Condors dominate 2017 Oxfordshire Road Race League

Sunday’s road race at Oakley saw the curtain fall on the 2017 ORRL series. This year has seen unprecedented results for the condors – in short, we absolutely smashed it!

Women’s:

• Overall club champions
• Overall individual winner – Aimee Jones!
• Half the top 10 overall were Condors, with Helen Keay (4th), Katie Greves (5th), Helena Coker (8th), Mimi Harrison (9th) all contributing
• Outright wins in round 1 (Katie Greves)

 

Men’s:

• Overall individual winner – Greg Fitzek!
• 2nd ranked club!
• Outright race wins at Dalton (Greg Fitzek) and at Woodstock (a dominant 1-2 for Andy Wilde and Greg Fitzek)
• Top 10s overall for Ben de Wet and Andy Wilde

 

Round 1:

A grippy early season 36 mile hilly TT at Charlbury set the tone for the rest of the year: a storming ride from Katie Greves eclipsed the rest of the women’s field for a comfortable win. Greg Fitzek also made a strong start to the season with 2nd place in the men’s race, and Matt Thomas, Tim Jones, Aimee Jones and Helena Coker also picked up some handy early season points.

Round 2 (men only):

Strong rides on the lumpy Great Shefford road race course saw Ben de Wet (4th), Tim Jones and Rob Freshwater pick up points in the sprint. The only downside was Nick Sanderson being forced to into some impromptu MTB’ing, with catastrophic effects on the integrity of his forks.

Round 3:

A mixed night lapping WoTG in nobody’s favourite event – the 25 mile TTT. The women’s team took 2nd, losing out to the other pink club for the only time all season (not helped by Aimee’s puncture at mile 1!). An understrength men’s squad only took 6th, despite the best efforts of Greg Fitzek to make everyone go faster. Special mention to Dave Dyer for stepping in at the last minute and to Rob Freshwater who pulled out the whole range of Voeckler-esque pain faces to make sure we arrived at the line with the necessary 5 riders.

Round 4 (men only):

Seven laps of the Arncott circuit (and seven times up Panshill) on the hottest day of the year so far provided some great racing, with both Andy Wilde and Greg Fitzek in the break of the day. When that was pulled back, Ben de Wet attacked to take 2nd atop Panshill with Greg still managing to pick up 7th in the sprint.

Round 5 (men only)

A fast pace ‘kermesse’ race round the Kirtlington circuit saw the condor’s missing out on the break for the only time all year. Andy Wilde picked up 7th place in the final sprint to keep the points coming in.

Round 6

The women’s race was a tactical affair, with Aimee Jones, Steph Foster (Mickey Cranks) and Sabrina Harris (Outdoor Traders) all marking each other closely throughout. A few breaks were attempted but in the end nothing stuck and it came down to a bunch sprint – Aimee narrowly missing out on 1st place by a tyre-width. In the men’s race a break succeeded for the first time on this course in ORRL history, in no small part due to the efforts of eventual winner Greg Fitzek, who went on to clinically dispatch all his main rivals (and a number of sneaky 2nd cats) for a proper strongman’s win!

Round 7

July 9th saw the Condors’ ORRL round on the rolling Woodstock circuit. In the first race the Condors were aggressive throughout, with Andy Wilde eventually getting away in what seemed like a doomed solo move with 3 laps to go. With the condors controlling the bunch the move started looking less doomed, and when the gap finally dropped Greg clipped off, caught Andy, and then rode with him for a memorable 1-2 on the line!

In the afternoon the temperature continued to rise resulting in very hot conditions for the women’s race. The racing was full gas from the start, leading to splits throughout the peloton. Aimee and Mimi stuck with the second group on the road, finally sprinting it out for 8th and 10th place overall, respectively.

A brilliant day all around, made possible by the efforts of Tyra Rivkin as race organizer and all the Condors who helped out on the day.

Round 8 (men only)

A tight and technical crit around Wallingford town centre saw some exciting racing. In the men’s race Thomas Nightingale forgot it wasn’t CX season and tried to jump the fence at the first chicane. Ben de Wet was the best placed condor on the night, picking up a solid top 10.

Round 9 (men only)

A return to the Thames Velo course for the Oxonians race saw Greg Fitzek pick up 3rd place among the league riders to cement his position at the top of the table, with Tim Jones and Rob Freshwater also putting in solid rides.

Round 10 (men only)

A late summer 62 mile race around the Oakley circuit saw a depleted condors’ squad, with Arran, Matt and Ben marking Greg’s only rivals for the overall out of contention. A spill in the sprint taking all the condors out of contention was a poor way to finish what had been a brilliant season, but mission achieved in the end.