone, Tom Moses rolled into a small break. As this got brought back, Sam Harrison counter attacked, quickly gaining a 20 second lead over the bunch.  Behind Harrison, a chasing group of six was starting to form, including Ben Dunn. Dan McLay then crossed on his own to the chasing group from the bunch.

 

Although McLay and Dunn were not contributing to the chase, Harrison was soon within sight and the front of the race was all back together with the bunch at 30 seconds.  Within two laps, a frustrated Harrison tried his luck again and was soon to build an unassailable lead. 

In the bunch, Moses, Balyckyi and Nicholson were becoming a force to be reckoned with, eventually riding across to the chasing group - placing five British Cycling riders in the chasing group of 11. With Sam safely 40 seconds up the road, the British riders began to attack the lead group. McLay went first and was soon well clear of the group to take an eventual second place 30 seconds down on Harrison.

 

The Talent Team riders in the chase group got organised for the finish and set up a lead-out for Balyckyi which was delivered in style and resulted in the British riders taking 3rd (Balyckyi), 5th Dunn, 8th Nicholson and 12th for Moses (following an altercation with a Belgian on the final corner).

Results
1st  S.Harrison  1hr35.00  58km
2nd  D.McLay  @.30
3rd  L.Balycki  @1.50

 

5th  B.Dunn  @1.50
8th  C.Nicholson @1.53
12th T.Moses  @1.55