April helps Brother to fine victory: Brother also wins
APRIL Tacey rounded off a strong first senior season by helping Brother UK-Fusion to team victory in the Ras na mBan in Ireland, writes Paul Jones.
The Birstall racer produced some strong performances to take an excellent ninth place overall and fifth in the young rider standings after five days of racing.
Brother UK dominated the event as Claire Steels was the overall winner, while Natalie Grinczer took the Queen of the Mountains prize.
Tacey had set herself a target of a top 15 place in the general classification and always looked capable of that, even though the final two stages saw her working to protect the overall race lead that Steels had taken in the individual time trial.
Brother came under pressure from Team GB but the work of Tacey and her colleagues held their rivals at bay.
There was more good news for the Tacey family with April’s brother, Harrison, playing a major role in the East Midlands squad’s victory at the Inter-Regional Youth Championship, staged near Bristol.
The Leicestershire Road Club rider took part in a 15km team time-trial, which the East Midlands won with a time of 19min 20sec.
The squad then rode strongly in the one-hour circuit race which followed to seal the title.
RAW Sports’ Michael Smith was the fastest rider in the Ratae RC open 10-mile time-trial at Six Hills.
He clocked 20.02 to beat Mapperley’s Ian Guilor by 21 seconds. Mapperley took the team award as 46 riders took part.
Melton Olympic’s James Ison was the top county rider in fourth, clocking 20.42. Ed Watson led the promoting club in a time of 22.09, giving him 15th place. A MEMORABLE summer comes to a close for Lucy van der Haar in Madrid this weekend.
The Cosby racer lines up with Hitec Products-Birk Sport at the Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta for a short time trial on Saturday followed by a 98km circuit race around the streets of the Spanish capital on Sunday.
It is the third time van der Haar has ridden the event.
On her first trip to Madrid she claimed fifth place in 2015 riding for Liv-Plantur.
“I’ll ride the time trial as hard as I can and see how it goes,” van der Haar said.
“The second day is on a really good circuit so I’ll be looking to get a nice result.”
Hitec prospered at Prudential RideLondon earlier this year when they took the team prize and they have the capability of repeating that in Madrid.
“It is amazing riding in capital cities,” van der Haar said.
“Racing round London is really special as it is home soil. But it is amazing riding up and down the streets in Madrid.
“There are so many people there to watch the race it is almost surreal.
“Normally it comes down to a sprint, although last year a select group away and the bunch didn’t catch them.
“But with me and Marta Tagliaferro in the sprint and Vita Heine in the time-trial we have a few cards that we can play.
“We won’t be the biggest team there but we are well-respected and will be looking for a result.”