There were wins for Euan Woodliffe, Dylan Starkey and Leon Atkins, and a podium for Millie Coleman this weekend as the Welwyn Youth squad came into form with a host of strong performances.
Euan completed a brace of victories this weekend at today’s VC Londres March Crit at Cyclopark – the first of 2 events preparing riders for VCL’s National Youth Circuit Series event in June, with races held over the full National Series distance. The winning move in the U16 race together with Will Smith (Verulam Reallymoving.com) came after Nathan Hardy had put in a valiant lone shift of 30 minutes off the front to scoop the first 2 primes, gaining 13 seconds in bonuses to finish 4th on GC. Calum Moir also picked up sprint bonuses to finish 6th and it was great to see the return of Caelen Millar (9th). Robin Steer crashed with 2 laps to go.
Earlier on, Millie Coleman heroically broke away in torrential rain with 2 others in the U14 girls category. The girls battled gale force winds spending most of the race out in front, Millie finishing in second place to Carys Lloyd (VCL).
In the under 14 boys race an in-form Dylan Starkey secured 2nd with 3 placings in the time bonus sprints, Sam Quiggin came in 6th after leading Dylan out in the final.
On Saturday Dylan had collected his first U14 win of the season at Round 1 of the HUP Spring Circuit Series at MK Bowl in a bunch spring with Sam close behind in 5th place, Rupert Cavill 19th and Fin Woodliffe 22nd. Lucy Allsop came 4th in the girls race.
Leon Atkins oozed class to win round 4 of the Hillingdon Slipstreamers Youth Spring Series. Leon instigated a 4 man breakaway on Lap 2, made a solo attack on lap 3 and rode solo for much of the race. He lapped the field with about 3 laps to go and caught the remainder of the breakaway on the final lap before sitting up and letting them sprint out the minor places in the U12 category race.
