Senior Squad Presentation

More Success for Agiskoviner at Elite Nationals

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:53:00 -0700

Agiskoviner narrowly missed out on defending their National team pursuit title in Manchester in October. Planet X wrestled the title from the defending champions in a thrilling matchup. Agiskoviner (John McClelland, Jon Mould, James Holland-Leader, and Jack Kirk) took the early lead but at the 1km mark, all was square. For the next km the two teams matched each other pedal stroke for pedal stroke. However, at the halfway point Planet X turned the screw and started to gap their rivals. Their injection of pace cost the men in black a man and they had to tough out the final 1km as a threesome. But they hung on and took the National title with a 2 second advantage from Agiskoviner. Disappointed to miss out on the title, the Agisko squad was left thinking of what might have been if illness had not wiped out key riders.

Jon Mould took the bronze medal in the Elite Points Race, in what continues to be a fantastic year for the junior rider. Chris Newton won gold in impressive style, and despite lone breaks and splits in the field, he was always in the right place to take control. Andy Tennant had a battle royal with Jon Mould and Evan Oliphant for Silver, eventually settling the argument in the penultimate sprint, with Jon Mould leaving it until the final sprint to claim bronze. Jon followed this up the next day with silver in the Junior Madison championship, having done the lion's share of the work in partnering his sick fellow European Champion, Chris Whorral.

Gold for Mould in National Derny Championship

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:52:00 -0700

In a stunning display of derny racing, Jon Mould (Agiskoviner) destroyed the field to take the Elite National Derny Championship. It was almost no contest as Jon Mould was by far the strongest rider, winning by over a lap from Jamie Rogers and Tony Gibb. The start by contrast saw John McClelland (Agiskoviner) paced by Sean Bannister take the early lead before an attack by Mould saw him come from the back of the group to take the lead at speed, and after only a few laps was in the same straight as the leaders. As Mould started to get on the back of the main group, the pace at front was increased and Mould was distanced for a few laps before making the junction and taking the lap.

Tony Gibb attacked and Mould reacted well to join him. With 70 laps to go, Rogers and James Holland-Leader (Agiskoviner) broke clear of Gaywood and soon Mould was doing his best to go clear of Gibb again. Rogers then started his run for a medal and joined Gibb and Mould and went past them to unlap himself. Mould was having none of that though and he went off in pursuit of Rogers dropping Gibb in the process and catching Rogers.

The National Derny Title was Jon's first senior title as an individual following on from his Team Pursuit title with Agiskoviner the year before. In what was a dominant performance by the Agiskoviner track squad, James Holland-Leader finished just out of the medals in fourth, with John McClelland in eighth.

Agiskoviner Dominate European Masters Track Champs

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:50:00 -0700

It was rather a case of one way traffic as the gold medals flowed into the Agiskoviner camp in the Masters 35-39 age group at the European Championships. Joel Stewart took the Points Race and Individual Pursuit crowns, whilst John McClelland took the Individual Sprint title.

Joel Stewart scored his first win in the older age category when he added the 35-39 pursuit title to last years 30-34 championship, beating Ian O'Hara to the gold medal. The former master's world champion never looked troubled in the final as he put out a clinical display of individual pursuiting to add yet another title to his palmares.

In the Points Race, last year's 30-34 Points Silver medallist, Joel Stewart moved up to take the Gold in the older category when the tightest event of the evening saw the lead change hands continuously throughout. Last year's Sliver and Bronze medallists, Alain Bornet of France and Oliver Davies of Great Britain were relegated to third and fourth respectively as Chris Bush of Great Britain took the Silver.

2008 Champion Lee Povey of Great Britain lost his 2008 European Sprint title to John McClelland in 2 straight rides: 11.954 and 11.670. Last year, hampered by previous crash injuries, McClelland went out in qualifying, but this year there was no repeat as he posted the third fastest time, going on to crush Povey in a dominant display of match sprinting.

European Championship Gold and Silver for Jon Mould

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:47:00 -0700

Agiskoviner's Jon Mould won Gold in the Junior European Madison Championship, an event considered to be one of the toughest races on the track. Welsh rider Mould and the Isle of Man's Chris Whorral combined well to be the only team to take a lap on all their rivals and clinch the victory.

Prior to victory in the Madison, Jon had also won silver in the team pursuit. In the final against Russia, Great Britain altered their line up by bringing in strong man Mould. The team rode a good race but unfortunately it was the Russian team that was stealing the show for the Belarusian crowd as they record an extremely impressive time of 4.07.531 compared to the British time of 4.13.184. An exceptional time by the Russians, but the future clearly looks bright for Agiskoviner's Young Welshman after two brilliant performances.

Lee Smith 4th at the Peter Young Memorial

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 15:39:00 -0600

A Class Ride by Lee Smith, saw him amongst the points on March 29th at the Peter Young Memorial/Hounslow Road Race

There were 72 starters on a fine cool and calm day on the roads around Chobham, Surrey, and organised by Hounslow and District CC.

The three primes on the 8.8 mile main circuit on laps 2 / 3 and 4 were all won by Sports Beans riders Mark Perry, Grant Bayton and Ben Luckwell.

The impromptu 'Joe's Prime' at the top of Staple Hill on the third lap of the 3 mile finishing circuit,put up by a generous and appreciative spectator, was won by Yanto Barker

But the evergreen Gary Dodd forged ahead of the lone Colnago man on the legbending 7th and final ascent of Staple Hill to snatch the win.

The race was greatly enhanced by four of the N.E.G. moto's led by Marty Rabbitte who gave the riders a safer passage and bolstered the efforts of the Hounslow clubs' static marshal's and considerably 'beefed up' our convoy's presence on the road.

E/1/2/3 Spring RR - 85 mile
1st ; Gary Dodd, Sigma Sport 3hrs. 29min 05sec
2nd ; Yanto Barker, Le Col Colnago
3rd ; Alex Higham, Windymilla
4th ; Lee Smith, Agisko Viner
5th ; Steve Saunders, Kingston Whs
6th ; Mark Perry, Sports Beans-Wilier
7th ; Colin Roshier, Team Quest
8th ; Grant Bayton, Sports Beans-Wilier, all same time
9th ; Simon Lawn, Sigma Sport
10th; David Creeggan, V.C. Meudon At 1min 02sec
11th ; James Holland- Leader,Agisko Viner
12th ; Justin Hoy, Felt R.T.
13th ;Julian Bray, Dulwich Paragon
14th ; Vince Devine, Finchley R.T. all same time closely followed by
15th ; Ben Luckwell, Sports Beans-Wilier
16th ; Stehen Saunders, A.P.I.
17th ; Henry Furniss, Windymilla
18th ; Josh Gosselin, Guernsey Velo
19th ; Paul Elcock, Reading CC
20th ; Joe Hemmant, London Dynamo

First win of 2009 for Luke

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:39:00 -0600

First win of 2009 for young Luke Merrilees

West Drayton Mountain Bike club hosted a series of three Ride Beyond road races held at Hillingdon circuit and this was the 3rd held on March 28.

Usual windy conditions at Hillingdon, in fact more like a gale. The riders faced into the wind at the finish, making the back straight very fast indeed. Proceedings started at the usual brisk pace, with an almost immediate attack from Simon Ernest (AWCycles.co.uk), in fact he figured in almost every attack, had there been a most aggressive rider prize he would have easily won it.

The longest break lasted for 12 laps during the middle of the race. During this break Ernest was joined by Rudie Marias (Private), Luke Merrilees (Agiskoviner.co.uk), Jo Skelton (Brixton Cycles), Darren Parker (Python RT), Costa Pierides (Finchley RT), and Will Fox (Cyclingbargains.com). At other attempts to escape, he worked with Russell Painter (Norwood Paragon), David Jack (Twickenham CC), these all again failed to stay away.

Luke Merrilees chanced his luck again and succeeded with a do or die attempt in the final 2 laps, almost being caught, just a wheel away from Jo Skelton, followed in by Michael Wilmot (Team Quest) a tyre width behind.

Regional A
Pos. Race No Forename Surname Team/Club Time or time gap
1 52 LUKE MERRILEES AGISKOVINER.CO.UK 01:24:23
2 51 JO SKELTON BRIXTON CYCLES ST
3 31 MICHAEL WILMOT TEAM QUEST ST
4 76 WILL FOX CYCLING BARGAINS.COM ST
5 23 NEIL COOPER AW CYCLES.CO.UK ST
6 39 HUGO ROBINS EAST LONDON VELO ST
7 8 TREVOR BURKE FINCHLEY RT ST
8 83 RAFAL RADZIEJ PRIVATE ST
9 45 PIERS BROWN FINCHLEY RT ST
10 69 MARK OTTAWAY VC MEUDON ST

Website: http://www.westdraytonmbc.co.uk

Lee Smith 2nd at Roy Thame

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:39:00 -0600

Roy Thame Cup Road Race

With many of the top British Elite riders taking part in the ill fated Bikeline Two Day Stage Race, the field was somewhat reduced to only 72 riders taking the start. Nether the less the lack of the top Elite Riders did not affect the quality of the field that took part nor did it affect the enthusiasm of those that forced the pace in this year’s event.

The sunny morning had subsided into a grey overcast afternoon, but this did not deter the riders as the attacks started as soon as the neutralised flag had been lowered and continued throughout the race. During the first climb of the day, Lee Smith (Agiskoviner) John Wager (Felt Racing) Peter Kench and Sam Redding both of (GWR Team) had managed to pull 10 seconds away from the main field but this early break didn’t last long and they were soon sucked back into the peloton.

At the Charndon turn, two break away groups formed -- one large leading bunch of 11 riders which included Aaron McCaffrey (AW Cycles.co.uk-Giant) and Macies Weremko (Bedfordshire CC) and maintained a 25 second lead over the main field with three chasers trying hard to bridge the gap. But after an hour of racing, the race started to crumble with the leading break splintering, the 11 leaders had now become nine with a 30 second and growing gap, were now being chased down by five riders.

With only two laps to go, Richard Prebble (CandiTV/Pinarello RT) and two others tried to escape off the front of the leaders which caused indecision amongst the remaining riders, but it didn’t last as Richard Prebble finally sat up after realising he was just towing the other riders along and the leading group reformed and the gap to the main field dropped to 20 seconds.

With the bell ringing for the last lap, the leading group turned up the pace even more and once again regained control of the race and started to pull away but the main field was having none of it and six riders launched another attack chasing down the leaders 25 second lead. The main field made sure they kept them in their sights and didn’t allow the gap to increase too far and before they reached the climb at Botolph Claydon, they had come together but this didn’t stop Richard Prebble launching another attack and being caught quickly.

As the race entered the homeward stretch, a small group of riders came into view from the finish line but were being hotly pursued by further riders and as they hit the 1 Kilometre to go mark, a large bunch of 19 riders were sprinting up the final climb towards the finish line. Justin Hoy seemed to effortlessly ease his way through to front to take the win quite convincingly.

Winner Roy Thame Cup Justin Hoy (Felt Racing – Felt/Castelli/Zipp/SRAM) said: “It was quite a slow and civilised race to start, one of my team mates went off in a break, which I didn’t mind as I was quite happy just to sit there, but a couple of miles further down the road, he was sitting at the side of the road with two cracked both rims, the race had split and I decided I needed to get across."

"So six of us managed to get across and then a few more joined us but it started to split up again so me and my team mate John Wager pulled it back. It was good to come into the finish with quite a few guys and John, and we really closed it down at the end. I did so much work pulling back a guy with 40 or 50 metres to go. I came flying into the finish and came off Tom Smith's wheel and I hit the front and then there was no turning back.”

Justin later thanked everyone involve with organising the event and thanked his rivals for making it such a good race.

Roy Thame Cup Results
1 Justin Hoy Felt Racing - Felt/Castelli/Zipp/SRAM
2 Lee Smith agiskoviner - Agisko natr'l prod's/Viner bikes/For Goodness Shakes!/bottlestore.co.uk/Miche
3 David Sinclair GWR Team - 3Vi/Swindon Cycles/Spiuk/High 5/Giant/ cyclepowermetres.com/Joy
4 Tom Smith AWCycles.co.uk - Giant/Fulcrum/OneFishTwoFish
5 Nic Tilling GWR Team - 3Vi/Swindon Cycles/Spiuk/High 5/Giant/ cyclepowermetres.com/Joy Riders/Continental
6 Andy Hastings Finchley RT
7 Danny Axford Arctic-Premier RT - Arctic Air Con/Premier Cycles
8 Edward Griffin Qoroz - Novatec
9 Alex Peterson AWCycles.co.uk - Giant/Fulcrum/OneFishTwoFish
10 Mike Wragg Team Milton Keynes-Trek/Abbeygate Dev/Personal Assurance/Corley Cycles/Body Limits
11 Maciej Weremko Bedfordshire Road CC
12 Richard Prebble CandiTV Pinarello RT- CandiTV/Pinarello/Rudy Project/Corima/SiS/Stafford Audi
13 Sam Redding GWR Team - 3Vi/Swindon Cycles/Spiuk/High 5/Giant/ cyclepowermetres.com/Joy
14 Jake Hales Lotto Olympia team Interbike
15 Joel Stewart agiskoviner - Agisko natr'l prod's/Viner bikes/For Goodness Shakes!/bottlestore.co.uk/Miche
16 Martin Smith AWCycles.co.uk - Giant/Fulcrum/OneFishTwoFish
17 John Veness Pendragon Kales
18 Mike Jackson CC Luton - Eddingtons/Bandon Cleaning
19 Ben Price UKCycleshops.com/Fat Spanner
20 Ian Alexander Cheltenham & County CC
21 Phil Starr Python RT - SmartestEnergy/IXIA/Real 451/Push Print
22 Nigel Williams Python RT - SmartestEnergy/IXIA/Real 451/Push Print
23 Aaron McCaffrey AWCycles.co.uk - Giant/Fulcrum/OneFishTwoFish
24 Simon Ernest AWCycles.co.uk - Giant/Fulcrum/OneFishTwoFish
25 John Wager Felt Racing - Felt/Castelli/Zipp/SRAM
26 Peter Kench GWR Team - 3Vi/Swindon Cycles/Spiuk/High 5/Giant/ cyclepowermetres.com/Joy
27 Sam Allen AWCycles.co.uk - Giant/Fulcrum/OneFishTwoFish
28 Conor Dunne Hemel Hempstead CC
29 Simon Lawn Sigma Sport RT - Specialized/Sportful
30 Martin Dawkins Team Quest - The Bike Shop
31 Tom Kirk Team Corley Cycles/Alpha RC-Phil Corley Cycles/Cervélo/Madison
32 Jack Salt Pedal Power Loghborough
33 Boyd Roberts Planet X
34 Roger Browne Beeline Bicycles RT
35 James Holland-Leader agiskoviner - Agisko natr'l prod's/Viner bikes/For Goodness
36 Richard Prince Planet X
37 Trevor Burke Finchley RT - Paul Simon/Magic Homes/Leader
38 Robert Stimpson Python RT - SmartestEnergy/IXIA/Real 451/Push Print
39 Vince Divine Finchley RT - Paul Simon/Magic Homes/Leader
40 Colin Roshier Team Quest - The Bike Shop
41 Simon Henley Team Corley Cycles/Alpha RC-Phil Corley Cycles/Cervélo/Madison
42 Oliver Davies Dinnington RC - Universal Cycle Centre/Auditoria Serves Ltd
43 Jack Waller Lotto Olympia team Interbike
44 Jerry Rayner Somer Valley
45 Jonathan Griffin Team Endura - Thule/24/7 /MI Racing/Double Dutch Pancake Bar/Spiuk/Lister Timber/
46 Jim Moffatt Spirit Racing Team - Perfect Pipework/Pirton/BSS
47 Mark Jervis Python RT - SmartestEnergy/IXIA/Real 451/Push Print
48 Alec Leslie John's Bikes RT-John's Bikes
49 Russell Rowles Spirit Racing Team - Perfect Pipework/Pirton/BSS
50 Matthew Melville AWCycles.co.uk - Giant/Fulcrum/OneFishTwoFish
51 Ben Wilson Solihull CC
52 Pete Wager VC Meudon - Excel/Tiger/Cycle Kingdom
53 Chris Smith Python RT - SmartestEnergy/IXIA/Real 451/Push Print

Atkins 3rd at San Fairy Ann Crits

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:00:00 -0600

Last Saturday saw Lewis Atkins start his season at round 2 of the San Fairy Ann Crits on the Hog Hill circuit. With 30 laps to cover, the 60k race was a tough event, and featured some notable riders from many of the top local teams, including from Sigma Sport and Fit-For. Agiskoviner was represented by Lewis Atkins and Ishmael Burdeau.

Atkins inserted himself into an early break of three riders, which then became ten a few laps later. With the top riders from Sigma Sport, Fit-For and London Dynamo all featuring, the move was the winning one. Meanwhile, back in the peloton, Burdeau kept an eye on things while the gap grew.

With three riders in the break, Sigma Sport were able to control the race, eventually sending off ex-Agisko rider Wouter Sybrandy who rode to an impressive solo victory. Atkins was able to take second place from the surviving eight riders in the break, while Burdeau left the group a few laps from the end to finish 12th.

E/1/2 (30 laps) 1.34.00
1 Wouter Sybrandy Sigma Sport
2 Dan Duguid Sigma Sport @ 1.06
3 Lewis Atkins AgiskoViner
4 Wayne Coombs VC Montpelier
5 John Heaton-Armstrong Fit-For
12 Ishmael Burdeau AgiskoViner @ 2:01

Next week sees the third and final round of the Spring series and Hog Hill.

Burdeau wins at Hog Hill

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 10:31:00 -0700

Ishmael Burdeau took the first round of the San Fairy Ann Spring Circuit Races at Hog Hill on February 28th. With five laps to go Ishmael was clear of the bunch, accompanied by a rider from BMC. Two laps later Ishmael left his breakaway companion behind on the "Hoggenburg", and soloed for the last five kilometers to the finish.

1 Ishmael Burdeau Agiskoviner
2 David Nicols Glendene CC
3 Jason White PM
4 Dean Shannon BMC UK
5 Alex Morrison Glendene CC

British Cycling Report

Agiskoviner Team Launch

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 02:38:00 -0700

Agiskoviner, one of the UK's leading amateur clubs, has announced a new Senior Squad line-up for the 2009 season.

The team was unveiled recently at the TCR Show- Sandown Park.

Following on from a successful 2008, the newly strengthened squad will be looking to gain further National and International titles and podium finishes this coming season.

Agiskoviner’s highly accomplished track riders will be looking to retain their National Senior 4000m Team Pursuit title, claim more Masters’ Jerseys, add to their tally of 17 national medals won in 2008, and retain the National Hard Track Endurance League title won by John McClelland in 2007 and 2008.

The youngest member of the squad, 17 year old Jon Mould, had an excellent 2008 winning five junior and senior National Track Championship medals, and on the back of this success has been accepted onto the Olympic Development Programme. Jon has started this year strongly with an excellent 4th place in the recent National Madison Championships.

The track team of John McClelland, Jon Mould, Joel Stewart and Chris Richardson, is further strengthened by the welcome comeback of 4 times national and 11 times regional medallist, derny paced racing specialist James Holland-Leader.

When not competing in the velodrome, Joel Stewart will once again be mixing it up in the peloton (at National and Regional Level) alongside leading U-23Elite rider Lewis Atkins.

Joel and Lewis will be joined in the peloton by Darryl Pembroke, Adrian Goatley, Lee Smith as well as newcomers Chris Prior, Luke Merrilees and Ishmael Burdeau.

The coming season will see the Senior Squad embark on an exciting and diverse race programme, including prominent events both here at home and on the international circuit.

The squad is supported by: Agisko Sports Nutrition, Viner Bikes, ForGoodnessShakes and Bottlesport as the main sponsors. Plus the team welcomes the continual clothing support of ReArtu and new for 2009 the technical support of Miche.

Squad presentation

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:39:00 -0700

The squad presentation will be at the TCR show on Saturday, February 7th. All members are welcome