Two of Britain’s six UCI Continental teams have been enjoying overseas success.
Endura Racing’s Jon Tiernan-Locke will begin a second month in the white jersey of series leader of the UCI EuropeTour.
The Plymouth rider, winner of the King of the Mountains competition in last year’s Tour of Britain, finished second overall this month in the Vuelta Ciclista a Murcia. His latest visit to the podium followed stage and overall victories in February in both the Tour of the Mediterranean and the Tour du Haut Var.
Tiernan-Locke has been far from Endura’s only successful rider this month.
Former Team Sky rider Russell Downing made good on his pledge to return to winning ways with back-to-back victories in the Eddie Soens Memorial classic, before winning the Grand Prix de la Ville de Lillers (UCI 1.2) the following day.
Ian Wilkinson and Erick Rowsell both won stages of the Tour de Normandie. Rowsell claimed a further podium and finished seventh overall. Jonny McEvoy came within inches of victory on the closing stage of the race.
Paul Voß finished seventh overall in Italy’s Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali after four top ten finishes. Endura Racing were second in the team time trial.
General manager, Brian Smith, said: “It’s great to see all the team’s hard work paying off. JTL is a very talented bike rider but it also shows that the whole team has strength in depth. We will continue to perform to the best we can and hopefully attract that partner to allow the team to take the step up to Continental Pro in 2013.”
Meanwhile, Team Raleigh-GAC have enjoyed a highly successful Vuelta Mexico.
The Nottingham-based squad delivered a one-two finish on stage six with Britain’s Tobyn Horton finishing runner-up to American teammate, Daniel Holloway. Horton had already enjoyed a visit to the podium after finishing third on stage five.
His teammate, Evan Oliphant, scored Raleigh-GAC’s first podium of the year by finishing second on stage three.
Both Endura Racing and Team Raleigh-GAC will compete in the opening race of British Cycling’s Premier Calendar, the Maldon Dengie Tour, on Sunday April 1.
The race, billed as the ‘Hell of the East’ will feature cobbled sections in homage to l’enfer du Nord, the Paris-Roubaix WorldTour race, which takes place a week later.
London’s Condor Cycles are offering a prize for the best under-23 rider. Condor’s Ben Spurrier said the prize would support the “vital” task of raising the profile of the next generation of elite British cyclists.
“Alan Rosner has given up his life to organising race and devising a formidable course and we hope plenty of people will come out to watch and support our domestic teams and domestic race.
“You don’t need to cross to the continent to find mud, sweat and great racing anymore,” he joked.
