The view point from Saint Piran Women’s Race Team Mechanic Harry Attwood

“Here at the first round of the tour series in Guisborough riders go head to head to claim a victory on a
unforgivingly fast circuit. That makes notorious tatical racing and a host of team plans at bay and a wide variety of tactical awareness is key.

Right from the starting gun the pace was set by some of the race favourites. We had a strong presense with team rider Maddie Gammons and Hannah Bayes in the chasing bunch.
The main part of the race showed no rest or any pace drop for the following bunch with mix of chase
moves and failed bridge moves to the leaders but the time gap stayed pretty conistent.

With a mixure of crashes and hold ups we mannaged a solid start and result from Hannah Bayes, closely
followed by her fellow team mates; Maddie, Gemma, Sophie and Emily.

This was my first tour series and the boss asked me to pen a few words and I wanted to convey how exciting women racing is and the very fact that Saint Piran Women’s Race Team are giving opportunities to new riders and is sucessing itself.

Here’s what the Women’s Team Assistant DS Carl Farrar had to say;

“Similar to Harry this was my first ever attendance at the Tour Series and first major race as the Assistant DS for the Women’s Race Team.
Guisborough is a very tight and fast circuit and as expected from the start the riders made a very big effort in attempt to split the peloton and during the first part of the race several teams made attempts to bridge the gap however were pulled back by the group which Hannah managed to remain with.

Unfortunately due to crashes our other riders, Sophie, Gemma, Emily & Maddie were unable to remain with the chasing group.

This race was a real experience for myself which I spent most of it within the pit area monitoring the race, and I look forward to further developing my experience along the rest of the series.

From the riders perspective Hannah Bayes gave us this race report;

Guisborough was a super fast opening round of the Tour series.

The race was full gas from the start, I found myself at the back end of the front bunch for the majority of the race. The pace was so fast in the group it made it really difficult to move up. Throughout the race there were several crashes and touching of wheels. I had to unclip at one point round a corner trying to get round someone who rode into the barrier. I was pleased to finish at the back of the front bunch in such a fast and brutal round.

Jenny Bolsom, Women’s Team Manager had this to say;

“The whole ethos behind Saint Piran Women’s Race Team to date is to give women the opportunity to race, we grow year on year but never forget our grassroots.
Our vision is always engage, motivate and enjoy racing. Tomorrow night (4th May) I swap my team manager shoes for racing shoes, one for which I am very nervous about.

The Tour Series is unique in UK sport and is a wonderful showcase for what women can do.”

Onward to Round 2 Tomorrow (4th May) in Galashields.

Check out the Tour Series YouTube Channel for yesterdays full race and a live stream of the race on each day - https://www.youtube.com/user/TheTourCycling

Alternately you can watch the highlights of each round on ITV4 the following day at 7pm.

Life Behind Bars - Round 1 of the Tour Series