Richard Handley is targeting the outright lead in the Tour Series for his team when the road cycling series visits Aberdeen today.
Handley helped his team, Madison Genesis, claim the leaders’ jerseys in round two at Motherwell on Tuesday to draw level on 19 points with JLT Condor, winners of round one in Redditch last Thursday.
Handley said: “It means a lot to have the team jerseys. Madison Genesis has always been up there and we had a good contest with JLT last year. Hopefully, we can push them a little bit further this year.
“Aberdeen is a good circuit with good crowds and we’re looking forward to it.”
Handley was runner-up on the night to Matt Gibson of JLT Condor with Commonwealth Games road time trial silver medallist Harry Tanfield, taking third for Canyon Eisberg. However, the combined times of the leading Madison Genesis riders gave them the team win and Handley knows how hard it will be to overcome a strong JLT Condor side. He was a member of the team which was crowned Tour Series champions in 2014.
He said: “Looking at the team they brought to Motherwell, their five riders have all won a lot of races in the past and you wouldn’t have said they would be beaten at all but we took it to them.
“They were in charge last Thursday but we tried to match them at Motherwell and it paid off. We’ve got to try to do that again in Aberdeen.”
Gibson, whose win in Motherwell was his fourth of 2018, hopes to achieve more success in Aberdeen today.
The 21-year-old said: “I felt pretty confident and was able to keep it going. It means a lot to get a win on the Tour Series. I knew Handley was going to have a go and I expected him to have a few more goes than he did. It’s been a while since I’ve been up there in the Tour Series.
“Last week was good for myself and the boys to finish well and to get the win at Motherwell was great.
“Hopefully we can build on it.”
Defending men’s Series champions JLT Condor are led by Welshman Jon Mould, who took silver in the Commonwealth Games road race last month. Mould is the expert in the event, having won most individual rounds in Tour Series history.
He said: “I’m looking for success there after representing Wales in the Commonwealth Games. I think the title defence will be tough; everyone’s gunning to win it so we’ll have to give it everything, just like we’ve done in the past.”