Team News: Crimson Orientation Marketing Race Team Launch

The Crimson Orientation Marketing Race Team will be back to the start grid this summer after a long 16 months with no racing with ‘name’ riders such as Circuit Race Champion Joey Walker, CX star Toby Barnes, Hill Climb star Mary Wilkinson and more


Team News: Crimson Orientation Marketing Race Team Launch

THE INTRO

RST Cycle Clothing & Trigon Bikes

Photos: Joe Cotterill

Crimson Orientation Marketing Race Team will be back to the starting grid this summer after a long 16 months with no racing. The enforced down time from racing provided an opportunity for change & new direction. This elite race team dared to dream and has created two strong Men’s and Women’s teams.

Matt Hallam, Team Manager, explained more. “I went back to the drawing board for 2021. With the disappointment of 2020, I was determined to make 2021 a huge success for the team. I had to make some bold moves with riders & I targeted securing sponsorship with brands that I have always dreamed of working with. Making big changes is always difficult to do, the goal of stepping up to UCI Continental status in 2022 acted as a catalyst for this restructure. So here we are, the culmination of all that hard work. I cannot wait to see the team back racing this summer.”

Something we are seeing already in the Pro peloton in Europe, a new wave of talent is about to take over the reigns in the sport of cycling and that goes for the British scene as well. Creating the best possible squads with the resources available can be a challenging task explained Matt. Both the men’s and women’s squads needed strengthening with the goal of competing for podiums in National Series racing Matt added. The new additions to the team include non-other than a National Champion & the UK’s most promising CX talent.

“We targeted specific riders to join the team this year” says Adam MacRae, Team Manager. “One of these was National Criterium Champion Joey Walker. We knew his National Champs jersey would bring a lot of attention to the team & his goals worked perfectly with the new direction of the team. Our offer was stronger than Continental teams that were chasing to sign him. It is a statement of intent to the bigger teams. We want to bring the fight to them; we hope to be the elite team that is disrupting the scene this year.”

Joey meanwhile explained in an interview with VeloUK, “There isn’t a lot of difference between a top Elite team and a Conti team because it’s common knowledge the money in teams isn’t what it was in the NFTO and JLT era. So the race programme was important and how it suited my style of racing.”

“A big thing for me joining my team was I had the pick of the races where if I had joined a Conti team, you are fighting to get into a squad. I thought it was better to be one of the leaders in the team and have the choice of the races to try and win them. We all know we are going to be struggling for races this year so to be in a team struggling to get in a race and also fighting to be in the team for that race, wasn’t ideal.”

“It is hard to go abroad these days, so there isn’t a big difference between the levels and I also feel good being part of an elite team that is growing and it has an ambition of going Conti in the future, so to then be part of that growth towards that goal would be good.”

On his quest to find a team during the most difficult period for many a decade with cycling teams finding sponsors difficult to find and a pandemic also preventing racing, Joey explained how it panned out in the second half of 2020. “Towards the back end of last year, it was common knowledge that a lot of teams were struggling and Vitus was one of them” says Joey.

“Chez (Cherie Pridham, DS now at Israel Startup Nation) was very kind and open by saying ‘you need to start looking for a team’ before it was announced the team was closing. So the process started then and it wasn’t successful straight away. Even after the announcement the team was closing, I still didn’t have a team.”

“It was getting towards December and there was still nothing. I was chatting to three teams and then I got a good opportunity with the Crimson Orientation Marketing team where I could bring in my own sponsors as well which is why I am here at the shop for the Cero Wheels today.”

Joey isn’t the only up and coming rider. Cycle cross star Toby Barnes (under 23) is another and was setting records in time trials in 2020. Joey and Toby will be joined by many others in a team that includes 15 men & seven women.

The Crimson Orientation Marketing Race Team will be starting it’s 2021 campaign at the Otley Grand Prix, which will mark the first round of the British Cycling Elite Circuit Series. The team then begins its road race campaign at the Beaumont Trophy in July. Fans of the sport will then find the team at each round of the Elite Circuit Series, National Road Series & Tour Series.

After a disrupted 2020, the team is now re-focused & re-energised for a breakthrough 2021. When it comes to the kit for 2021, the team targeted one of the biggest brands in cycling as a clothing partner & more impressively they succeeded. Rapha will be joining the team as a clothing partner for the 2021 season. Their new Lakeland Inspired jersey represents the team’s Northern identity, it’s vivid design and colours will be easy to spot in the peloton.

The team has plenty of other name sponsors as well such as Brother UK, a key sponsor for the sport of cycling across teams, neutral service, events and of course, VeloUK. Other support from the team sponsors has been unwavering during a disrupted 2020. The team would like to thank those sponsors; Orientation Marketing, Brother UK, Rapha, Push Cartel, ANS, Porsche Centre South Lakes, Bishops, Surface Protection, Equilibrium Asset Management, Hazel Bank Country House, Retrofuzz, OTE, Giro, Zyro-Fisher, Selle San Marco, AMP Human & Cipollini.

THE RIDERS

MEN
Joey Walker
Toby Barnes u23
Leon Mazzone
Isaac Peatfield u23
Adam MacRae
Oliver Huszar
Alistair Thomas
Elliot Harrison
James Hill
Chris Sherriffs
Jude Taylor
Matt Hallam
Maciek Furczyk
Ed Beecher u23
Adam Mitchell u23

WOMEN
Mary Wilkinson
Sophie Earl
Melissa Greaves
Jo Ryding
Sammie Stuart
Lucy Ellmore u23
Gwenno Hughes u23

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