Over the last week, PPYCC member Freddie Newman has taken part in the North West Tour and the South East Circuit Championships. Freddie has been riding with real confidence and strength in recent road events, and is now U12 South East Circuit Champion! Well done Freddie! Good luck in next weekend’s 4th round of the National Youth Circuit at Hillingdon.
Freddie’s dad, Alan, writes:
Freddie took part in his first North West Tour (which is part of the National Youth Circuit Series) over the Bank Holiday weekend where he built a high overall final placing upon strong time trialling and confident bunch riding skills. The race consisted of a time trial on day one, one circuit race on day 2 and then two stages on another circuit on day 3.
In the first stage, which was a 500m uphill time trial in Williamson Park, he was at one point the fastest rider on the leader’s golden throne as the current leader of the TT, eventually finishing 6th.
Photo: http://bit.ly/1FNkale
The next three stages were all closed circuit stages. The first in Preston was a 20km race around a 1.6km circuit. With it being a very competitive field (average speed for the stage was 37kph) most of the 50 riders stayed together for much of the race and Freddie worked hard to stay in the front 10 or so riders throughout, which meant he stayed out of any trouble. In the end 35 or so riders contested the bunch sprint and having found himself on the wrong side of the bunch going in to the final bend and a little too far back he finished 25th overall. However as he was given the same time as the winner he slipped slightly to 7th in the overall GC.
The final two stages were then held on the Salt Ayre circuit in Lancaster. The first, a stage of 10km, was held in the clockwise direction and it followed much the same format as stage 2. Again Freddie maintained a strong position in the top 10 or so riders and making sure he was in a better position for the bunch sprint of 35 riders he finished 13th. This time he got his positioning in the final straight much further forward but found that he didn’t have a wheel as he came round the outside the final bend. However he maintained his 7th position in the GC.
In the final stage, a slightly shorter 7.5km, he now felt confident that he could put in a really strong finish and that is how it tuned out. He’d worked out from the previous two stages what worked for other riders and started this stage in a confident mood and again stayed in the top 10 riders for all of the stage. However this time around he knew he needed to be high, on a good wheel and most importantly on the inside going in to the final bend. And this is what he did. As he left the final corner he found himself very near the front (avoiding a crash behind him) and whilst riders were blocking his way forward he rode from wheel to wheel and waited for gaps to open up in front of him and eventually he found clear road ahead and only three riders in front. Visibly gritting his teeth he pushed for home and took 4th place and 3 bonus seconds on the line which pushed him back up to 6th place in the overall GC (out of 50 riders).
SE Road Champs:
So then I took him down to Fowlmead for the SE Road Championships today as he was desperate to see how his race fitness faired in a regional race. In a much smaller field of around 20 riders, over 12km, the race split early on making a selection of 7 or so riders and he took in 2nd place in a smaller bunch sprint. However as the winner was technically a rider from the Eastern Region he was presented with the SE Regional Championship!!
So all in all a great week’s racing. Next weekend he returns to the National Series Races with the next round (4) at Hillingdon.