A Tough but Educational Weekend

While the team didn’t get the results they wanted, Cycling Club Isle of Man learned some valuable lessons on their UK National Road Series debut at the weekend.

Cycling Club Isle of Man sent a four-rider squad to the Ryedale Grasscrete Grand Prix, the third round of the National Road Series, on Sunday. It was a brutally tough race with the UCI Continental team Saint Piran dominating the day and taking the first five places.

The pace was fast from the start with early attacks going off the front, forcing the bunch behind to chase. Corrin Leeming was well placed as the bunch hit an early narrow climb, but his chain dropped on the second climb of the day and forced him to stop just as the race was breaking apart.

Following a hard chase, he was able to get back into the group but the effort he put in to make it across would hurt him later on and he was eventually distanced.

Nick Cooper and Cameron Jeffers were still in the group after Corrin was dropped. Nick tried valiantly to jump across to the leading bunch on the third of the opening three big laps but was brought back by the chasing pack. He was dropped from the main peloton, which was seriously dwindling by this point, in the latter part of the lap.

While he worked hard to try and make it back, a puncture would ultimately end his day. In such a fast and technical race, mechanical problems can be hard to come back from. Cameron was also dropped during this phase of the race and couldn’t make it back.

For Niall, who rode the Rás Tailteann for the team last year, this race was his first experience this level of racing in the UK. He was a late addition to the squad, after the team had to change plans due to illness and was unable to finish the race but it was an invaluable opportunity to learn.

Cycling Club Isle of Man was set up to give Manx riders an opportunity to gain greater experience at compete at major races like the Ryedale Grasscrete Grand Prix. Though we had misfortune with two mechanical issues, racing Ryedale will help the team continue to build for the future.

“The guys were out in the deep end of UK racing and took a lot of lessons from the weekend,” team sport director Conor Davies said. “The race started hard on the narrow climb where riders started to try and get away from the bunch. Corrin was well placed at the front when he dropped his chain at the bottom of the second climb where the race started to split.”

“After a hard chase back, he did get to the main group, but with the bunch so strung out and going so quickly it was a bit too much for Corrin to stay with the front group and recover from that effort.”

We would like to say a massive thank you to our wonderful sponsors Eleven Group, Bikestyle, Cycle 360, Nfuse, Pro Vision Clothing, and Bettridge Motors for helping us out this year.