Corley ace Smith strikes gold
City cycling star takes impressive race victory
Mike Smith of Team Corley Cycles - Cervelo - Alpha RC put in the performance of a lifetime to win last week's Ras de Cymru, the nearly 250 mile long stage race based at the University of Wales in Newport.
One of the few stage races restircted to riders with a racing license up to second category, the five-day race had 100 riders competing over a variety of terrains and distances, from the 4.2 mile individual time trial to Sunday's final 48 mile stage that brought the race to a finish at the summit of Llangynidr.
But it wasn't only Mike's overall win that caught the eye - he also brought home the jersey for the King of the Mountains whilst team-mate Jack Waller, at just 17 years-old and the youngest of the four-man Team Corley squad, won the Junior competition.
And to top the achievements of the Stacey Bushes based outfit, they also brought home the team prize beating their nearest placed rivals, which included the locally based Virgin Active and Beds Road CC teams, by over nine minutes.
After picking up individual finishes of fifth and sixth places in the opening two stages, Smith dropped to 11th overall after the third stage team time trial, but was to resurrect his claim for the leader's jersey with an impressive performance on stage four.
The 21 year-old explained how the longest stage of the race - nearly 60 miles - panned out: "That was the stage that really decided the outcome of the race. A group of nearly a dozen riders broke away and we were really flying, picking up a three and a half minute lead in approximately 10 miles. I won the sprint at the finish by which point we nearly had a five minute lead on the next group."
Not only did Mike pick up the leader's jersey at the stage finish - which he wasn't to relinquish from that point on - but such was the nature of the terrain and Mike's dominance that he also picked up the King of the Mountains jersey as well.
The 11th place finish of Jake Hales (18) on stage four was the icing on the cake and spurred him on to better things. On the fifth stage he just missed out on his own stage win, taking second by just a few seconds.
But having taken the leader's jersey at the end of stage four, it wasn't all plain sailing for Smith who came under constant attack from his nearest rivals and early into the final stage it looked like the winner's jersey may just slip off his back so close to the finish.
"It's a good job I had my team with me, they were superb," he said. "Simon Henley went with the early attacks but stayed on the wheels of his breakaway companions playing the role of supporting team-mate to perfection.
"Meanwhile Jake and Jack went back into team time trial mode for the last 10km to nearly drag me back to the break by the time we got to the bottom of the final climb.
"About a quarter of the way up the climb we caught the break. I then followed wheels but took a jump with about 500 metres to the chequered flag where I took my second win of the race. And the race title overall."
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Friday 25 May 2012
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