teamwallis-CHH Cycling Team

Junior Jake Alderman (Jun) won the opening round of the 2012 Springtime Pursuits Series staged near Willand in Devon on Saturday.

The 16-year-old from Falmouth crossed the line 16 secs clear of his breakaway rivals, who were all juniors after managing to stay on the pace with the seniors who had caught them in the handicapped race.

Six groups were set off, with the scratch group starting seven minutes after the first riders. By the end they had closed this gap to two minutes, but they couldn’t catch the best of the juniors from the front group who stayed clear throughout the 29.4-mile race.

Alderman attacked the leading group in style as they were 3.5 miles away from the finish. Although largely flat, the circuit includes a slight hill and Alderman came from the back of the group, powering past and gaining a gap quickly which he held to the line.

He won by 16 seconds, while Exeter 17-year-old George Pym (Exeter Wheelers) took second and Chard 18-year-old Sebastian Baylis (Mid-Devon CC) was third.

The main race was run off in largely dry conditions, although a rain shower before the race started meant that the largely rural roads threw up all sorts of muck at the riders.

The scratch group contained a number of UK Youth riders, and Rob making his team racing debut. The chase was not to cohesive, and was interupted with attacks. Rob kept in there, and would have ended up with 3rd in that group.

Having now established who the strong juniors are, for round two they will be set off further back to allow for a more even race.

E/1/2/3/4:
1 Jake Alderman (One and All Cycles) 1:11:31
2 George Pym (Exeter Wheelers) @ 16sec
3 Sebastian Baylis (Mid-Devon CC)
4 Jack Plummer (Cadence-Cannondale)
5 Rob Smye (Exeter Wheelers)
6 Ashley Martin (Cadence-Cannondale) all @ same time
7 Doug Dewey (Terra Footwear) @ 1:56
8 James Smith (Primal Europe)
9 Rob Smail (Team Wallis CHH)
10 Steven Whitehurst (Hope Factory Racing)