Team Corley Cycles

Team Corley Cycles

Find out the latest results and news on Team Corley Cycles right here!

Ryedale Grand Prix - 6/6/2010

120 of the countries top domestic riders faced appalling weather in the 2010 edition of the Ryedale Grand Prix. Two of the youngest members of the squad were thrown right into the deep end lining up for the 112.5 mile race, Jake Hales and Mike Smith. Both lasted over 65 miles of the course before being spat out of the back of the peloton, though both were in good company with the likes of David Clarke (Pendragon Le Col) also being dropped as the rain fell down.

The harsh conditions took its toll on the other riders of Team Corley Cycles too, with Mark suffering from his crash the week before, the big graze he had down his leg had turned yellow! Rich and Chris admitted defeat and pulled out of the race whilst admitting they were both soft Southerners. Which only left Roy and Ash.

Out of the 120 riders to enter only 41 went the distance. Roy got 30th and Ash got 37th in what was a loooong, very wet and cold day out for the Stacey Bushes based team.

Dumfries BikeFest - 30/5/2010

The Saturday before the race had already proved eventful for four of the people travelling up to Dumfries for the race (two riders, the team manager and the soigneur). Just South of Carlisle the rear left tyre on the team car blew up. Mark and Ashley did an F1 pitstop to change to the space saver wheel, the president of the club would have been proud!

Mark, Ash, Matt and Rich lined up to tackle the 102 mile Premier Calendar event along with 75 other riders. The riders took the start at 11am with a strong blustering wind, though thankfully it was nice a sunny day. There were attacks aplenty but nothing stuck and for the first 50 miles the team mechanic had nothing to do but enjoy the scenery.

Soon though the boys were getting thirsy and with no helper at the feed zone Matt and Mark had to make their way back to the car to take on bottles, loading themselves up with enough for the other two as well. Shortly afterwards there was a call on the radio "Team Corley rider down"... as we tried to work out which one it was another call on the radio "two Team Corley riders down"! A tight left hander had taken Mark and his brakes by surprise and he had no where to go but into the back of Ashley.

Thankfully no one was seriously hurt, (or so we thought at the time, Mark had a big graze down his leg which later became infected), and after both riders had had wheel changes they were back on the road. With a little assistance from Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta, Mark managed to get back into the bunch in around 5 minutes. Ashley took a little longer but also made it back into the action.

A group of approximately 20 riders was formed including Dean Downing (Rapha Condor Sharp), Yanto Barker (Pendragon Le Col), Will Bjergfelt (Wilier/Big Maggys) and our own Richard Cartland. This large break managed to open up a substantial lead on the main peloton before multiple attacks saw the group whittled down to 9 riders. Rich managed to get 8th in the sprint and get his best placing in a Premier Calendar event this year.

In the bunch gallop Mark came away with 16th which we were all very pleased with considering the earlier crash.

Regional Road Race Championships - 23/5/2010

Chris McNamara took the silver medal in the South East Region Road Race Champs. Having not seen the report or been there to witness the race there isn't much else I can write about it... so on to the Central Region Road Race Champs!

The Central Region RR Champs took place on the Astwood circuit on a 10.4 mile loop in wonderfully sunny and calm conditions. The race included the Neil Gardner memorial, who was the founding member of the CC Luton and was a mentor to many up and coming talents including Simon Gaywood. Phil Corley rode out to watch 7 riders from the team, including two of the youth development squad, Jake Hales and Jack Waller.

The most notable break of the day reached a maximum gap of 20 seconds, the two breakaway riders being Mike Jackson (CC Luton) and our Ashley Cox. They worked well together and stayed away for almost a lap. But with no wind to split up the bunch it was always going to be a bunch sprint at the end.

On the last lap the Corley boys got to the front of the race to make sure the pace was kept high. Ashley and Roy did big turns on the front to make sure that Simon was in the right place for the sprint finish. At the bottom of the climb with around 100 metres to go Simon went for it with no one putting huge pressure on him. He kicked again just to make sure he had it and raised his hands aloft for the win.

Jake Hales took third place in the race after making sure no one could get on Simon's wheel in the sprint. He was very happy with his result and glad to be able to pay back the faith put in him by the team.

Lincoln Grand Prix - 9/5/2010

The 2010 edition of the Lincoln Grand Prix saw a detour due to extensive works being carried out in Bailgate making things a little different than previous years. But that didn't deter 8 of the team signing on to tackle the infamous Michaelgate climb - Simon, Matt, Rich, Chris, Mark, Steven, Ashley and Jamie.

The pace was fast from the off and with the tricky and technical course Ashley soon found himself on the back foot. Unfortunately he climbed off the second time through the feed station as he had managed to lose contact with the peloton.

The beautifully sunny day made it very busy in the feed zone with bottles everywhere. There was even a crash near the end of the feed zone, initiated by ex team rider Tom Kirk (Team Zappis) who managed to get away with only a few scrapes, but had a very sore finger the next day.

Simon was right there in the thick of the action in a group of approximately a dozen riders who had managed to get a decent gap on the bunch. Simon cramped up and this breakaway was reeled in after a couple of laps. Our boys missed the next split which contained a couple of the riders from Team Sky.

Chris Newton (Rapha-Condor-Sharp) went on to take the win from Philip Lavery (Team Ireland). Rich managed 41st with Chris in 49th, Mark 56th, Jamie 63rd, Matt 67th, Simon 73rd and Steven 75th.

Chas Messenger Memorial - 2/5/2010

Jake Hales managed to place in the top ten in the morning's 50 mile race, in cold and rainy conditions.

Thankfully for the seven Team Corley riders riding the 100 mile race in the afternoon the weather had cleared up significantly. Roy, Ash, Matt, Steven, Rich, Simon Gaywood and Simon Henley made the line up for the day.

Gaywood had really "gee-d" himself up for this one, as it was relatively local and always a good race... unfortunately before even getting on to the course (it's de-neutralized for a couple of miles), his chain snapped and his race ended before it started. All he could do was put his bike into the team car and sit in for the 4 and a half hours whilst grinding his teeth and working the caffeine out of his system by constantly talking.

As the race continued it was clear it would be a real battle of attrition, with attacks all the time trying to get away and being unsuccessful. Matt pulled out with a bad back and with a break including Ash and Roy up the road the team car passed Steve and Rich, both of whom did a double-take when noticing Simon sitting in the back seat.

With Dan Craven (Rapha-Condor-Sharp) pulling out a several minute advantage in the closing miles it was left to Ashley and Roy to bag the results for Team Corley Cycles. They didn't disappoint coming 10th (Ash) and 12th (Roy) in a race which is still on a par with Premier Calendar races.

Steve finished 32nd with Rich just behind him in 34th. Simon Henley also got a cheer from his Team Manager, who was very pleased with his performance taking 42nd.

Rutland - Melton CiCLE Classic - 25/4/2010

When thinking of the Rutland-Melton CiCLE Classic think Paris-Roubaix meets the Ronde van Vlaanderen... but in the middle of Britain. This year the course was made all the more difficult with an additional 20km.

Simon, Matt, Steven, Richard, Mark and Ashley were to take on the gruelling race this year. Before the start they had a quick scan of the locations of the sprints and KoM points and all stuck premade stickers to their top tube to remind them of when to try and be at the front (Simon had spent most of the previous day making the stickers and dead chuffed he was too!).

Archer Spring RR - 18/4/2010

Having the last winner, the last Sprints winner and the last KoM winner of the Archer Grand Prix in our team we knew we'd have to send a good team along to the Archer Spring to relive such glories. Unfortunately the Archer Spring isn't open to Elites so Simon, Rich and Chris had to spend this weekend training whilst 7 of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd cats of the team entered the race.

Matt, Roy, Ash and Steven were joined by Jake Hales, Simon Henley and the shop's very own mechanic Paul Foreman. Each was seen taking turns on the front either keeping the pace high or attempting to make a break.

When a break finally got a gap it was Newport Pagnell's Roy Chamberlain who managed to include himself in the events. This group stayed away until the end with Lee Davis (Motorpoint) outsprinting our Roy for the win. Blake Pond (Southfork Racing.co.uk) was third with James "Foxy" Fox (CC Luton) claiming fourth.

The Sprint for fifth was won by Steve Calland (Southdowns Bikes) with Matt just pipping Ashley to the line where they took 9th and 10th respectively.

Glade CC Spring RR - 11/4/2010

Simon, Ashley and Mark signed on for the start at Saffron Walden. Team Zappi's and Orbea sent big teams to the race and on the start sheet it appeared that it might be a day for Endura, but on the day only Rob Hayles signed on.

With approximately one kilometre to go Jack Kirk (Team Zappi's) clipped off the front just at the bottom of the hill. With no one responding it was down to Simon to win the sprint for second, which he did comfortably. Ash was happy taking 5th and Mark took 8th, making 3 in the top ten, a feat only Orbea could match. Though if it was a Tour Series race we would be ahead by four points...

Ham Hill RR - 11/4/2010

Matt, Steven and Rich headed down to the Ham Hill Road Race in Ilchester in Somerset. With the race being closer to home for the Wilier/Big Maggys and Pendragon Le Col teams they both sent strong squads in order to win. With Chris Opie (Pendragon Le Col) coming out on top ahead of Matt Rowe, Ian Rees and Marcin Bialblocki (all Wilier/Big Maggys). Claiming 5th spot was our own Matthew Higgins who managed to pip Yanto Barker to the post.

Tour of Doon Hame - 3rd-5th/4/2010

Chris Newton (Rapha Condor Sharp) was the dominant force of this years Tour of Doon Hame, winning two of the three stages. 7 of our riders made their way up to Dumfries on the Friday morning to settle into their cosy weekend caravans.

Simon came 8th on Stage 1, just four seconds behind Newton, all the other team riders finished in the group with the exception of Mark Wordsworth who had an unfortunate puncture in the final kilometres. Roy picked up a couple of points in the King of the Mountains competition and the Team was joint 4th overall.

Stage 2 saw a big bunch sprint which again saw Newton come out on top. This time it was Simon and Chris who had the complications in the closing stages where both of them punctured at the same time. They rolled in over 5 minutes behind the main gallop. Matt was our top placed rider on this stage coming in 21st. He stood 20th overall after the two stages, on the same time as 9th placed Matt Kipling (Glasgow Wheelers).

The final stage was to be contested in cold and rainy conditions, with many of the streams the race passed by having turned into raging torrents. Jack Bauer (Endura) took the lone victory with the hope to steal the leaders jersey from Newton but 10 seconds kept it on the Rapha riders shoulders. Matt Higgins finished the stage 24th @ 7 seconds, with the rest of the team scattered about the course. He finished 18th overall with our next rider being Chris McNamara @ 9 minutes 54 seconds.

Tour of the Reservoir - 28/3/2010

Simon managed to find himself in the early break with around 14 other riders including Ian Wilkinson (Endura) and Simon Richardson (Sigma). Due to the block head winds at times it seemed like it would be better walking the course. The third time through the feed Simon had unfortunately been dropped from the front group and was back in the peloton, 4 minutes down.

The boys carried trudging along in the bunch with only Ashley having to conceed. But he should be happy in the knowledge that all the Rapha riders had pulled out of the race a lap before him. Simon and co all finished in the forties or there abouts.

Wally Gimber Trophy - 21/3/2010