McCartney Victory for Matt
Matt Stephens of the Linda McCartney Pro Cycling Team warmed up for his
Italian summer by sweeping to victory in the Worcester St John's Road Race at
the weekend. The race, based around the pretty village of Kempsey near the
Malvern Hills, provided excellent preparation for Matt's next European
appearance. He rides the climber's three-day Trofeo Scalatore, starting on
August 22nd.
"I was pleased - it's always nice to win," said Matt. "My season up to now
has been a bit up and down. I had great results early on in Australia and
Malaysia, and I've ridden pretty well in Europe I think, but I've had my fair
share of accidents and illness. A win boosts the confidence a bit."
In Scotland, Martin Lonie of the Linda McCartney-WCU development squad rode a
brilliant Glasgow - Dunoon road race, but could only finish 5th. The oldest
classic in Britain is now ranked as a Premier Calendar event, and thus
attracted a very strong field. Martin, racing on his home roads, won
virtually every hilltop prize and sprint over the tough course, but when the
small lead group split in half, he found himself in the wrong foursome.
"Martin has come on in leaps and bounds this year, and was very, very strong
today," said his manager Keith Lambert. "I think he was probably trying too
hard. There was a lot of friends and family out there for him, and he was
always at the front up every hill. Some of the hills were horrible too,
especially the first one." Indeed it was Martin's pace on that first climb,
after only 15 miles of racing, that split the field. A group of 18 formed,
including the man who has been in sparkling form all summer, Mark Lovatt of
ProVision-Planet X. Martin drove it on, causing another split, so only 8 men
were left at the front. National Champion John Tanner's group chased hard
behind, but could make no impression. However, Martin's day took a turn for
the worse on the last climb, where the 8 became two 4s. Mark Lovatt and Jason
McIntyre led the front foursome away, McIntyre surprising the favourite with
a devastating sprint in Dunoon. Martin led in the next group for 5th.
13.08.00: Glasgow - Dunoon - 159km
1. J McIntyre (Team Velo Ecosse) 3.47.36
2. M Lovatt (Pro Vision-Powerbar) @ 0.00
3. D Axford (Real Cost Car Imports)
5. Martin Lonie @ 4.06
22. Tom Barras @ 9.00
27. Mark Kelly
King of The Mountains:
Primes 1, 2 & 3: Martin Lonie
KOM Overall: 1. Martin Lonie
Premier Calendar Overall:
1. M Lovatt (Pro Vision-Powerbar) 309pts
2. J Winn (WCU-Private Member) 245pts
3. J Clay (SLBM) 242pts
9. Huw Pritchard 148pts
19. Matt Stephens 55pts
Results courtesy of
www.echelon-velo.co.uk |
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A first choice squad of Max Sciandri, Maurizio De Pasquale, Pascal Richard,
Mirko Puglioli, Tayeb Braikia, Bjornar Vestol, Ciaran Power, Ben Brooks and
David McKenzie meet up in Milan today for three hard races in three days: Tre
Valle Varesine tomorrow, then the Coppa Agostoni and Coppa Bernocchi. They
will be under the watchful eye of Chris Lillywhite, back in Italy for the
first time since the team's excellent Giro d'Italia.
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