Swift Racing 2008

Swift Racing are building towards the Tour de L’aude on 16 May and ends on May 25.. The Tour de L’aude is seen by many as the top women's road race event on the calendar and across the globe and it draws the best women to it.

Swift Racing see the Tour de L’aude as major goal for the season.

Team Swift at GP Roeselare

GP Roeselare
The GP Roeselare, held in April, has been a target race for the team and they felt confident of a good result going in the race. With a strong team they were active from the beginning with Emma Davies Jones attacking after 18km. Quickly building a lead of 1 minute 10 seconds, Emma rode strongly in the windy flat section of the course before the hills around the Kemmel region.

Finally caught over the first climb, Emma settled into the group of around 60 riders featuring four Swift Racing Riders. With Louise Moriarty in the group, the team had their sprinter there for the fast flat finish.

After the final of the 6 climbs, the race headed back into the side winds for the 40km back to Roeselare. Just as things looked to be going really well, a puncture at the cruellest of times, put Louise back into the second group on the road with no realistic chance of rejoining the front group. The 3 remaining Swift riders did all that they could, with Ine Beyen leading home the team with Emma and Helen Wyman.

Holland
In Holland recently, Sigrid Jochems was riding well in Made, and finish 11th. Meanwhile over in the UK, Gabby Day, Sarah Reynolds and Alice Monger Godfrey was racing in the Cheshire Classic. Seriously outnumbered in the race, Gabby Day in particular and finished 11th overall after the 2 stage. Alice, getting better every week, finished well in 16th place.

Helen Wyman wins in Belgium
Swift Racing has completed its second victory on Belgian soil of the year. Currently the hottest place in Europe, temperatures were at over 30 degrees for the 3rd round of the AA Drink National Cup series in De Pinte. This new series has proved very popular with over 200 riders entering the series. This was the first round Swift Racing had been able to attend due to other racing commitments.

The race was aggressive from the gun, with several small groups trying to break free, however it wasn’t until the second lap of 12, that Helen Wyman and 4 others managed to get a good gap on the bunch. Quickly moving away from the bunch over the next 10km’s, the group held an advantage of just over one minute. At this point they were joined by a further AA Drink rider making the group Sylvia Debboudt (Keukens Redant) , Elise Depoorter (Lotto-Belisol), Sofie De Nys (Sprinters Malderen), Latoya Brulee (AA Drink), Maxime Groenewegen (AA Drink) along with Helen Wyman.

With the group working well, the peleton weren’t able to close the gap, also largely due to the hard work of Swift, Lotto and AA Drink in the peleton. In the final 2 laps however, the lead was reduced from 2 minutes to just 19 seconds, but it was enough for Helen to sprint to victory ahead of both AA Drink girls who completed the podium.

The bunch sprint for seventh place was won by Belgian Champion Ludivine Henrion (AA Drink). Finishing in the bunch for Swift Racing was Toni Bradshaw, Lien Beyen, Marina Duvnjak and Ine Beyen.

Helen Wyman said after the race, ‘This is my first win here in Belgium, its been a long time coming, but its worth the wait. The team have really clicked in the last few weeks and everyone is riding well. Finger crossed we can keep doing the same in Tour de L’aude next week.’

Team for Tour de L’aude
Toni Bradshaw
Helen Wyman
Gabby Day
Marina Duvnjak
Emma Davies Jones
Debby van den Berg

Stages
May 16 GRUISSAN – GRUISSAN TT
May 17 RIEUX Minervois – RIEUX Minervois 107 km
May 18 : PORT La NOUVELLE – PORT La NOUVELLE 27 km
May 19 LEZIGNAN Corbières – LEZIGNAN 111 km
May 20 OSSEJA – OSSEJA: 101 km
May 21 TOULOUGES - TOULOUGES 112 km
May 22 RENNES les BAINS - AXAT 117 km
May 23 CASTELNAUDARY – CASTELNAUDARY: 108 km
May 24 BRAM - BRAM: 116km
May 25 LIMOUX – LIMOUX 71 km

Websites
www.teamswiftracing.com
www.tour-aude-cycliste-feminin.com/