Oliver Robinson and Toby Perry of Thanet Road Club represented the South East Region at the Junior Tour of Wales 2017 over the bank holiday weekend, the finale of the British Cycling Junior Road Series.
Stage 1 on Friday 25 August was a 8.37 km individual time trial at Brynmawr on a rolling course with a hill finish. Perry finished 78th in 15 mins 11.77 secs with Robinson 89th in 15:26.69.
Stage 2 on Saturday was a 118.7 km hilly route from Abergavenny through the Neath valley with a mountain finish at the category three Rhigos climb. Robinson finished 69th in 2 hrs 51 mins 12 secs, some three minutes behind the stage winner, with Perry in 86th place at 2:59:30.
Stage 3 on Saturday morning involved 11 laps of a 2.97 km rolling circuit at Bryn Bach Park, with Robinson 60th in 48 mins 50 secs and Perry 90th in 52:33.
Stage 4 on Saturday afternoon was three laps of rolling country road and exposed dual carriageway totalling 92.4 km and expected to favour the sprinters with a flat finish at Penpergwm. Robinson produced the best finish so far for the South East team with a fine third place in 2 hrs 5 mins 6 secs, with the first 18 riders all given the same time. Perry was 89th and only 26 secs behind.
Monday’s traditional “queen stage” was a 94.0 km “scenic loop” around the Brecon Beacons and ending on the summit of the now legendary Tumble, a climb that has featured several times in the professional Tour of Britain and has an average gradient of 8% and a maximum of 15%. Tobias Dahlhaus of London Dynamo secured the South East’s second podium finish with a hard fought third place, with Robinson 67th in 2 hrs 24 mins 56 secs, some four minutes behind the winner, and Perry 83rd in 2:28:04.
When the final results were in, the South East team finished 16th overall with Dahlhaus the best placed rider at 12th in the general classification. Robinson was 62nd and Perry 88th. The other South East rider was Brighton based Isaac Wright of HuntBikeWheels.com at 84th.
The overall winner of the Junior Tour of Wales 2017 was Thomas Pidcock from Yorkshire, who led from start to finish after winning the first and final stages and equalled the event record of four stage wins.
Colin Robinson, Head Coach at Thanet RC was the team manager for the South East Region and said “The Junior Tour of Wales is the longest and toughest junior road race in the UK. Previous participants have included current professional riders Geraint Thomas, Mark Cavendish, Alex Dowsett and Dan Martin, and many of this weekend’s riders, still only 17 and 18 years old, will secure professional contracts. Oliver and Toby and the other South East riders performed exceptionally well, I am very proud of them all and proud to have been a part of the team”
Post by Colin Robinson
