Queensland Road Teams series - Round One

Stage 1 Road Race
The 117km road race stage was always going to suit the teams character. With several hills and an uphill sprint finish, on paper the team was looking good.

The race started very fast, which meant that early on, numerous riders were getting dropped, especially once the race hit the first King of the Mountain point. Over the major climb, the race really got hard and by the top of the climb, less than half of the riders were left in the race. Thankfully four Campos - Avalon riders made the split.

The second time over the climb, more riders were shed, and it was down to less than 40 riders coming into the finale. Some late attacks meant that teams had to chase, but all were brought back for a bunch sprint.

Condy did well to take third in the stage, while the team was second overall thanks to great riding from Andy and Steve. Condy also lead the Masters Category.

Team Time Trial

Stage two was a 16km Team Time Trial. With plenty of wind about, the course was to be a big tail wind out and a strong headwind back. Judging the teams efforts was crucial.

Despite the team not being time trial specialists, a respectable time of 23:06 minutes was posted to take 11th spot.

Criterium

The Criterium was always going to be hard. More wind in the afternoon was sure to break things up, and within ten laps, the race was split up all over the place. Unfortunately Condy missed the split, and was forced to chase with the help of Andy and Matt. For more than 35km Condy, Andy and Matt chased hard to try to get across to the front group. Unfortunately Matt punctured close to the end, which broke the momentum of the chase and allowed the front group to stay away.

In the end, it was all about getting Condy into the points to maintain his lead in the Masters Category. As such, Matt and Andy did a good lead out to ensure Condy won the sprint for 30th and take some valuable points.

Condy Second at Mt Cotton Kermis

With the 90 minute kermis sure to be a tough day out, over a pretty hilly course, the boys knew they were in with a good shot for a result, with Condy's recent second overall at Crestmead. This race is usally unpredictable, with early breaks sometimes getting away, or small bunch sprints. The tactic was to cover all the moves late in the race and let Condy take it easy if a bunch sprint was to result.

The race never once slowed up. The pace was always high, which meant break aways were very hard to get into. Aidan did a great job of getting into some early moves, but with all the teams riding hard, nothing ever really got away.

Matt and Steve also got involved with some moves late in the race, but again  nothing was really let free. It wasn't until very late in the race, that two riders managed to hold a gap for several laps. But the field was always close at hand, and with some turns by Steve, Aidan and Matt at the front, meant it was never going to go far.

With a lap to go, the break was caught and Condy got himself in perfect position for the uphill sprint. On the last bend Condy hit his pedal, which slowed him up, but he quickly regained position, but didn't have enough to come past Brad Nightingale. Condy did really well to take second place.

Sizzling Summer Series - Round 3

The final round of the Sizzling Summer Series was all about making sure Condy maintained or improved on his overall position. With the previous two rounds averaging more that 47kph, and with perfect racing conditions, another fast race would be on the cards.

With the pace so consistently high, it was always going to be hard for a break away to gain an advantage, yet numerous attacks characterised the race. The team was patient, knowing that a field sprint would be likely, however Andy and Matt did follow several attempts to break away late in the race, just as a precaution.

With three laps to go, Condy was well positioned near the front and on the right wheel waiting for the sprint. Into the last corner, some push and shove blocked Condy's run, however he opened up the sprint to take 4th.

This allowed Condy to move up to 2nd overall in the series, which was a great reward for his consistency over the last three weeks. Well done to Condy and the rest of the team.

Good weekend

Nundah:
The team raced the local club crit at Nundah on Saturday morning, with an eye on doing well on Sundays crit at Crestmead. We had a plan to practice our leadouts and to also be aggressive. We did both, however the results although good, weren't what we wanted. The team wants it's first win of the season and we hoped Saturday would bring that.

Everything was looking good until late in the race a solo rider caught the peleton by surprise and was strong enough to hold on for more than a lap to win. Our leadout was miss timed and as a result we were riding for second. Condy did well to get third, while Andy held on for fourth after a good leadout. The win can't be far off.

Crestmead:
Round two at Crestmead was all about getting Condy back into the points to improve on his overall position. The race averaged almost 47kph, so it was clear a bunch sprint would result.

It was planned to wait until the end for any moves, where Matt got into a late break. Despite a hard working group, the break didn't last and things were all together with 10 minutes to go. The race remained fast as teams got ready for a sprint, until a small crash with one lap to go broke the momentum of many teams.

Condy was near the front and avoided the mayhem, however the sprint had little organisation, which made it hard to judge. Condy dug in and manged to take 8th and get some more points for the overall.

Next week we hope to move him up a place or two.