Women’s Tour Series – Stevenage

Rebecca Durrell sprints home in a 1-2 for top team in the 2017 Women’s Tour Series, Drops Cycling in the final round at Stevenage

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Women’s Tour Series – Stevenage | by Gordon Wiseman

Drops Make Up for 2016 Disappointments!

Drops Cycling Team confirmed their status as Queens of the 2017 Matrix Fitness Grand Prix series tonight with a superb, tactical win, led home by Rebecca Durrell who was scoring her debut win in the series.

With their UCI World Tour pedigree, Drops were many observers favourites to win this year’s Matrix series and since Alice Barnes had led home the team in Redditch just 20 nights ago, they’ve been Team leaders ever since. But the team had been in a similar position going into the final round last year in Portsmouth but just a few hundred yards from the finishing line, their dreams fell apart. Something team manager Tom Varney was brave enough to recognise as the team prepared for tonight’s final round action:

“We know we’re in a very good position before tonight’s racing gets started. But we’re also very aware of what happened last year and the disappointment we all then had to deal with. So tonight our target is to finish the job we all started in Redditch, being at the top of the team standings”. Before the 60-strong field lined up for the final race of the series, the teams had to line up for a 2km TTT. A very strong Team WNT quintet, led by the Rio 2016 gold medallist Katie Archibald, were head and shoulders faster than the opposition setting a winning time that was more than 2 ½ seconds faster than second placed Team Breeze.

Drops, perhaps keeping their powder dry for their biggest Matrix challenge of the evening, only set the fifth quickest time of the day and so finished in their lowest Team position all year. The 1km Stevenage circuit is probably the least technically challenging that the Matrix competitors face all season but because of that, the racing tends to be more compact and that’s exactly how this year’s final round played out.

Run off at a fast and furious pace, as each lap came to an end it seemed another team had moved to the front of the race and were set to make “the move” that would break the field.

The usual suspects were there, of course; Drops, Team Breeze, Storey Racing and Team WNT, but others were also keen to make sure that they weren’t going to be forgotten with Team OnForm, Sunsport Velo and Team Ford EcoBoost all showing that they too had an important part to play as the 2017 Matrix series was coming to an end.

As eventual winner Becky Durrell sportingly recognised after the race, “Team OnForm were, excuse the pun, on fire tonight”. In the laps leading up to the Eisberg Sprints, EJ Harris (Storey Racing) made sure she was positioned at the front of the race and in doing so, she won both sprints and so confirmed her ownership of the Eisberg Sprints Jersey. “I’m really pleased with both tonight’s result and winning the jersey overall. But there’s been so much team work involved in me getting this jersey”.

With about 30 minutes racing completed, Gaby Shaw (Team WNT) opened what seemed to be the biggest gap of the evening but she was only able to hold that for just about a lap before being pulled back. Archibald then moved to the front but was quickly chased down by Durrell and so still the front of the race held together.  Which is how the race stayed at the front into the final laps and, with three laps to go, lapped riders were pulled out to leave the road clear as the 30 35 strong front group positioned itself for what would be the biggest bunch sprint of the whole series.

Drops seemed to be holding back to give themselves the space they needed and as the riders exited the final corner of the race, Lucy Shaw, coming back from a serious fall at the Lincoln GP, performed the perfect lead out for Durrell and between them they held on to a perfect team 1-2 ahead of the ever-present Archibald. “We won the first round with Alice at Redditch and led the Team competition from then onwards and so for me to win tonight, my first ever Matrix win, is fantastic” said Durrell after collecting her jersey as winner of the overall Individual rider’s competition.

“To be honest, it’s been a bit frustrating to have 2nds, 3rds and other placings and I’d stated thinking ‘when is the win going to come?’ So tonight I just thought ‘I’ll concentrate on the team competition, work with the girls and enjoy it’. And I think that’s when you really perform at your best”.

And for Team Manager Tom Varney, at least he didn’t have to face another winter of being so nearly winners: “I’m just so chuffed with our result tonight. We said at the start of this year’s Matrix Series that we were determined to win and that’s exactly what we’ve done”.

Post-Race Quotes

Tom Varney (Team Manager, Drops; winner overall Team Competition): “I’m just so chuffed with our result tonight. We said at the start of this year’s Matrix Series that we were determined to win and that’s exactly what we’ve done. Becky really deserved her win tonight, she’s worked so, so hard over the winter. She’s had highs and lows and tonight is certainly a high for Becky and a high for the team”.

EJ Harris (Storey Racing – Eisberg Sprints Jersey winner Stevenage and overall): “I’m really pleased with both tonight’s result and winning the jersey overall. There’s been so much team work involved in me getting this jersey. Initially it was just a way of getting me towards the front of each race but once we discovered that I could win the sprints it started to become a target for the team and now we’ve got the Jersey. I didn’t think I’d be able to win a Matrix round’ – at Croydon – ‘but it turns out that I’ve been getting better in each one. That again is due to the team being behind me and so we’ve done really really well to win what we have done”.

Rebecca Durrell (Drops; Stevenage winner, Individual overall winner, Brother fastest lap):
“I’m really, really chuffed. The pressure was always going to be on for the team in the last round, even if it’s just from within ourselves. I knew I’d already won the Individual overall before the start of tonight’s race but I’d deliberately not said anything about that as that would have been even more pressure. So now we’re just all relieved.

“Last year didn’t finish as we’d hoped as we missed out on the team win in just the last few hundred yards. We did talk about that at bit in preparing for this race and we were all very honest in recognising mistakes we made and that perhaps last year we went into the race a bit too confident and so perhaps took some unnecessarily risks. So this year we thought we’d ease it back a little bit, play a bit of a safe game but still be up there at the front of the race, getting in the mix of things. But, it worked!

“We won the first round with Alice at Redditch and led the Team competition from then onwards and so for me to win tonight, my first ever Matrix win, is fantastic. To be honest, it’s been a bit frustrating to have 2nds, 3rds and other placings and I’d stated thinking ‘when is the win going to come?’ so I’d started putting pressure on myself but I knew it was lurking there but I just couldn’t get it. So tonight I just thought ‘I’ll concentrate on the team competition, work with the girls and enjoy it’. And I think that’s when you really perform at your best.

“It was a really close race throughout with so many different teams showing themselves at the front. We knew from last year that, apart from the break that took Alice away’ – Alice Barnes won from an early solo break – ‘the race should pretty much stay together. We knew Katie Archibald would be strong but that we could play that to our strengths. Team OnForm were, excuse the pun, on fire tonight and in a way that helped us as they created the gaps that others had to chase down and so use their energy in doing so. But when it finally came down to the bunch sprint I was very fortunate that Lucy Shaw gave me the best lead out I could have hoped for. I know I wouldn’t have won the sprint without her being there for me tonight. And she did that coming back from a bad fall at the Lincoln so it was 50/50 whether she’d actually ride tonight”.

Simon Howes (Team OnForm): “We rode really well tonight and we had a strong team. Before the race, we just said ‘go out and race, it’s not about the result tonight’ and that’s exactly what they did, it was great. And from tonight’s result and the points we got in the Team Time Trial earlier today’ – Team OnForm set the 4th quickest time, beating Drops – ‘we’ve done enough to move up to fifth place in the final overall team standings so I’m more than delighted with that”.

RESULTS

Individual Classification Round 8 – Stevenage
1 Rebecca Durrell Drops 32 0:44:44.323 35
2 Lucy Shaw Drops 32 0:44:44.411 +0.088 34
3 Katie Archibald Team WNT 32 0:44:44.518 +0.195 33
4 Elinor Barker Team Breeze 32 0:44:44.783 +0.460 32
5 Charlotte Broughton Team Ford EcoBoost 32 0:44:44.897 +0.574 31
6 Eleanor Dickinson Team Breeze 32 0:44:45.038 +0.715 30
7 Gaby Shaw Team WNT 32 0:44:45.696 +1.373 29
8 Anna Henderson Team OnForm 32 0:44:45.867 +1.544 28
9 Elizabeth Jane Harris Storey Racing 32 0:44:45.914 +1.591 27
10 Amy Hill Team OnForm 32 0:44:45.967 +1.644 26
11 Neah Evans Storey Racing 32 0:44:45.972 +1.649 25
12 Alice Sharpe NCC Group Kuota Torelli 32 0:44:46.348 +2.025 24
13 Elizabeth Banks Sunsport Velo 32 0:44:46.397 +2.074 23
14 Annasley Park Drops 32 0:44:46.669 +2.346 22
15 Alicia Speake Team OnForm 32 0:44:46.749 +2.426 21
16 Manon Lloyd Team Breeze 32 0:44:47.149 +2.826 20
17 Sian Botteley Team OnForm 32 0:44:47.292 +2.969 19
18 Hannah Payton Drops 32 0:44:47.459 +3.136 18
19 Charmaine Porter Team Ford EcoBoost 32 0:44:47.463 +3.140 17
20 Megan Barker Team Breeze 32 0:44:47.777 +3.454 16
21 Jennifer George Storey Racing 32 0:44:48.350 +4.027 15
22 Julie Erskin Team OnForm 32 0:44:48.580 +4.257 14
23 Monica Dew Storey Racing 32 0:44:48.751 +4.428 13
24 Emma Lewis APRIRE Bicycles HSS Hire 32 0:44:48.842 +4.519 12
25 Mel Lowther Team Breeze 32 0:44:49.021 +4.698 11
26 Annie Simpson Drops 32 0:44:49.113 +4.790 10
27 Lauren Humphreys APRIRE Bicycles HSS Hire 32 0:44:49.975 +5.652 9
28 Jo Tindley Team Ford EcoBoost 32 0:44:50.018 +5.695 8
29 Beth Crumpton Storey Racing 32 0:44:50.972 +6.649 7
30 Mads Scott NCC Group Kuota Torelli 32 0:44:51.325 +7.002 6
31 Madeleine Gammons VeloSchils Interbike 32 0:44:52.453 +8.130 5
32 Beth Hayward Team Ford EcoBoost 32 0:44:52.721 +8.398 4
33 Lydia Boylan Team WNT 32 0:45:54.093 +1:09.770 3
34 Rebecca Goodson VeloSchils Interbike 29 0:41:14.140 +3 Laps 2
35 Seonaid Thompson Sunsport Velo 28 0:40:41.856 +4 Laps 1
36 Hannah Larbalestier Sunsport Velo 28 0:40:42.552 +4 Laps
37 Chloe Weller APRIRE Bicycles HSS Hire 28 0:40:42.847 +4 Laps
38 Holly Flannery Team Jadan Weldtite p.b Vive Le Velo 28 0:40:43.431 +4 Laps
39 Alice Staniford Team RGB Building Supplies 28 0:40:43.539 +4 Laps
40 Jenny Powell Team Ford EcoBoost 28 0:40:43.695 +4 Laps
41 Louise Scupham Team Jadan Weldtite p.b Vive Le Velo 28 0:40:44.314 +4 Laps
42 Steph Clayton Sunsport Velo 28 0:40:44.822 +4 Laps
43 Keira McVitty Team WNT 28 0:40:55.730 +4 Laps
44 Tasha Reddy Liv Epic Coaching 28 0:41:07.653 +4 Laps
45 Lucy Driver Team RGB Building Supplies 28 0:41:12.909 +4 Laps
46 Rosie Walsh Sunsport Velo 28 0:41:12.942 +4 Laps
47 Julie Elder APRIRE Bicycles HSS Hire 28 0:41:13.645 +4 Laps
48 Sandra Mackay VeloSchils Interbike 28 0:41:18.225 +4 Laps
49 Emily Kay Team WNT 28 0:41:36.971 +4 Laps
50 Steph Mottram NCC Group Kuota Torelli 27 0:40:44.638 +5 Laps
51 Sophie Williams Team RGB Building Supplies 27 0:40:45.349 +5 Laps
52 Charlotte Cole-Hossain Liv Epic Coaching 27 0:40:45.627 +5 Laps
53 Lucinda Kerr Team Jadan Weldtite p.b Vive Le Velo 27 0:40:46.057 +5 Laps
54 Isla Rush APRIRE Bicycles HSS Hire 27 0:40:49.887 +5 Laps
55 Georgia Bullard Team Jadan Weldtite p.b Vive Le Velo 27 0:41:05.244 +5 Laps
56 Katherine Kimber VeloSchils Interbike 27 0:41:05.808 +5 Laps
57 Jenny Bolsom Team RGB Building Supplies 25 0:40:56.503 +7 Laps
… continued after advert

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Overall
1 Rebecca Durrell Drops 254
2 Annasley Park Drops 205
3 Manon Lloyd Team Breeze 199
4 Charlotte Broughton Team Ford EcoBoost 193
5 Lydia Boylan Team WNT 178
6 Gaby Shaw Team WNT 174
7 Emily Nelson Team Breeze 173
8 Megan Barker Team Breeze 170
9 Eleanor Dickinson Team Breeze 167
10 Amy Hill Team OnForm 165
11 Elizabeth Jane Harris Storey Racing 163
12 Charmaine Porter Team Ford EcoBoost 153
13 Alice Sharpe NCC Group Kuota Torelli 145
14 Katie Archibald Team WNT 135
15 Eileen Roe Team WNT 133
16 Alice Barnes Drops 130
17 Anna Henderson Team OnForm 125
18 Jennifer George Storey Racing 121
19 Neah Evans Storey Racing 114
20 Elizabeth Banks Sunsport Velo 99
21 Lucy Shaw Drops 92
22 Elinor Barker Team Breeze 84
23 Annie Simpson Drops 81
24 Sian Botteley Team OnForm 73
25 Julie Erskin Team OnForm 73
26 Lauren Dolan Liv Epic Coaching 71
27 Anna Docherty Liv Epic Coaching 71
28 Jo Tindley Team Ford EcoBoost 69
29 Beth Crumpton Storey Racing 68
30 Hannah Walker Team WNT 65
31 Becca Carter Team WNT 64
32 Lauren Humphreys APRIRE Bicycles HSS Hire 62
33 Jess Roberts Liv Epic Coaching 60
34 Rebecca Goodson VeloSchils Interbike 55
35 Mel Lowther Team Breeze 54
36 Chanel Mason Storey Racing 52
37 Rebecca Womersley Drops 49
38 Ellie Russell Sunsport Velo 46
39 Kim Baptista NCC Group Kuota Torelli 42
40 Madeleine Gammons VeloSchils Interbike 41
41 Hannah Payton Drops 41
42 Beth Hayward Team Ford EcoBoost 39
43 Steph Clayton Sunsport Velo 37
44 Emma Lewis APRIRE Bicycles HSS Hire 36
45 Alicia Speake Team OnForm 33
46 Jenny Holl Team Jadan Weldtite p.b Vive Le Velo 30
47 Lauren Creamer NCC Group Kuota Torelli 27
48 Mel Brand Team Ford EcoBoost 25
49 Gwenno Hughes NCC Group Kuota Torelli 22
50 Hannah Larbalestier Sunsport Velo 22
51 Lauren Murphy Liv Epic Coaching 22
52 Abby-Mae Parkinson Drops 21
53 Jenny Powell Team Ford EcoBoost 20
53 Abigail Van Twisk Drops 20
55 Lizzy Bennett Liv Epic Coaching 18
56 Jessica Woodworth Team OnForm 18
57 Mads Scott NCC Group Kuota Torelli 15
58 Monica Dew Storey Racing 14
59 Louise Scupham Team Jadan Weldtite p.b Vive Le Velo 12
60 Amy Gornall NCC Group Kuota Torelli 11
61 Mathilde Pauls Team RGB Building Supplies 10
61 Savannah Morgan Liv Epic Coaching 10
63 Rhona Callander Team Jadan Weldtite p.b Vive Le Velo 8
64 Adele Martin Team Ford EcoBoost 7
64 Alice Staniford Team RGB Building Supplies 7
66 Gemma Sargent Team OnForm 6
66 Steph Alden NCC Group Kuota Torelli 6
68 Lucy Harper Team OnForm 5
68 Rhiannon Gornall NCC Group Kuota Torelli 5
70 Sophie Thackray NCC Group Kuota Torelli 5
71 Clover Murray Team OnForm 5
72 Lucy Driver Team RGB Building Supplies 3
72 Joanne Clay VeloSchils Interbike 3
74 Sophie Williams Team RGB Building Supplies 2

74 Tasha Reddy Liv Epic Coaching 2
74 Lorna Bowler Team Jadan Weldtite p.b Vive Le Velo 2
77 Joscelin Lowden APRIRE Bicycles HSS Hire 1
77 Julie Elder APRIRE Bicycles HSS Hire 1
77 Seonaid Thompson Sunsport Velo 1

Sprints Competition Round 8 – Stevenage

Sprint 1
1 Elizabeth Jane Harris Storey Racing 5
2 Anna Henderson Team OnForm 4
3 Neah Evans Storey Racing 3
4 Sian Botteley Team OnForm 2
5 Elizabeth Banks Sunsport Velo 1

Sprint 2
1 Elizabeth Jane Harris Storey Racing 5
2 Manon Lloyd Team Breeze 4
3 Eleanor Dickinson Team Breeze 3
4 Amy Hill Team OnForm 2
5 Anna Henderson Team OnForm 1

Round Classification
1 Elizabeth Jane Harris Storey Racing 10
2 Anna Henderson Team OnForm 5
3 Manon Lloyd Team Breeze 4
4 Eleanor Dickinson Team Breeze 3
5 Neah Evans Storey Racing 3
6 Amy Hill Team OnForm 2
7 Sian Botteley Team OnForm 2
8 Elizabeth Banks Sunsport Velo 1

Overall Sprint Competition Round 8 – Stevenage
1 Elizabeth Jane Harris Storey Racing 41
2 Rebecca Durrell Drops 22
3 Eleanor Dickinson Team Breeze 21
4 Manon Lloyd Team Breeze 19
5 Eileen Roe Team WNT 18
6 Neah Evans Storey Racing 17
7 Annasley Park Drops 15
8 Lydia Boylan Team WNT 15
9 Alice Barnes Drops 14
10 Katie Archibald Team WNT 13
11 Elinor Barker Team Breeze 11
12 Anna Henderson Team OnForm 8
13 Lauren Dolan Liv Epic Coaching 5
14 Beth Crumpton Storey Racing 4
15 Elizabeth Banks Sunsport Velo 4
16 Emily Nelson Team Breeze 4
17 Amy Hill Team OnForm 3
18 Charmaine Porter Team Ford EcoBoost 2
18 Sian Botteley Team OnForm 2
20 Gaby Shaw Team WNT 1
20 Abigail Van Twisk Drops 1

TEAM

Overall
1 Drops 719
2 Team Breeze 666
3 Team WNT 659
4 Storey Racing 494
5 Team OnForm 439
6 Team Ford EcoBoost 432
7 NCC Group Kuota Torelli 267
8 Liv Epic Coaching 242
9 Sunsport Velo 206
10 APRIRE Bicycles HSS Hire 107
11 VeloSchils Interbike 103
12 Team Jadan Weldtite p.b Vive Le Velo 55
13 Team RGB Building Supplies 27

Stevenage
1 Drops 91
2 Team Breeze 82
3 Team OnForm 75
4 Storey Racing 67
5 Team WNT 65
6 Team Ford EcoBoost 56
7 NCC Group Kuota Torelli 30
8 Sunsport Velo 24
9 APRIRE Bicycles HSS Hire
10 VeloSchils Interbike
11 Team Jadan Weldtite
12 Team RGB Building Supplies
13 Liv Epic Coaching

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