Team CTC put in best performance of JHTGP series campaign in Woking
By bradleystratton
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
Team CTC's Astrid and Tamina
On a tight circuit that had seen rainfall earlier in the day, the green team pushed the front-runners all the way from lap one with Oliver leading from the front for a number of laps in the race, stretching the distance between the leading pack and the rest of the field.
And as the riders came across the finish line, both Oliver and Boylan were amongst the lead pack, gaining their highest positions so far in the series, as well as earning Team CTC 19 points on the day, taking the team's total tally to 30 points.
Hannah Barnes of MG Maxifuel took her third individual win of the series, with Louise Borthwick of Edinburgh RC winning the Combativity and Sprint awards.
Going into the race, team manager Steve Bailey was confident that the ladies would be fighting from the front at the fourth round in Surrey, and speaking afterwards he was delighted with the result.
As far as I'm concerned that's the best performance to date from any of the riders in any race. Tamina in particular was extremely strong in putting our game plan of breaking up the pack into play and showed great character, which bodes well for the rest of the season."Steve Bailey
Team CTC Manager
With Woking a stone's throw away from CTC's headquarters in Guildford, dozens of staff and members - including chief executive Gordon Seabright - were on hand to take to the streets and give the team in green their support.
And as in any sport, the encouragement from the spectators was a huge positive for the ladies' race performance in Bailey's eyes:
"I spoke to the three of them after the race and their feeling was that the cheers they got from everyone at CTC and the rest of the crowd was worth an extra five seconds a lap in workrate, which at the end of the day can make a huge difference to where you finish.
"It was great to be able to put on a good performance for everyone who came along, and on behalf of myself and the team I'd like to thank them all for being here today and giving their support.
Whilst the Tour makes its way to Aylsham for the fifth and final stage on Thursday, Team CTC unfortunately won't be participating. Due to the unavailability of riders and a gruelling schedule that includes the upcoming two-day National Series event in Blackpool this weekend, Bailey believes it's in everybody's best interest to miss out.
"Aylsham is one step too far for us and that's purely down to logistics. We've had a good run for our money on the Tour and I think we've done everything we've wanted to do in the Johnson Health Tech Series."
Looking ahead to the double header in Blackpool, the expectation from Bailey is for a solid team performance, bearing in mind that for some of the ladies Sunday will be their fifth day of competition in the space of eight days.
"I hope that on the first day we remain competitive, and on the second at least two or three of the girls finish in the top third of the field - that would be a good result considering the number of races they would have completed in the past week by then."
