RACING BLOGS, NEWS & REVIEWS

As we pedal towards the latter stages of the season, the winning ways of the Wilier Bigmaggys Prendas team has not failed to make an impression on the cycling world. The 2009/2010 season has been their most successful yet since the team began in 2008 under the directive of team rider/manager Ben Luckwell. Ben speaks highly of his team: “I am extremely proud of what the team has achieved this year and it’s not over yet. There have been some great performances so far”.

Much of the team’s success is owed to Marcin Bialoblocki. With 23 individual wins to his name, breaking his own record of 22 wins in a season; he is currently leading the national rankings, where he has been placed for much of the year. Most recently, some inspiring rides in the Premier Calendar races that have been blighted by badly timed punctures have resulted in an impressive 6th for Marcin in the series overall. Marcin is now on a short holiday in Poland, but promises to finish the season in winning form.

Ian Rees has also been in fine sprinting form this season with a total of eight wins this year. The powerhouse of the team is currently ranked 8th in the national rankings and hoping to remain in the top 10 by the end of the season. Overall, the team currently has five riders in the top 20, with Grant Bayton, Ben Luckwell and Will Bergfelt making up the other places in 12th, 14th and 19th respectively, which is more than any other team.

The team are clearly performing well together with a total of 49 wins and many top three positions. Highlights in the last few weeks have included the complete domination of the overall standings in the Team Tor 2000 Crit Series at Merryfield where Marcin Bialoblocki came 1st, Ian Rees 2nd and Will Bergfelt took 3rd. Similarly, in the overall standings in the Castle Coombe series, team Wilier Bigmaggys Prendas won 12 out of the 15 races with Mark Perry taking the overall title, Ian Rees came 2nd, Grant Bayton 3rd, Ben Luckwell 4th and Marcin Bialoblocki came in 5th.

Most recently at the 88 mile Python road race in Windsor, Ben Luckwell placed 3rd with Ian Rees close behind in 5th. The team finished 4th in the National rankings last season and are hoping to improve on that this year. Currently placed 4th, they are hoping to make a top three finish. Watch this space!

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/road/article/roa20100819-Team-News–Winning-Style-Continues-for-Wilier-Team-0

http://www.urbanhillclimb.com

http://vimeo.com/13732247

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Read all about the Wilier Super Leggera Lampre team bike on www.bikeradar.com

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/race-tech-lampre-katusha-omega-pharma-rabobank-bikes-27182

Rapha Urban Hill Climb
 
Not usually a hill climb specialist but the attraction of an urban hill climb lured me in!
 
Lucky my girlfriend lives just around the corner from the event, so after finishing work I drove up to Hampstead. On route the heavens opened – so much rain was falling that the M40 traffic slowed to a pace where I would have been better off being on the bike!
 
Thankfully after kitting up the skies cleared ready for the evening’s event.
 
The event had already started when I arrived so unfortunately I wasn’t able to pre-ride the cross.
 
I walked up the climb so I could mentally prepare myself for what was in store.
 
The climb started fairly gradually, levelled briefly before ramping up.
 
I set off at 19:56.
 
Scorching away in the big ring, the plan was to shift down on the flat prior to attacking the real climb.
 
Everything was going perfectly my friends could hear the commentator mentioning Schleck and they could only assume it was because I was climbing so well.
 
Little did they know however that on the steepest part of the climb my chain had given up!!
 
The commentator instructed me to fix it and have another go as he had been impressed with what he saw.
 
I did just that – thanks to the chap who kindly lent me his chain tool.
 
Second time round and as soon as I started I could feel the previous effort in my legs.
 
I pushed on as hard as I could through the crowds of people the noise was immense enabling me to push on through the pain.
 
Over the top and I was happy I’d given it all I had.
 
I finished a respectable 13th place (unlucky for some?!).
 
A hugely successful event and one I’ll be looking forward to competing in again next year!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=193851&id=86761501581

Alessandro Petacchi wins stage 1 of the TDF after an amazing bunch sprint………

See a replica of his Wilier Super Leggera at Bike Radar Live next weekend.

http://live2010.bikeradar.com/

http://www.bikeradar.com/racing/racestage/report/97th-tour-de-france-stage-1-735

What a season from the team so far. Here is a potted history from team manager Ben Luckwell.

Congratulations and keep it up!

28th May Will was 5th in the National Circuit Series Race in Dumfries, Ed Clancy was quoted on BC as saying he got dropped ‘when Bergy was drilling it up the climb every lap’

30th May Will gets caught with only 5 miles to go after being away on his own at the end of the 100mile Dumfries GP Premier Calendar race, not sure if you caught the coverage on Eurosport but there was literary minutes and minutes of close up of just him on his own in lead at end, he got caught on the run in though and came in 9th.

29/30th May Ian, Ben, Mark, Chris and Grant rode the Jersey Festival, we had 2nd, 3rd, 5th 6th and 10th in the town centre race which turned into an Ice rink at the end. We also rode well in the RR to win with Ian and 3rd with Grant. Took £2500 in prizes and the race is on Eurosport tomorrow (15th) at 5.30pm.

31st May Marcin travels from Dumfries to Totness to ride the town centre crit and rides away on own to lap the bunch!!!

2nd June Marcin again wins Merrifield circuit races, with ian 3rd

3rd June Marcin again rides away to win on his own half a lap up (we start with one and a half laps or about 5 miles to make up!) Ian 2nd, Grant 5th Mark 6th

6th June Marcin 18th in Ryedale GP Premier Calendar after struggling in torrential rain.

7th June Grant wins Upavon Circuit Races in rain

10th June Marcin wins Castle Combe in gale force winds in which we rip it to pieces even lapping riders in the scratch group! Ian 2nd, Will 4th, Grant 5th Mark 6th, Ben 8th

11th June Marcin 18th in Leazes Crit in Newcastle

12th June Mark wins Barnsfield circuit races, away at end with Grant and Ben, the 3 of us ride away to come 123!! With Ian 4th.

14th June Marcin Wins National B circuit race at Upavon

17th June, Team splits up to ride both Castle Combe and Merrifield Circuits, Jon 1st At Castle Combe and Mark 2nd also get 1st 2nd and 3rd at Merrifeild with Ian winning again!

19/20th June Kalas 2 Day RR – Marcin 1st in Prologue TT, Team 2nd in Team Time Trial with no area equipment, Ian wins circuit race, in the Sunday 75 mile RR Ben is 3rd with team also picking up 3rd and 5th. Marcin wins the event overall with 3rd and 6th as well going to the team!

21st June Ian wins Upavon Circuit Races with Marcin 2nd and Grant 6th.

24th June – Marcin 1st, Grant 2nd, Mark 3rd, Ian 4th at the Castle Coombe Evening Series

As of today the team has had 30 wins and is still number 2 in National Rankings with Marcin still Number 1 in Individual Elite Rankings . We also have 5 riders (Marcin, Ben, Will, Grant and Ian) in the top 20 in National Elite Rankings!!!

30 wins equals the total number of wins we had at the end of last season!

Naomi and I were both trying to sum up how we felt about our bikes – we’ve both ridden Giants for the last 10 years and have been completely blown away by how amazing the Wiliers are to ride, the difference is night and day……..this might sound mad but seriously, it’s as if the bikes themselves are screaming out AC/DC music when you ride them – they simply make you want to go faster!

My time (Eric Strickland) was 3 hours 52 minutes – 184th overall.

Naomi’s time (Naomi Strickland) was 4 hours 44 minutes 1840th overall (haven’t worked out what she did in terms of ladies category).

- Naomi and Eric Strickland

BIALOBLOCKI LEADS RANKINGS AS WILIER MOMENTUM BUILDS

Wilier/BigMaggys.com/Prendas Ciclismo rider Marcin Bialoblocki moved to the top of British Cycling National Rankings after taking a superb 7th at the latest round of the Premier Calendar series, the prestigious Lincoln Grand Prix on Sunday.

With a 200 rider field, including three riders from the Sky ProTour Team, the 55th edition of this classic 86 mile race saw high speeds from the outset as they commenced 11 laps of a circuit which included the 1in 6 cobbled climb of Michaelgate. Both Marcin and Will Bjergfelt were always towards the head of the race and with the race fragmenting in the closing laps Bialoblocki came home 7th just over one minute behind winner Chris Newton (Rapha Condor-Sharp), while Bjergfelt took 24th a further minute behind. This result lifts Bialoblocki to 5th in the Premier Calendar standings

Meanwhile in Kent, Grant Bayton, Ben Luckwell, Jon Pain and Ian Rees tackled the Bec CC Road Race, over 78 miles. On the 2nd lap of the race, 15 riders moved clear with Bayton, Luckwell and Pain among the group and as this group continued to build a lead over the remainder of the peloton, they entered its final 30 miles Bayton attacked and drew a group of five away with teammate Luckwell alongside him the six riders moved clear. Luckwell broke clear in the closing miles but the rest of the group, with Bayton looking on, brought him back and the race came down to a sprint, where Bayton took a fine 2nd and Luckwell 3rd after being beaten by the fast finishing Andy Betts (Sigma Sport).

This was Baytons second near miss in less than 3 days having taken a close 3rd in the first event of the Castle Combe Summer Series on Thursday night, however, with Bialoblocki taking a victory, and Rees 3rd at the first event in the Team Tor Circuit Series at Ilton Airfield circuit, the team continue to feature prominently in all the events they contest. With six of the team placing in the top 15 at the recent Totnes-Vire 2-day, again narrowly missing out on victory, and with Luckwell taking an excellent win at the Echelon Cycles Road Race in late April, the entire squad are stacking up the points which sees them now move to 2nd in the overall team rankings.

At the start of the season, team manager Luckwell, who himself is ranked 6th nationally, had some big aims for the team and these included targeting a high team and individual placings in the British Cycling National Rankings and a high finish in the Premier Calendar Series, the ten man squad are continuing to build their momentum and are well on their way to achieving these, despite the presence of many higher profile and big budget teams.

Next weekend sees the squad race the Hillingdon Grand Prix, piror to the following weekends Regional road Race Championships, where the team will field strong line ups in both the South West and South Championship races.

For more information on the team please visit their website at

www.wilierbigmaggysprendas.co.uk and the team can also be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/wilierbigmaggys

Wilier/BigMaggys.com/Prendas Ciclismo Communications Team

10th May 2010