The Women’s Cicle Classic 2023

Team OnForm

Photo: VeloUK - Lotty Dawson

This weekend Team OnForm descended on Melton Mowbray for the 7th edition of the Anexo Cams Cicle Classic.

MVP: Hope Inglis

Highest Placing: Lotty Dawson 25th/2nd Junior

Quote of the Day: ‘If we played rugby instead of cycling, our faces would look like Harriet G’s every week.’ Harriet Evans

Photo: OnForm Circle Classic Team - Freya Eccleston, Lotty Dawson, Harriet Evans, Lotta Mansfield, Millie Jenkins, Harriet Graham, Mia Smith, Hope Inglis.

Team OnForm turned out in force for The Women’s Cicle Classic Road Race on the 26th of March 2023, with a team of eight riders and twelve support staff. The Pre-Race brief, led by Team Manager Mark Botteley and 2023 Road Captain Lotta Mansfield, was light-hearted but clear ‘ride aggressively and stay near the front where you can’. The brief was punctuated by reports of the junior men's race being fractured into small groups, with very few making it over the line or the odd lone rider returning covered head to toe in mud. Throughout this, the team maintained composure and began their final race preparations and warm-ups.

Most of the team, including the lovely support staff for the day, were feeling a mixture of excitement and nerves to test their metal on the notorious course. As the opening race of the Women’s national road series 2023, The Cicle Classic was expected to be a particularly fierce race. The race had also been moved from its traditional June date to March, making the off-road sectors even more treacherous than usual. As Team Manager Mark observed, ‘a proper hard race where the strongest riders who could cope with everything an early season race can throw at them excelled’.  Mark now hopes the race will retain its March slot, enhancing its reputation as the toughest race of the year for many.

Photo: VeloUK - Lotta Mansfield

The team of eight riders, five juniors and three seniors, were all raring to go on the start line. The brisk March day brought with it some tough conditions for the riders to contend with, including strong winds and wet roads. Seven of the riders were sat comfortably with the bunch for the first 20km of the race when the race blew apart at the first QoM point. Unfortunately, the Team Mechanic Paul Smith, was called on early in the race when Freya suffered a mechanical which left her chasing the front group for the day. Paul had expected it to be a busy day running backwards and forwards to the car for spare wheels and bikes for the team, but he had not expected the extra dimension of racing the gravel sectors introduced, ‘like watching the landing on the beach scenes from Saving Private Ryan’.  The race had splintered all over the technical course with Lotty Dawson among the peloton and our other riders pursuing them.

Hope Inglis, Lotta, Harriet Evans, Mia Smith and Harriet Graham were not far behind in the chase groups reeling the peloton in.  At roughly 30 km into the race Harriet G and Hope were caught in an unfortunate racing accident. Harriet G managed to land on her face, effectively taking her out of the race. But Hope being the cyclo-cross warrior that she is, was straight back on and getting stuck into the chase.  

Photo: VeloUK - Hope Inglis

Meanwhile, Lotta made the jump from one chase group to another, working her way back to the bunch to finish the race 44th.  After the race, Lotta said ‘it was a brutal day out, I’m surprised by my performance, but overall, a good day’. The powerhouse that is Lotty Dawson managed to fight through all the sectors and other riders unscathed to finish the race in 25th and the second junior rider over the line.

Hope and Mia had worked their way far enough up the groups that they made it to the feed zone despite the inevitable carnage ahead, where they and many other riders were pulled from the race to clear the course for the leaders.

Further back, Harriet E, Freya, Millie and Harriet G had been steadily working with a small group of riders to make it to the feed zone. Little did they know they had been directed to go the wrong way by a marshal and ended up doing three laps of the Cold Overton loop. This put the small group of riders so far behind they had to withdraw and return to the HQ in Melton Mowbray.

Photo: VeloUK - Mia Smith and Harriet Evans

All of this had been observed from the Team car by rider and Director Sportif for the day, Georgia Lancaster, who gave her view of the race from a rider's perspective, ‘awesome experience in the team car watching everything unravel on such an unforgiving course. Definitely nerve-wracking’.

The team of eight all made it back to HQ in near enough one piece after the race in high spirits. Seeing Lotta and Lotty over the line with the leading groups only added to the sense of comradery among the team. Mark summed up the day well when he commented, ‘with almost certainly the youngest and most inexperienced team in the peloton, we had no real expectations,’ but valuable lessons were learned. The Onform Team can look forward to building on the unique experience after a couple of weekends racing at the toughest events the UK scene has to offer.

Photo: VeloUK - Millie Jenkins

Photo: Harriet Graham. QoD: ‘If we played rugby instead of cycling, our faces would look like Harriet G’s every week.’ Harriet Evans

Photo: Georgia Lancaster and Mia Smith

Commonwealth Games

A home commonwealth games for the riders this year and a fantastic showing from the girls, past and present .

Left to right: Sophie Lewis, Laura Kenny, Grace Lister

Grace Lister, part of our squad of junior riders has had a fantastic experience riding alongside Laura Kenny , who won gold in the 2012 Olympics when Grace was only 7 years old. Grace game into the Commonwealth Games having won a bronze medal at the Junior European champs only 2 weeks beforehand, an exciting points race for Grace in the Commonwealth Games as she went on the attack with Neah Evans in the closing few laps before unfortunately being caught; great racing showing perfectly how Grace always gets stuck in.

Grace Lister - Individual Pursuit

Jessie Carridge, 3rd at Lincoln Grand Prix earlier this season, on the podium alongside Becky Storrie who rode for the team last year, Jessie showed how her form was coming along ready for the games. Jessie has had a fantastic season so far, following her podium place at Lincoln Jessie was 11th at the CiCLE Classic, 25th at the National Championships, 7th at Lancaster Grand Prix and 22nd at her home race in the Isle of Man stage race. Jessie took the start line on Thursday in the Time Trial for the Isle of Man where she finished 24th.

In previous years Anna Henderson rode for Team OnForm, leaving the team in 2019 to ride for SunWeb and then Jumbo-Visma to pursue her cycling career so it was fantastic to see Anna on the podium for the Silver Medal in the time trial on Thursday. Becky Storrie who left us last year for UCI team Cams-Basso and who will be riding for Lecol-Wahoo in 2023-24 also competed this week, finishing 6th.

Photo: British Cycling - Anna Henderson winning Silver

Jessie, Anna and Becky will all be riding in the road race on Sunday.

Tour Series 2022

An undoubtedly chaotic Tour Series. Seven rounds of full on races, each round lasting an hour, the first time this event has matched the men’s race in distance led to more tactical races, calm moments between the storm and opportunities for every rider to be involved.

Grace Lister formed part of an early move in Guisborough that stuck until the end, sadly without Grace in it as she crashed into the barriers 4 laps in.

The team started with a bang, quite literally, as Grace Lister formed part of an early move in Guisborough that stuck until the end, sadly without Grace in it as she crashed into the barriers 4 laps in. Despite this, Grace showed her capabilities and her talent of making those race winning moves, unfortunately illness has stopped Grace from taking part in future rounds but we look forward to seeing her talent displayed later in the season.

Mark Botteley, team manager, also highlights Daisy's attacking performance in Sunderland, regularly being at the front of the race and being the only top 20 for the team this year. Holly Ramsey, first year junior stood out to Mark as she finished with the lead pack in Barking.

What we gave to our riders was valuable experience at this level.

- Mark Botteley , Team Manager

Despite not hitting the team goals and many rounds didn’t see the team at the front of the race what we did give to our riders was valuable experience at this level which will only benefit the individuals for next year and the remainder of the season.

Ellen Inglis, travelled the length of the country on numerous occasions to compete in many rounds, the most of any of our riders.

Racing Round Up - 27th March

Last Sunday was a busy day for the team. With a full squad down South at the Dave Peck Memorial Team Cup and Jessie flying the flag for OnForm up North In the Cold Dark North Capernwray Road Race it really hit home that the season is pretty much in full swing.

A few of our riders reflect on their race:

Sannah Zaman - Dave Peck Memorial Road Race

I finished 22nd in the bunch sprint after 80km of constantly trying to move up the group. It was fun being with so many girls from the team in the bunch though!

Jessie Carridge - Capernwray Road Race

After a fast start, the peloton was reduced to a strong lead group of 15-20 riders, there were a few breakaway attempts but nothing stuck. Ultimately it all came down to the last time up Sunny bank which was a real lung buster with Becky and Mary setting a phenomenal pace from the bottom!

For me personally, it was a really well organised event on a great course. I managed to place 6th which I was delighted with for my first race of the season and first time (metaphorically speaking) representing the Brother UK - Orientation Marketing colours. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season already and getting to represent the onform colours in real life!

Laura Pittard - Dave Peck Memorial

I had a bit of a nerves/nausea issue going into the race so didn’t really manage to start it feeling 100% or fully fuelled! So the positives were that it was another good experience to practice moving up with big fields of riders, but I was a bit frustrated to not close a gap about 70km in and then finished in a group behind. I think I just didn’t have enough in the tank fuel wise and tipped my body into ‘bad stress’ mode! The junior girls did really well and were all in the top 25/30 which was amazing. All good learning and another good experience.

Abi Cooper - Dave Peck Memorial Road Race

Position: 17th.

This race was all about trying to get as close to the front as possible as there were so many riders, so positioning was really important. I found it quite difficult to move up the bunch as the roads were very narrow, so I realised I had to take advantage of the corners and move into gaps that opened up after them. I’m really pleased with my position, the sprint finish was quite chaotic and I got blocked in, so I can’t help but think I would have got a much better result as I had lots of energy at the end, but overall a really fun race and lots learnt!

Freya Eccleston - Dave Peck Memorial Road Race

I finished 51st and it was the longest race I have ever done time wise. This race was also one of the toughest races I have done.

Dave Peck Preview with Ellen Bennett

With it being almost 2 years since Ellen was last on the start line of a road race her expectations are low with no pressure on herself. However, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t consumed her thoughts for the few days leading up to the race, what the course is like, how the race would ideally play out and how best to race without burning all her matches before crossing the finish line.

“I need to think about how best to race without burning all my matches before crossing the finish line”

— Ellen Bennett

The race fields a full start list including reserves and as a first year U23 this prospect seems rather daunting for Ellen; having come from the junior ranks not only is the level of racing unknown, so is the competition. ‘‘There’s almost 70 riders on the start list and I think I know maybe 10 of them which is so different from when I was a junior, I think I knew nearly everyone there.’’

The circuit is 8km long in total with 10 laps, as a rider Ellen said she feels her confidence will grow throughout the race and with so many laps you can really get to know the course and how the race could play out. It’s a team cup which means the UCI teams can’t race, for Team OnForm having so many riders in the race this could be really beneficial and a chance for the team to practise the team tactics rather than going with a race that’s already being dictated by other bigger teams. Ellen is ‘‘looking forward to being able to ride as a team, after a block of racing on the track its exciting to ride with tactics that are changeable throughout the race, its very different to the velodrome, at track nationals I only had 1 job and 2 circles to ride, here anything could happen, I don’t want to burn matches making all the attacks or chasing them all and then not get round.’’

“at track nationals I only had 1 job and 2 circles to ride, here anything could happen”

— Ellen Bennett

Ellen has spent 3 weeks in Spain prior to racing the National Track Championships where she was part of the quartet that took hope the winning jerseys from the team pursuit. With a good lead up to the race and form already proven on the track from Ellen, team manager Mark Botteley has his hopes set high for the young rider this weekend.

Alongside Ellen with be Abi Cooper, Sannah Zaman, Laura Pittard, Hope Inglis and Freya Eccleston. We wish all the girls the very best of luck.

Race Report - The Peaks 2 Day

By Daisy Barnes

A steep start to the season is the only way I can describe my first race of 2022. I don’t think there was one bit of flat road throughout the whole weekend. Saying that the courses were fantastic and it made for great road racing.

The British Continental did a preview of the weekend that I read the day before travelling down to the Peak District, it was then that I realised just what I had let myself in for; it hit me just how much 2000m of elevation was in only 85km. But with the attitude of what goes up must come down I was hoping to make the most of the descents to recover for the relentless climbing.

“Nothing aero and complicated, just about turning the pedals.”

I think, looking back, I was most looking forward to stage 1, I’ve always liked time trialling, it was actually really nice to do it on a road bike for a change, nothing aero and complicated, just about turning the pedals. For me, the time trial was a great success on Saturday, I came 7th, 1 minute 15 seconds down on Becky (ex teammie but still fab friend).

Stage 1 gave me the confidence I needed this early on in the season but clearly not enough confidence to prepare me for stage 2 on Saturday afternoon that was just brutal. After 2 laps with the front group my legs and lungs completely gave up and I was riding on my own between the leaders and the group behind, at this point I just wanted to ride hard enough to stay away from the group behind but save some legs for Sunday.

“I cleared my head of Saturday and hoped my legs would do the same.”

After a lie in on Sunday I cleared my head of Saturday and hoped my legs would do the same. I was grateful that the women’s race wasn’t until the afternoon, those extra few hours in the morning really did help. With no expectations, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself back in the front group on Sunday. The race was steady for 7 laps except for the mad sprint everyone made for the QOM each time round, my observation skills known to be fairly lacking meant I didn’t realise this was the QOM until about lap 5, but that did explain why everyone ‘kept attacking’ in the same place. Lesson learnt for the next race to figure these things out first.

The final lap was tough and a crawl to the line as the last lap there were riders everywhere and the group had split up coming onto the finish straight the penultimate time. On the whole, a good experience, lots of fun, and lessons learnt.

Thank you to the organisers and volunteers of the race and our team sponsors for their support as always.

Daisy Barnes

The Peaks 2 Day

Photo: VeloUK - Abi Cooper

This weekend we have team riders Abi Cooper and Daisy Barnes racing in our first stage race of the year. in the rolling countryside of the Peak District.

The race will include:

Stage 1: 12km TT

Stage 2: 62km Road Race on the Bole Hill circuit

Stage 3: 78km Road Race

We had a quick catch up with both riders prior to the race to find out their pre race thoughts. Here is what they had to say:

‘‘ I’m really looking forward to racing next weekend in the Peaks with Daisy. I’ve not done this style of stage race before so I’m excited to see what it’s going to be like and hopefully gain a lot more experience about how to pace myself throughout the weekend as it is going to be physically demanding and certainly good training! Racing as a team will also be very fun and I’m looking forward to doing some hillier courses.’’ - Abi Cooper

‘‘ I am really looking forward to this race, it’s my first race of the season so it is definitely a bit of an unknown for me at the minute in regard to where my form is but I’m feeling really positive and excited to give it my all. It is only March and with a quiet April I’m just hoping to learn from the event where my weaknesses are and go away and work on them. ‘‘ - Daisy Barnes

Junior & U23 Road Race Series - Hatherleigh

Team:

Abi Cooper

Ellen Inglis

Freya Ecclestone

Holly Ramsey

Hope Inglis

Sannah Zaman

We caught up with team manager, Mark Botteley to hear his pre race thoughts:

‘‘I am really excited to see how the girls get on in their first National of the year. National Hill Climb Champ, Sannah had a great result last weekend in the Kingston Wheelers Road Race so hopefully she will carry that form and confidence leading into Hatherleigh on Sunday. The fact that the race is in Devon suggests it is likely to be hilly and therefore should play to Sannah’s strengths.

Abi and Holly have had great results on the track these last 2 weeks so it will be interesting to see how that shapes up on the road as they go into their first race of the season.

Finally, Ellen, Hope and Freya who have all already started their road campaign this year and hopefully this has got them back into the racing mindset ready for their first National this year.

The weather forecast is for it to be pretty windy, the girls will need to be switched on as it is easy to find yourself in the wrong part of the bunch at the wrong time, however, with 6 riders we should have a bit of an advantage and hopefully we will have an incident free race with some good performances from the team.’’ - Mark Botteley

Weekend Round-Up 5th-6th March

Brother LDN Redbridge Crit

5th - Hope Inglis

6th - Abi Cooper

8th - Ellen Inglis

Left to right: Laura, Hope, Freya, Ellen, Amy and Sannah

Kingston Wheelers Road Race

4th - Sannah Zaman

11th - Hope Inglis

13th - Laura Pittard

23rd - Amy Harvey

26th - Freya Eccleston

27th - Ellen Inglis

National Track Champs: Results

National Track Championships returned this weekend in Newport. We had four riders perform across four events. Izzy Sharp, Holly Ramsey and Grace Lister, all juniors in on the GB academy programme stepped up to ride against the seniors and Ellen Bennett, U23 rounded off the team for the weekend.

Izzy Sharp - Individual Pursuit

Individual Pursuit

Izzy Sharp: 3.40 - 10th

Grace Lister: 3.41 - 11th

Holly Ramsey: 3.48 -14th

Grace Lister - Individual Pursuit

Team Pursuit

NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

Left to right: Ellen, Holly, Izzy, Grace

Scratch

Holly Ramsey in the Scratch Race

Grace Lister: 7th

Holly Ramsey: 13th

Points

Grace Lister: 5th

Izzy Sharp: 9th

Holly Ramsey: 12th

Coming up: National Track Championships 2022

This weekend see’s the return of the National Track Championships, this year taking place in Newport.

Competing for Team Onform we have:

Izzy Sharp: Team Pursuit, Individual Pursuit, Points

Grace Lister: Team Pursuit, Individual Pursuit, Scratch, Points

Ellen Bennett: Team Pursuit

Holly Ramsey: Team Pursuit, Individual Pursuit, Scratch, Points

“The girls have had limited time to train as a team but I think they really are ones to watch. Our challenge is to get three of the four across the line. They won’t be far off the fastest teams, and if things go their way, we could have a shock on the cards.”

— Mark Botteley - Team Manager

East London Velo Crit, Redbridge - Race Report

On the 12th February, it was my first race of 2022 and for Brother UK Orientation-Marketing. After having a very disruptive winter training due to having Covid, Surgery, and 3 other illnesses back to back, I knew my form wouldn’t be 100%. So I used this race as a benchmark to see how I can improve and where my strengths are currently at.

Photo Credit : Jeremy Greenwood

“After having Covid and then surgery disrupting training through the winter it was exciting to be back on the start line and learn what I need to work on.”

— Amy Harvey

The first lap was very fast paced and I managed to stick in until the climb, ‘the Hoggenberg’. On a normal day I would be in the front end of the race or in a breakaway but on this particular day I struggled more than I expected. I couldn’t stay with the leaders then found myself in no man’s land, with the gap between me and the leaders increasing. At this point I had to ride solo and try and catch up with riders in front. This was made difficult with the strong crosswinds at the very top of the climb. It felt like there wasn’t much recovery with the climbs and crosswinds. However, I managed to finish 5th which I was satisfied with, considering I didn’t have the winter training I’d hoped for and with the weather conditions.

“Even though the race didn’t go how I would have hoped, I am trusting the process and enjoying getting back to racing.”

— Amy Harvey

It was nice to get a race in the legs, while also wearing Team OnForms colours! I hope to continue to improve and find some form soon!

Photo Credit: Jeremy Greenwood

AMY HARVEY

National Hill Climb Championships

On the 31st of October Sannah arrived at Winnat’s Pass in atrocious weather conditions. The savage gradient and the extreme amounts of water running down it, meant that Sannah was not only having to focus on riding up the hill as quick as her legs could possibly go, but she was also battling the potential wheel slip, the cold and the crazy crowd willing her on.

Photo: Ellen Isherwood

Sannah being 2nd year Junior wanted to take advantage of her final year before moving up to compete in the senior category. Luckily for her, Sannah feels the weather wasn’t quite as bad for the Juniors as it was for the Seniors due to the fact they were off slightly earlier in the day. The climb took Sannah 4minutes and 44seconds, on reflection Sannah said she was expecting more from herself, at an average of around 300w for the climb Sannah felt she had more as she had proved to herself in training, but the cold weather on the day sapped the power out of her very quickly. Despite this; Sannah’s natural ability uphill and gruelling training rides on her favourite hills from home gave Sannah a well deserved win in the Junior category, an impressive result for her 2nd ever competitive hill climb. Here, we should probably mention that not only was her time winning the Juniors but it would have put Sannah 10th in the woman’s category too, something that Sannah is quietly proud of; it is fair to say she does not need to worry about moving up to U23 next year.

“‘’I would rather train for that extra few watts and put those improvements on my performance rather than the equipment, but ask me again next year, I’ll probably have changed my mind.“”

— Sannah

The climb this year up Winnat’s suited Sannah, short and steep to suit her slight build. The world of hill climbing, a bit like time trialling is becoming more focused on equipment and how light your bike can be, so for those reading this more mechanically minded, Sannah borrowed a bike for the event, the first time she had ridden Campagnolo and she removed her bottle cage. This, however, was all she did. Whilst discussing Sannah’s aims for next years hill climbing season, the question, will you be looking for the lightest of bikes and components obviously came up, how could it not while talking about getting uphill very quickly, but Sannah believes she would rather train for that extra few watts and put those improvements on her performance rather than the equipment, she did follow this up with, “but ask me again next year, I’ll probably have changed my mind.“

Photo: Ellen Isherwood

Sannah is looking forward to taking part in the National Hill Climb Championships this year on the Old Horseshoe Pass and embracing the roaring crowds once again. Team OnForm are excited to support Sannah, and are also looking ahead to the team prize.

New kit revealed!

Team Brother UK-Orientation Marketing reveal new kit!

New title sponsor revealed - Orientation Marketing

We are very happy to announce that for the 2022 season we will be partnering with @orientationmktg , Orientation Marketing aren't new to the domestic scene having supported other teams in previous years.

We are very excited about this new venture and look forward to working closely with them. Orientation Marketing will be our title sponsor alongside @brothercycling .

Chris Lawson, Director and co-Founder of Orientation Marketing gave his thoughts, "Through 2022 and beyond, we have decided to focus our sponsorship efforts on women's racing. It is no secret women's racing needs additional support to flourish and have the resources it deserves to be watched by a larger audience".