Rapha Condor ReCycling.co.uk Report 2

Kristian House talks Girvan
The Girvan is a tough stage race held in Scotland over the Easter Weekend, the Rapha Condor ReCycling.co.uk were there.

Kristian House

Kristian writes; The Girvan was a great race, with both ups and downs within the team, and some great competition that's going to make the Premier Calendar series a interesting one to watch.

The team rode really great from the first stage to the last, with only a couple hiccups on the first stage, where the team struggled to get involved with the racing. We paid the price and had to bring a large group back. Fast. A mistake that will hopefully never be made again. We ended up in a great position with 4 guys in the top 8 by the end of the stage, with the great Dean Downing getting 2nd

The following Crit' was very fast with groups going away and getting brought back all evening. We were all impressed by Joey's (Reece) crit skills getting away in quite a few moves, although it ended up in a sprint with Briggsy (Graham) getting third.

The last two stages, the team knew what we needed to do... Force a break and isolate the other GC riders while we still had numbers and then attack them hard in the closing km's. We managed to do it on both days, with Rob and Dale on stage 3, with Rob taking the win and coming within 4 seconds of the overall.

Unfortunately Dale crashed and ended up with a broken collarbone.. So that put quite a downer on the victory. Still Dale is strong as goats cheese and soon he'll be back in the pace line putting people in the paincave once again.

The final stage saw some great riding from the team, especially from Ryan and Tom. Tom rode very well on the front of the bunch and battled back to the front every time the race surged. Ryan tore the legs off most of the field up the major climb of the day that saw a good group get away with 4 of us in it. A Great ride. I put in quite a few attacks to force the other teams to chase and give my team mates a rest, resulting in me getting away and almost riding into yellow.

Its a funny thing as I had been riding flat out all weekend for the team and with 5 miles to go I was close to riding into yellow! Stage racing can be very odd sometimes. In the end I took the stage and rounded off a great weekend. We may not have win the overall but with 3 guys in the top 5 and some great teamwork I'm feeling pretty confident about the rest of the year to come.

Website
The online ego of Kristian House - www.kristianhouse.com
Girvan Full results - http://www.girvanrace.info/

Rapha Girvan Overall Results
2 Stage Wins, 1 2nd place, 1 3rd place
2nd Overall - Rob Partridge
4th Overall - Kristian House
5th Overall - Dean Downing
15th Overall - Graham Briggs
22nd Overall - Ryan Bonser
44th Overall - Tom Diggle
47th Overall - Rhys Lloyd
Retired - Dale Appleby - broken collar bone - Leading under 23 rider after 3 stages

1st Overall - Team
2nd King of the Mountains - Ryan Bonser

Border RR
Matt Rowe meanwhile was at the Border RR

The race started off perfectly, with the first stage the team taking 1-2-3, positioning ourselves a minute clear of 5th place, in a very strong position.

Matt Rowe

The second stage was snowed off, a shame, but we couldn't have raced. The third stage proved tough for us, and were heavily marked, however we kept our cool and stuck to our plan, with Holty in the front group, the yellow jersey was safe within the team, increasing out lead in the GC with one stage to go.

The final stage saw a frantic start, attacks left right and centre, forming a 10man group which i was part of. The group worked very well, and soon formed a lead of 2minutes, at which point i had an easy job where i sat on, having an easy ride, where Holty and Billy (adam) were chasing, trying to hold on to their GC positions.

The break went out and out and finished at 9mins clear of the bunch, taking me into the top spot just at the right time. I did not contest the stage, as i had sat on all day... thought i would get knocked out if i had sprinted!

The 3 of us riders formed a strong team on the road, and being out numbered by almost every other team which had a team of 6 riders, we rode strongly as a unit, and all rode as one, as a true team!

Martin our swanny was top, anything we needed, he sorted, and the same went for Mike our mechanic! A successful weekend, with a few laughs to keep up moral when the snow fell!

Stage 1 Result
1st Simon Holt
2nd Matt Rowe
3rd Adam Bonser

Overall Event Winner - Matt Rowe