• Daniel Lloyd (Garmin-Cervelo) has endured a rough ride at the start of his eighth season as a continental professional. Lloyd, who lives in Queens Park, had trained well over the winter and was looking forward to a good spring campaign. However, crashing on consecutive days in his first race, The Tour of Qatar, dented his morale and forced him off the bike for a few days. He was back in the saddle for the 8 day Paris-Nice race and rode himself into good form, earning selection for the one day classic, The Tour of Flanders. Unfortunately bad luck struck again and Lloyd crashed on a corner and was forced to retire from the race. Crashing is part of professional bike racing, so there will be no complaints from Daniel. Bad luck dogged the team at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France when thieves stole all of the days racing kit as it waited to be laundered. This weekend he is in Holland for the Amstel Gold race and will then be taking a short break, his wife, Lorraine is expecting there second son in Early May and Lloyd has been giving paternity leave.
• Will Stephenson (Bournemouth Arrow/Collingwood Hotel) also suffered bad luck in the junior tour of Bristol 2 day race. A crash halfway through Saturday’s flat road stage left Stephenson with a jammed chain, he chased for 10 miles but could not regain contact with the bunch. Will sat up and rode the last 35 miles on his own to try and save some energy for the following day, eventually losing some 11 minutes. Sunday’s stage included five 4km climbs and suited the Arrow rider much better as he stayed with the lead group and pulled back a lot of lost time. 11th on the stage and 32nd on overall GC “I would have been top 10 had I not crashed on the first day” said a rueful Stephenson. Richard Horton(Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers) also found the going tough, active on the first stage and away in two breaks, Horton did not have the legs when it mattered and Sunday proved a difficult day as he lost time on the hills and finished in 32nd place. Jordan Wade (Poole Wheelers) 59th, also struggled with the pace but gained some valuable experience.
• With Jubilee fast man Paul Jones, hoping for a float day at the ACME Wheelers 25 in Wales, this weekends EDCA 27KM Time Trial at Bere Regis looks to be a battle between Gary Dighton (Poole Wheelers) & Julian Thacker (VC st Raphael). Bryce Dyer (Vc ST Raphael) won on this course last year and cannot be counted out although by his own admission he does not like the hills, veteran Terry Icke (PW) is also expected to challenge. Race HQ is at Bere Regis Sports Club and start is at Gallows Hill, with the first rider off at 8.01am.
• Club time trials got underway this week; Bournemouth jubilee attracted 21 riders to Furzehill. With Nick Spencer winning in 24.49, Les Pick 25.12 and Luke Gray (Hargroves Cycles) 25.19. The New Forest cc had 43 sign on for the Ringwood –Sopley course Dan Ahearn (Cambridge Uni CC) 22.04, John Sibley (Utag-Yamaha) 22.55 and Gary Allen (GA Cycles) 23.08. Two up pairing Julian Jenkinson & Stephen Whitewick (Utag-Yamaha) clocked a speedy 21.02, to gain some revenge for their defeat to Ahearn the previous week. 23 entries for CC Weymouths 5, 1st Bryce Dyer (vc St Raphael) 9.46,Julian Thacker 10.28 & John Chapman (cc Weymouth)10.28. Poole Wheelers/Weesex RC were forced to cancel due to rain and poor visibility. Bournemouth Arrow, 23 riders, 1,Dan Ahearn (NFCC) 22.12, 2, Will Stephenson 23.48 3, Nick Spencer (BJW)23.50.
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