Tour Series King: Jon Mould Interview

King of the Tour Series with 11 wins since 2013, Jon Mould talks to us about racing that suits him so well, he keeps on winning every year.

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Tour Series King: Jon Mould Interview

From Colchester in 2013 to Croydon in 2016, Jon Mould has spent four seasons winning in the Tour Series. Jon has been consistent in getting his hands into the air and after the win in 2013, came three in 2014 (Stoke, Durham & Edinburgh) and then one in Redditch in 2015.

That made five and he was up there with the likes of Dean Downing and Ed Clancy but then in 2016, he went ballistic and won no less than six out of ten rounds. It was nothing short of stunning! His winning started in Motherwell and he kept on getting the hands up in Redditch, Aberystwyth, Durham, Stevenage and Croydon. The luck ran out in Portsmouth when he crashed heavily and did some damage to the body but it had been a series performance that is unlikely ever to be repeated.

His wins are even more remarkable when you see that the courses are all so different. Motherwell is a straight forward course with a stiff drag to the finish, like Redditch, where as Croydon and Stevenage are flatter and tighter (corners) where as Durham is just plain bloody freakish with its ‘death corner’ (off camber at the bottom of a steep hill) and followed by a long cobbled climb up to the finish.

The first win for Jon at Colchester in 2013

Last week, the King of the Tour Series returned to Britain after a ‘winter’ in Australia topped off by a visit to Los Angeles for a World Track Cup. Before he got racing on this side of the world, Jon was on ‘media’ duties at the Tour Series photo call.

His year has already seen him winning a stage of a UCI race in New Zealand following three races in the Bay Crits which was his warm up racing for 2017. So far in Britain, he’s been second in the Eddie Soens behind his team mate and rival for the most wins in the Tour Series – Ed Clancy and Jon then won the next day in the hilly Tour of the Mining Valleys.

He has one more race in Wales and then the Tour of Normandy in France. At the Tour Series photo call, he explained how it was good to return to see where the racing was going to be. When asked for his favourite round, he replied “There’s no Welsh rounds unfortunately (no Aberystwyth which has been part of the series for many years) but Redditch is one of my favourites and it would be nice to win there for the third time in a row after two wins back to back. Durham I like, as well as new ones when they come into the series.”

One of those new ones is Wembley, home to an iconic stadium and when asked about it, the Welshman cheekily said “That should be a nice one that. It’s the second best stadium in Britain, behind the one in Cardiff … LoL … I’ll definitely be looking forward to coming to London as we always get a good crowd.”

One of the changes, besides the new venues at Northwich, Wembley, Bath and Aberdeen, is the series being over a shorter time frame – 21 days. Starting on May 9th and finishing on May 29th. “The whole series over a shorter time frame should be fun” says Jon.

“The racing should be close and hopefully there will be some tired legs after week one and week two and that will help me. I think over three weeks, it will be better for everyone; Sweetspot and the riders. It’s going to be an intense three weeks on the road but once you have them out of the way, we can then crack on with the rest of the season”.

With races every second day (including the Lincoln GP in the first week), the riders will spend pretty much three weeks on the road with very intense hour long races to get through. The races are also in the evening and that can make it difficult for riders hyped up on adrenalin and caffeine to sleep too but not for Jon!

Looking back at Jon’s wins in 2016, not only were they on different courses but also in different ways. “I won on my own or in a bunch sprint or from a small group but I don’t mind how I do it! You have to have a bit of luck to win bike races, but you make your own luck in these races too.”

“I was just there in the right place going for the win and I’m always going to go for the win when I can. It worked out and it was great to get the hands up in the air and I’m looking forward to doing it again this year”.

The Tour Series in 2017 follows a month of road racing in April where every weekend, many of the team will be competing in prems and selection permitting, in the Tour of Yorkshire. Jon acknowledges that the crits can be a lot different to road races.

“I am fortunate the crits suit me so much which is probably why I have won so many. It’s that ‘Points’ style of racing of sprinting, recovering, sprinting again. That is right up my street. I will though spend a bit of time doing some speed work or possibly getting on the track”.

“If you race in Europe though, the last hour of a race is just as intense as a Tour Series crit so if you have a stage race or more in your legs, that definitely helps as well. With the series being three weeks long, you will be glad of a stage race in the legs!”

Having tried to follow an elite rider around a crit circuit, one of the key things a rider needs in their arsenal of weapons is the ability to get around corners quickly. Very quickly indeed. For Jon, he did that very well being the crit king although even Kings are dethroned and he was thrown from his steed at Portsmouth in the last round.

The ability to get round the corners quickly is something that comes to riders over time Jon explained adding that in a pack of up to 50 riders, all wanting to be at the front, means they don’t get to choose the fastest line and learn to adapt and corner quickly in order not to lose the wheel in front which is something that some guest riders not in the ‘zone’ tend to do.

Jon finished by paying tribute to his Continental Pro Ltd tubulars, 25mm wide and rubber which does as the Conti slogan says “get the grip) “I’ve always got on with them really well and with the 25s on the wheels I’m good to go”.

With two months before the first round of the Tour Series, there is a lot of racing to be done and one rider to watch will be Jon … can he dominate the series again or will some new riders coming into the series create some surprises? Two months to wait …

The Who’s Who of the Tour Series

Jon Mould 11
Colchester 2013, Stoke 2014, Durham 2014, Edinburgh 2014, Redditch 2015, Motherwell 2016,
Redditch 2016, Aberystwyth 2016, Durham 2016, Stevenage 2016, Croydon 2016

Ed Clancy 8
Southport 2009, Aberystwyth 2011, Peterborough 2012, Woking 2013 , Aberystywth 2013,
Torquay 2013, Aberystywth 2015, Peterborough 2015

Graham Briggs 5
Milton Keynes 2009, Peterborough 2011, Colchester 2012, Barrow 2014, Edinburgh 2016

Dean Downing 5
Exeter 2009, Woking 2009, Exeter 2010, Peterborough 2010, Colchester 2011

Kristian House 5
Kettering 2010, Durham 2012, Aberystywth 2012, Durham 2013, Motherwell 2015
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Chris Lawless 3
Barrow 2015, Stoke 2016, Ramsey 2016

Tom Scully 3
Redditch 2013, Ipswich 2013, Ryde 2015

Marcin Bialoblocki 3
Torquay 2012, Croydon 2015, Bath 2015

Scott Thwaites 3
Stoke 2011, Kirkcaldy 2012, Oxford 2012

Zak Dempster 3
Durham 2011, Canary Wharf 2012, Woking 2012

Ian Wilkinson 2
Peterborough 2009, Woking 2011

Rob Hayles 2 *
Blackpool 2009, Southend 2009
* won the first round in 2009 but was DQ’d

Ian Bibby 2
Portsmouth 2010, Stoke 2010

Chris Opie 2
Canary Wharf 2013, Aylsham 2013

Alex Blain 2
Southport 2010 , Portsmouth 2016

Mattieu Boulo 2
Redditch 2014, Gorey Hill Climb 2014

Tom Stewart 2
Woking 2014, Gorey 2014

Yanto Barker 2
Kirkcaldy 2013, Stoke 2013

1 victory each
Tobyn Horton Canary Wharf 2014
Russell Downing Stoke 2009
Tom Southam Colchester 2009
Darren Lapthorn Chester 2009
Tony Gibb Canary Wharf 2010
Malcolm Elliott Durham 2010
Jack Bauer Chester 2010
Dean Windsor Woking 2010
Rob Partridge Oldham 2011
Jonny McEvoy Canary Wharf 2011
Niklas Gustavsson Redditch 2012
Bernie Sulzberger Stoke 2012
Matt Gibson Peterborough 2014
Felix English Aberystwyth 2014
George Harper Hill Climb 2015
Richard Handley Durham 2015
Steele von Hoff Canary Wharf 2015

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