2008 News Archive
2007 News Archive
Fantastic Weekend At The Seaside For Plowman Craven Evans Cycles
16th July 2007
Tony Gibb crowned a fantastic weekend in Blackpool for the Plowman Craven Evans Cycles race team when he out sprinted a quality field to win the latest round of the Premier Calendar Series on Sunday (15 July). His win followed that of team mate Gordon McCauley in Friday's Blackpool Circuit Race (13 July).
Gibb won a hectic 80 man sprint along Blackpool's seafront, beating Swedish National Champion and winner of Paris-Roubaix for Liquigas Magnus Backstedt, as well as current Premier Calendar Series leader and Olympic Champion Chris Newton of Recycling, to win the 140 km event.
"This was a wholly deserved win for the team," commented Gibb after the race. "I just happened to be the one who brought it home. I only deserve 180 m of credit for the win and the team deserve the rest!"
Photo © Andrew Kennedy & British Cycling
Tony Gibb out sprints Magnus Backstedt
An early lone break by Plowman Craven Evans Cycles' Gordon McCauley gained 10 secs and succeeded in raising the pace of the race before he was caught. A second break also involved McCauley, as well as team mates Simon Gaywood and Adam Norris, and meant that Gibb sat in the bunch for the first 70 km of the race. When the breakaway was caught with 15 km to go, Backstedt launched an attack at Pro-Tour pace with three others to gain 30 secs on the bunch. Despite speeds in excess of 30 mph Plowman Craven Evans Cycles quickly organised themselves, catching the break and taking control of the race for the final 8 km along the seafront. With 200 m to the line Gibb's team mate and New Zealand international Jason Allen provided a perfect lead out and Gibb powered to victory.
Although undulating, the course avoided any serious climbs in order to ensure a crowd-pleasing large bunch sprint along the wide promenade finish at Blackpool, a decision that suited Gibb well.
"I knew that on a finish as flat and as fast as this, if the team got me into the right position I stood a good chance of beating the field as my sprint is up there with the best," added Gibb. "Knowing that this was a flat course made the race one of my targets for the year. With a team like Plowman Craven Evans Cycles behind me and text book lead outs like the one Jason provided today we had a good chance of victory and I took that chance with both hands!"
A weekend of racing in Blackpool was dominated by the Plowman Craven Evans Cycles team. Gibb's victory came two days after team mate Gordon McCauley rode away from the field with eight laps to go to win the Blackpool Circuit Race.
Contested in the pouring rain on a 1½ mile circuit awash with water, sand and debris, punctures played havoc with the field from the start. A controversial decision by the commissaries not to allow laps out for mechanical problems meant riders suffering punctures had no chance of re-joining the race. Plowman Craven Evans Cycles' National Circuit Series Champion James McCallum was an early victim, but he was quickly given a bike by team mate and former holder of the National jersey James Taylor and got back into the race.
As the riders battled against the elements attacks were coming thick and fast and at around halfway a group of 20, including McCauley and Gibb, opened a gap of about 20 seconds. After a couple more laps McCauley rode away from the bunch and time trialled home to win by 30 secs.
"The plan was to work for Simon Gaywood, our best placed riders in the National Series, as the guys had worked for me earlier this week when I won at Guildford. I was in the front group with Tony when the split came and I told Tony to sit on as he is the better sprinter. Then a whole lot of attacks came; I covered one and then went over the top of them. When I looked around I had a gap of about 100 metres and the group behind looked as though they'd sat up. I got my head down and carried on. I've been doing specific training for the World Time Trial Champs and felt very strong on the long exposed sections, even into the headwind."
Photo © Andrew Kennedy & British Cycling
Impressive win for McCauley
Although Blackpool was his first National Circuit Series win of the season, earlier in the week McCauley had won the Guilford Criterium, one of the biggest crits in the South attracting most of the National Series riders. Gibb played a key role in securing both wins for McCauley, coming third in Guilford and fourth in Blackpool, and the usually taciturn Kiwi was quick to praise his team mate and congratulate him on his victory.
"I wouldn't have won either Guilford or Blackpool crit without Tony's help and support; he's a fantastic team rider and I'm made up that for once the team were able to repay him and help him to take a well deserved victory"said McCauley.
The weekend was a clear demonstration that the Plowman Craven Evans Cycles squad have both strength in depth and diversity. As well as road and circuit victories, team riders James McCallum and Kevin Barclay also secured wins in the National Track Series. In the Scunthorpe track meeting on Saturday (15 July) James won the Derny and Kevin the five mile event.
Simon Barnes, Team founder and boss of Herts based Geomatics company Plowman Craven, commented:
"We now hold three National titles and have a depth of talent in the squad across all disciplines. We've won two Premier Calendar races with two different riders, come close to winning others and have been competitive in every race so far in the series. We are clearly among the leading teams in the Country and believe we deserve to ride the Tour of Britain."
Results (Blackpool Criterium 13 July):
1 Gordon McCauley, Plowman Craven Evans Cycles
2 Tom Diggle, Recycling
3 Paul Oldham, Hope Factory Racing
4 Tony Gibb, Plowman Craven Evans Cycles
5 Graham Briggs, Recycling
Results (Blackpool GP 15 July):
1 Tony Gibb, Plowman Craven Evans Cycles
2 Magnus Backstedt, Liquigas
3 Chris Newton, Recycling
4 Russell Downing, Healthnet
5 Dean Downing, Rapha Condor
Next week Plowman Craven Evans Cycles continue to demonstrate their strength in depth and diversity: on Wednesday (18 July) they compete in the next round of the National Circuit Series in Colne, before tackling a two-up ten mile time trial, Derny meet and crit on Saturday (21 July), and the London Dynamo road race on Sunday (22 July).
» view full race calender - click here
More information from Jonathan O’Neil: +44 (0) 7956250837 or click here
back to news section