After two hugely successful seasons and the development of some of cycling’s future stars, Motorpoint can confirm that it will not continue with the sponsorship of its Pro Cycling Team into 2012.

We have greatly enjoyed our partnership with the team and its riders, and feel proud of its achievements. We wish all those who have been involved with Motorpoint’s Pro Cycling Team every success in their future endeavours.

 

Hannah Walker won her second race in two weeks at the National Derny Championships this weekend with team mate Harriet Owen not far behind.

The 19-year-old lead for most of the 33 lap race in Herne Hill, London aided by her pacer Peter Bäuerlein. She powered to victory, full of confidence. Corrine Hall of  Team Corridori and Clare Newland of Welwyn Wheelers seemed to be her closest rivals for the win, but she was able to pull away from the pair as the race went on.

Part way through the race Owen and her pacer Clive Sturgeon made a move and ghosted past Hall and Newland. She was eating up ground on her team mate Walker until her energy started to wain. Owen may well have been feeling the effects of the intense racing schedule that has seen her perform at the Commonwealth Youth Games in the past couple of weeks.

Despite a late push from Newland, Walker was able to hold firm and cross the line to claim another victory for herself and the Motorpoint Women’s team. Harriet Owen managed fourth place as Newland and Hall pipped her to the medal positions.

Lucy Garner, member of its women’s’ Pro Cycling team secured Great Britain’s first gold medal of the 2011 UCI World Championships in Copenhagen in the junior women’s road race.

Lucy, 16, from Leicestershire, is one of cycling’s rising stars and has excelled for Motorpoint this season along with the rest of the team who have all been in fine form.

As well as representing the UK in the UCI World Championships, Lucy was also selected to be part of the Great Britain team at the Youth Commonwealth Games in the Isle of Man, where she also won gold for the road race and her team-mate, Hannah Barnes, also a Motorpoint rider, won bronze.

Lucy, who came back in the UCI World Championships to secure the gold medal for the UK and be crowned 2011 Junior World Champion by several bike lengths after crashing earlier in the race, described her win as “amazing” and showed her patriotism by reportedly competing with her nails painted with the Union Jack flag.

The talented young rider is also part of the Olympic Development Programme, along with other members of the Motorpoint team, Hannah Barnes and Harriet Owen, meaning her star is sure to continue rising in the future.

Phil Griffiths, Team Owner, said; “It is an unbelievable win for Lucy, but in the same way, it is believable because she’s done it and we are so pleased with her success! It’s been great having Lucy on the team this year, as well as other young talent such as Hannah Barnes. We are immensely proud of Lucy’s achievement in becoming Junior World Champion!”

 

 

Final Standings Tour of Britain 2011

Well, 8 days of racing through Scotland, Wales and England saw Lars Boom of Rabobank awarded the IG Markets Gold Jersey.

 

Stage 8B of The Tour of Britain

The TfL London Stage Circuit Race:

10 laps of an 8.8kms Circuit (88.8kms)

1    Mark Cavendish    HTC Highroad        1h 59′ 13”
2    Mark Renshaw    HTC Highroad        st
3    Robert Förster    UnitedHealthcare        st
4    Geraint Thomas    Sky ProCycling        st
5    Ben Swift    Sky ProCycling        st
6    Giacomo Nizzolo    Leopard Trek        st
7    Tobyn Horton    Motorpoint        st
8    Andrew Fenn    An Post – Sean Kelly        st
9    Dan Craven    Rapha Condor – Sharp        st
10    Stijn Neirynck    Topsport Vlaanderen        st
11    Cesare Benedetti    Team NetApp        st
12    Michael Matthews    Rabobank        st
13    Johnny McEvoy    Motorpoint        st
14    Iker Camano    Endura Racing        st
15    Linus Gerdemann    Leopard Trek    at    0′ 5”
16    Roger Hammond    Team Garmin – Cervelo        st
17    Boy Van Poppel    UnitedHealthcare        st
18    Marcin Bialoblocki    Motorpoint        st
19    Daniel Lloyd    Team Garmin – Cervelo        st
20    Jelle Wallays    Topsport Vlaanderen        st
21    Gediminas Bagdonas    An Post – Sean Kelly        st
22    Chris Jones    UnitedHealthcare        st
23    Stijn Joseph    Topsport Vlaanderen        st
24    Karl Menzies    UnitedHealthcare        st
25    Mark McNally    An Post – Sean Kelly        st

Mark Cavendish, Team HTC – Highroad, Winner of TfL London Stage 8b

“I didn’t want to take too many risks today with the Worlds coming up. It was a wet finish and I saw Ben Swift lose his wheel on the second last corner so I backed off on the last corner and ended up 20 metres behind coming out the last corner. I thought it was too far back to get it but I went for it anyway and I came through on the line. It’s been really good to come away with three stage wins this week, can’t get much better. Not only that we go three first and second placings which is superb. Since 2007 and this year, to see how much The Tour has grown is amazing. It’s great to see all the support. It’s been perfect preparation for me for next week. The Vuelta looked too hard with too many crashes. I was able to control my training and I won two stages which was good.”