Johnson Health Tech Round 1 - Oxford

The first round of the televised tour series (ITV4) saw our 4 riders, Jo Tindley, Adel Tyson-Bloor, Eleanor Jones and Nicci Meadows, tactic a highly technical circuit. The tight circuit and dead turns suited Jo down to the ground.

Taken from Velouk.net

A 50-rider strong field had assembled on St Giles in Oxford for the first round of the Johnson Health Tech Grand Prix Series in a strong entry headlined by World Champion Garner and last year’s Series Champion Helen Wyman.The main move of the race came halfway through, when five riders went clear with Simpson joined by British Circuit Race Champion Hannah Barnes, Corrine Hall, Jo McRae and Jo Tindley.



Jo Tindley sprints to a victory in one of the mid race sprints.

The five worked well together to build what looked an unassailable lead. But over the closing laps the gap gradually came down thanks to the work of Garner who pulled a small group closer and closer.

Simpson and Tindley duked it out in an incredibly close second Sprint, which the VC St Raphael rider just edging Simpson, but there was no stopping the Northumbria University student who did enough to collect the Sprint honours for the evening.

Onto the final lap and Simpson attacked coming onto the long back straight, powering clear of her four breakaway companions. Through the final hairpin of the St Giles circuit the group closed, with the Garner led chasers in turn closing.

Simpson held on though, just crossing the line ahead of Barnes and Tindley for the win and the Series lead.

Having taken 1st place in one of the primes Jo moves into 2nd place in the standings for the sprints competition. Adel finished in the bunch behind in 14th place and the team were 4th in this round, 1pt off 3rd place.

For full report and results:
http://www.velouk.net/2012/05/23/report-clean-sweep-of-prizes-for-annie-simpson-in-oxford/