GWR Team

Martyn Ashfield Junior National Series Wales Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th March

Sam Redding produced a storming ride in the opening 2km TT and took 5th place. Peter, suffering with a cold, finished 15th and Sandy finished 16th. All three were less than 18 seconds behind the race leader heading into stage two. Peter Dibben took a superb 2nd place on stage two after forcing a two-man break. Sam finished in the main peloton, three seconds adrift. Sandy was in a small group a few minutes behind. Sam completed a good start to the series with a 6th place on the final stage with Sandy 12th and Peter 21st. Overall Sam finished 5th with Peter 15th and Sandy 23rd. Peter also won the sprint competition in a successful race for the GWR team.

Sunday 20th April

Peter, Sam and Sandy contested the 2nd round of the Junior National Series in Nottingham. In wet and cold conditions it took until the fifth lap of the 75 mile race for the winning break of nine riders to get clear with Sandy among them. With one lap to go, under a series of attacks, the group was reduced to five riders. In the sprint Sandy finished a fantastic 5th in his first junior year. Sam took 2nd and Peter 3rd in the bunch sprint, two minutes behind the race winner, finishing 11th and 12th.

Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th May

Peter Dibben Sam Redding and Sandy King travelled to the Isle of Man to contest the third round of the Junior National series. The trio were among 80 riders on the start line for the three stage event. In the opening 5km prologue all GWR team riders were within 5 seconds of the winner, with Pete 4th Sam 17th and Sandy 20th. Stage one saw the race split into several groups with Sandy in the lead group finishing 5th. Sam and Peter were in the second group finishing 8th and 10th respectively. Stage 3 saw the GWR team riders in the final stage a km crit on the sea front. The riders faced drizzling rain and high wind for the duration of the stage. The stage ended in a sprint with sandy 6th Peter 8th and Sam 15th. Once the time gaps had been added the overall result showed that Sandy had moved up to 4th overall, with Peter 6th and Sam 7th in a terrific result for the team. In a fine show of strength, the GWR team won the team competition by almost 8 minutes, with Sam and Sandy also taking 1st and 2nd respectively in the Green Jersey Points competition, to cap a hugely successful weekend for the team.

Sunday 25th May

With team mate Sam Redding making the first break of the day, deciding to join the chase group trying to catch the lead break proved to be the right decision for team mates Pete Dibben and Sandy King. With the chase group containing two GWR team riders, biding their time before catching the lead group of eight, until at 4 laps to go King attacked the group taking eventual winner Eric Rowsell and Luke Rowe with him. A move which brought the groups together until King again attacked on the penultimate lap and was caught just before the line missing out on victory by only 200 metres and out sprinting Luke Rowe to take an excellent second place by just over a bike’s length. After Pete Dibben’s earlier exertions whilst chasing down the lead break in dry heat caused him to withdraw, Sam Redding rounded of a successful day for the GWR team by coming in 11th. Afterwards a happy but gutted King said. “I really liked the course today, it suited me; I like the heat. I started off today sixth in the National series, and hopefully I’ve done enough today to get me to the European Road Championships at the end of June.”

Sunday 8th June
Peter and Sandy rode the 5th round of the Junior National Series in Brentwood, London. With a break from the usual road races this was a short 6 mile closed circuit with multiple laps for an hour of racing. Peter covered the early break of three riders which rapidly went clear from the peloton. Sandy coved the counter attack and after two laps managed to bridge to the lead group. The five riders worked well to nullify the peloton and allow the race to be fought out by the break. With two GWR Team riders in the break Sandy attacked early but was pulled back before the final 1km. Peter finished 2nd in the sprint for the line with Sandy coming in 5th.

GWR’s riders ranking for the National series now are Sandy 4^th,Sam 7^thand Pete 9^th.