Condy 2nd at UCI World Tour Championships

Condy has continued his amazing year with a second place at the UCI World Tour Championships in South Africa. Yes, Condy was disappointed at not getting first place and the coveted world champions rainbow jersey, but second in the world for his age group is fantastic.

On the day, it was a strong italian rider who rode away solo from the group, with Condy taking the sprint from the small chase group.

Regardless, it was great to see him out there in the green and gold representing his adopted homeland. We know there are plenty of proud Aussie and Irish fans out there wishing you well. Meanwhile, the team looks forward to having him back and working towards making him State criterium champion in a few weeks time.

Matt third at Charles Coin Memorial race

The last days of winter greeted the team for the annual Charles Coin Memorial road race held by the University Cycling Club. This race holds much tradition in the Queensland cycling calendar and is always a race the team seeks to do well in.

With perfect racing conditions and a full strength team, everything was set for the 130km road race.

With a strong and motivated team, the team knew pressure would be on them to dictate how the race would be. As such, Steve and Aidan took the race on and were very active early, which resulted in Steve getting into the big early break of the day.

For about 60km, Steve was in a break of 5 riders, who gained up 1 minute at times. This great work allowed the rest of the team to sit in the wings and wait for the catch. As the other teams slowly brought back the break, the counter moves were getting ready, which saw Matt and Aidan getting into some small breaks that didn't last. Then Steve countered again, and was away for another 20 odd kilometres in the second big break of the day.

As this break was brought back Matt again followed some big moves, which with 30km left to race, saw the winning move get away. With 5 committed riders in the break, the gaps grew out to as much as 3 minutes.

In the final 20km, Matt started attacking the group in the hope to reduce the numbers, which resulted in just 4 riders left with 10km to go. At this point, the cat and mouse started as riders played out their tactics.

Over the final climb, further big attacks began, but it was clear a 4 man sprint was to occur. Matt waited until the sprint began to try and move around, but was unable to get past the 2 stronger riders and had to settle for third place.

Well done to Correy Edmed for a good win.

Cunningham Classic 2012

The Cunningham is the one day race in Queensland and is always a priority for the team. With perfect conditions awaiting the riders for the 170km test, a good result was always expected.

In the first 20km, the race was relatively sedate until an unfortunate accident saw team rider James Miller crash out after hitting something on the road. After a brief stint in the Gatton Hospital, Jimmy will recover to fight another day.

The race then continued on as the riders prepared for the KOM. As the group approached the bottom, the tension grew, as finally the attacks began at the bottom of the climb. The pace was high all the way from the bottom, which dropped many riders. Still, all the contenders were present in the front and the cross winds to Leyburn were to start.

The race was setting a steady tempo for sometime, until the turn back to home was made. With 60km to go, the real attacks began. For more than 20km it was attack after attack, until finally, on one of the long drags a group of eleven riders got away.

Matt was able to get himself into the break and it was clear that this was the race winning move. Unfortunately Matt was outnumbered by other teams, so he was forced to play it smart and allow the teams with multiple riders in the break to do most of the work.

As the break proceeded to gain time, Matt looked after himself to ensure he was ready for the finale until a crash brought down seven of the eleven riders in the break. Matt came down but was able to remount and began to chase the four riders up the road who didn't crash.

For 5km, Matt rode solo until a loan rider bridged across. For another 5km the two worked together until Condy bridged across with three other riders. Meanwhile, the four riders ahead were going to win.

Matt and Condy then worked together to ensure they got 5th place was wrapped up, with Condy taking the sprint for 5th, while Matt took 8th.