Results | | | | | |
Six British riders went to L'Hexagonal - the mountain bike Tour de France - last week and now that we've figured out the results, it's clear that there were some fantastic rides including eight wins throughout the week.
Scott Thwaites, Annie Last, Lily Matthews, David Fletcher, Steve James and Kenta Gallagher travelled to the Tour with training in mind for the upcoming World Championships. Following five stages of racing, six British riders scored a total of eight stage wins racing across the north of France.
The opening win was notched up on the opening stage - a six kilometre individual time trial around Locmine. Annie Last took a convincing win and the overall lead, with Lily Matthews an encouraging third place. Junior Steve James took win number two on the same stage with Kenta Gallagher just moments behind.
Stage two and Gallagher would get his first win, but James was out of today's race with punctures affecting his overall standing. Annie Last had similar problems finishing third and losing her lead in the general classification - but Lily Matthews had another good day, limiting her losses to two minutes and taking second in the overall.
Day three and both Kenta Gallagher and Annie Last would take their second stage victories of the race. For the women this meant the top three in the general classification would be separated by under a minute, but on day four Annie retired from the stage, ending any hopes of the overall win.
It was not all bad news however, as Steve James would record his first win since the opening prologue.
Advancing to the final day, Lily Matthews was assured of second place, while in the senior races Scott Thwaites continued his run of consistent top-30 placings and David Fletcher hoped for a reprieve after suffering from many punctures.
For the final stage Steve James took his third win of the competition and Annie Last was back in action and winning - albeit out of the contest for the overall. More good news was to follow as David Fletcher would finish in 12th in his final stage.
After an easy week the team will take a 24 hour flight to the World Championships in Australia, where the bigtime racing will commence! British Cycling will have full coverage of all the racing through the coming weeks.
