James Griffiths Wins in Worcestershire!
Taking his cue from his seniors at the Tour of Italy, James Griffiths of the
Linda McCartney-WCU Under-23 squad took Linda McCartney's second win of the
weekend at the Arctic 2000 Tour d'Espoirs event in Worcesterhire.
The race formed Round 2 of the season long Under-23 series, the team's main
objective for 2000. James now lies in 3rd place overall, close behind leader
Jamie Alberts of the lottery-funded World Class Performance Plan.
"It's always going to be tough when we go head-to-head with the boys from the
"Plan", so I was exceptionally pleased with the performance," said the
satisfied team manager, Chris Lillywhite. Chris had flown in especially for
the event, after helping the senior team through their first week in the Giro
d'Italia.
James was the driving force in a five-man break that looked as if it would
decide the race, but they were joined by 3 dangerous chasers as the race
reached the 20km to go mark. Not wanting to wait for the sprint, and hoping
to take advantage of the tough roads around the Malvern Hills, James launched
a devastating attack that only Alberts could respond to. Alberts was on his
limit, and unable to contribute to the move, and just before the finish, they
were recaptured by the others. Alberts made an early move when the race
reached the final climb to the line, but James countered him, and coasted
over the line with 5 seconds to spare.
"I was so thrilled after seeing David McKenzie win at the Tour of Italy on
Eurosport on Saturday, that I really wanted to win today," said the happy
victor. "It's my best win yet, and this team is now going from strength to
strength.
BCF Under-23 Road Race Series - Round 2:
1. James Griffiths (Linda McCartney Foods-WCU)
2. J Alberts (Team Alsager/Adidas) @ 0.00
3. R Sharman (Alysys Bradgate) @ 10.00
Overall after Round 2:
1. J Alberts (Team Alsager/Adidas) 36pts
2. R Sharman (Alysys Bradgate) 32pts
3. James Griffiths (Linda McCartney Foods-WCU) 30pts
In another great piece of news on an amazing weekend, Huw Pritchard flew to
the Netherlands as part of the Great Britain team contesting the Olympia Tour
of Holland. The international recognition comes as a result of Huw's
excellent progress in a Linda McCartney-WCU jersey this season.
The Linda McCartney-WCU Under-23 team will be heading on to the prestigious
Tour of Serbia next week. Joining them will be American Matt De Canio of the
senior team, back from North Carolina. Huw will be with them, and then he and
Matt will go to Spain for the Circuito Montanes with some of the guys riding
the Giro d'Italia.
Speaking of which, all 7 of the Giro team made it through the dangerous
mountain stage to Abertone, finishing comfortably in the big bunch as per
team manager Sean Yates's instructions. "This is not our sort of stage,
survival is the name of the day, and then we'll look to the next stage. I'm
very happy everybody got through ok." More...
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