JUNIORS FLY HIGH FOR GWR TEAM AT ISLE OF MAN TOUR

GWR Team Press & PR Office, 6th May 2008

The GWR Team/Scott Wilson/Giant Junior squad made their presence felt at the third round of the National Junior Series on the Isle of Man at the weekend.

The three man team of Sam Redding, 17 from Waterlooville, and 16 year olds Sandy King, from Windsor and Peter Dibben from Southampton, faced 50 rivals in three days of competition, where teams from Holland, Scotland and the Isle of Man were among those that made up a strong entry for the event.

The opening stage was a Prologue Time Trial, where in sunny skies on the Douglas Promenade each of the competitors faced a 1.29 kilometre flat out effort on Friday evening. Clocking the fastest time for the team was Dibben, who despite misjudging a corner, recorded 1 minute 46.30 seconds, less than 2 seconds behind the winner to claim 4th position, while Redding stopped the clocks on 1 minute 50.74 seconds, for 17th, and King took 20th with a time of 1 minute 51.49 seconds.

Saturday saw Stage 2, where the riders faced 11 laps of an arduous circuit, for a distance of 102.7 kilometres based near Peel, and using the notorious road known as “The Switchback”. Forcing the issue from the start, the trio was on the attack early, with Redding going clear with one of the Scottish team. With points on offer for the Green Jersey competition as they passed the finish line on each lap, Redding won the first two sprints, and having taken an early lead in the competition, he decided that he would target securing the Green Points jersey by the end of the day. After around 20 kilometres of freedom the duo were pulled back, but immediately his GWR teammate King went on the attack with Alex Paton (Activ Cycles).

The pair steadily built a lead, King gaining points towards the Green Jersey competition along the way, but three riders began to close in on them. Chris Whorrall (Isle of Man) and Chris Legg (awcycles.co.uk) moved clear of the peloton, and they were joined by Redding. The trio caught the two leaders and the quintet then extended their advantage to 1minute 30 seconds, with the GWR duo continuing to accumulate points in the Green Jersey competition. Having allowed the lead group to stay at the head of affairs for some time, but with none of the series leaders among them, a group of about 10 riders formed a chase, with Dibben, following the move.

This group caught the lead five with just over two laps to go, and with the pressure now on from the series leaders, the group fractured, with King joining the move of six who went clear, while Redding, having done enough to secure the lead in the Green Jersey competition, and Dibben joining a group of four. King eventually crossed the line 5th, while Redding took 8th and Dibben 10th, which reflected their position overall after Day 2, and they also held a strong lead in the team competition.

Sundays final stage, a 60 kilometre race over 25 laps on an L shaped circuit on Ramsey seafront was held in heavy rain which made the U turn at either end of the circuit treacherous and with a strong wind blowing, caution would be the order of the day. A fast opening few laps saw several riders try to break clear, but with points on offer again during the race, Redding was prominent towards the head of the peloton. However having failed to score in the days opening intermediate sprint, he was happy to allow a two man break, both of whom did not feature highly in the Green Jersey competition standing, build a lead over the rapidly dwindling peloton, and take the majority of the points on offer, while several riders suffered crashes and punctures on the wet roads.

As the race entered the closing laps, the lead duo were caught, and as the lead peloton approached the final U turn before the 400 metre dash to the finish line, it was nervous moments for the GWR trio. But having negotiated the final turn safely, they headed for the line, albeit losing a handful of seconds to cross the line with King 6th, Dibben 8th and Redding 15th.

However, as the Final Overall Classification was published, to show that recent winner of the Junior Paris Roubaix, Andrew Fenn (Dolan RT) had taken victory, it showed that King had moved up to 4th overall, with Dibben 6th and Redding 7th in a terrific result for the team. In a fine show of strength, they won the team competition by almost 8 minutes, with Redding and King also taking 1st and 2nd respectively in the Green Jersey Points competition, to cap a hugely successful weekend for the team.

Next weekend will see the GWR Team split their forces, with the Tour of the Milburys and the BEC CC Road Race among their targets.