PODIUMS ON 2 CONTINENTS FOR GWR TEAM

GWR Team continue fine form with April podiums on both sides of the Atlantic

The team who are riding the award-winning Giant TCR Advanced for 2009 have been busy racing in April in the UK & the USA, with highlights including their first USA pro podium finish at the Squarker road-race in Colorado and a win for Sinclair at the Mountbatten Circuit Races in Portsmouth to open the month.

Mountbatten Circuit Races, Portsmouth, 1st April
The 1st of April saw victory for Dave Sinclair at the Mountbatten Circuit Races in Portsmouth! The race was multiple laps of a 1.5km circuit to total the 52km distance, and consisted of just over one hour of fast and furious racing.

Weston-Super-Mare Seafront Criteriums, Weston Super Mare, 5th April
GWR riders Nic Tilling, Dan Smith, Peter Kench and Dave Sinclair took to the Weston Supermare Crit Races on 5th April, the one-hour race consisted of a q-shaped circuit of 1.6km. Racing against 25 starters who were predominantly from the Pendragon Klass team, the GWR riders were looking to clinch their second win for the week. Followign a fast and closely battled race Sinclair ended up finishing in 5th place, Kench and Tilling followed with 8th and 9th place respectively while Smith finished in 15th place.

Easter Classic, Castle Coombe, 10th April
The Easter Classic, at the Castle Coombe motor track, was run in typical weather for April, wet and windy. The Elite race saw 50 starters including GWR team riders Nic Tiling, Peter Kench and Dan Smith race 24 laps of the circuit for a total distance of 50 miles. After a stirring pre-race team talk from Neil, the supplier of the team’s award-winning Giant TCR Advanced bikes the riders were out for nothing less than victory. An animated race ran at a consistently high pace resulted in a final bunch sprint, with Kench finishing a fine 3rd, tiling coming home 10th and Smith finishing in the main peloton.

GWR team’s 1st 2009 pro podium in U.S.A
Neil Coleman entered the Squawker road race in Durango, Colorado on Sunday. The race consisted of a 9 mile lap ridden 9 times, with each lap containing two long steep climbs, one of which ended at the finish line. The race started fast with many attacks and Neil found himself in several early moves that only gained small advantages before they were brought back. A huge attack containing Neil went away on the final climb of lap 4, by the time they reached the top a select group containing Neil and 5 other riders began to move away. Working well together they soon gained a gap of 1min 30secs which was held for the remainder of the race. On the final ascent, before the finish line, Neil launched an attack but was caught by 2 other riders with 200mtrs to go.

Crossing the line in 3rd and very happy with his first NRC podium of the year. Neil commented on a “Job well done on a hard course.” Neil’s next race is in California on Wednesday where he is riding the Sea Otter Classic 4 day stage race in Monteray.