Junior Tour of the Mendips

Two local riders, Will Stephenson(Primera/Specialized) & Jordan Wade (VC ST Raphael/Waites Contracts) are riding the Junior Tour of the Mendips. Both Wade and Stephenson haver shown good form ahead this National Junior series race.

Dave Wade reports.....



"A dull chilly damp morning awaited two local riders, Will Stevenson (Primera/Specialized) and Jordan Wade ( VC St Raphael) at this year’s Junior Tour of the Mendips Race One. At 1000hrs, after a very brief briefing, the 80 Junior riders rolled out onto the Chew Stoke Lake course, flat in most places, several rolling up and downs and one hill of any significance, to do battle with each other. Quite a talented field set off that included Jonathon Dibben, a well-known British Cycling Squad member and a strong Hargroves Cycles Team.

After Lap One a brave rider in a bold move passed the start/finish line with a 45 second lead but by Lap two this rider was joined by another 8 riders meaning a group of nine had a healthy 1. 45sec lead. It was then that Jon Dibben recognised the danger of this group pulling away so he and another rider pulled away from the Peloton to try and make the gap which they managed at the end of Lap 3. At the beginning of Lap 4 Will Stevenson also must have sensed danger and he too accelerated away from the main group in an effort to close the gap on the leading group now totalling 11. At the end of Lap 4 onto Lap 5 Will Stevenson was back in the main group but somehow the Peloton had managed to reduce a 1.40sec gap to just 18 seconds, the reason for this we found out later was that the front 11 had crashed due to several riders coming together, take nothing away from Will though, he worked very hard to close the gap on the leading bunch. While all this was going on Jordan was safely tucked away in the main Peloton hanging in there.

By Lap 6, the lead group had just barely 15 secs up on the field and included Jon Dibben that we thought would pull away but coming to the end of Lap 6 onto lap seven the Peleton was almost one. Then approaching the Bell Lap the race changed, a group of 4 were away with a 15 sec lead over a second group of five with the Peloton a further 10 secs back. Now there was only 20 mins to the finish and reports came over the radio that 5 miles out the group of 5 and 4 had joined and were about 20 secs ahead of the main group. Jon Dibben was not part of this group nor Will or Jordan. Coming into the finish straight the front group had a clear lead over the Peloton and it was this nine (sorry, don’t know who they were but one was Joe Kirkham from Hargroves) who contested the sprint finish. (Seb Bayliss Mid-Devon CC) A further 20 secs or so back the main Peloton sprinted to the line in mass, too difficult to say who where and when placed where but Will and Jordan were in the main group.

Well, that’s Stage One over, the sprinters have had their day but tomorrow the climbers will have their revenge tackling a really difficult mountainous stage race that includes four UCI classed climbs."
Results to Come

1. Seb Bayliss (Mid Devon)
2. Ed Laverack (Team Tredz)
3. Scott Davies (M&D Cycles /Kinetica RT)

36th,Jordan Wade@23
44th,W Stephenson @23s