A big thank you to my teammates, it is genuinely fantastic racing with you all and I am loving every single minute of it this season!
Mountbatten is a circuit I always love to race at.
Mountbatten is where I began to cycle as a youth at the Portsmouth School of
Cycling Racing sessions on Friday evenings, run by local legend Guy Watson. It
is also where I completed in my first British Cycling race back in 2013!
On Wednesday the 23rd of June it was a lovely
sunny evening despite a week of rain and cooler conditions. I arrived in good
time to watch David Mattingley compete in the 4th Cat race where he
sprinted to a strong 2nd Place finish, delivering a monstrous 1400w
in the sprint!
This set a great atmosphere for GS Mossa for the rest of the
evening with Joe Kemp, Dan West, and Adam Dart completing in the 3rd
Cat race where Joe (racing for Army Cycling, but in Mossa colours) took a
strong win in the final sprint!
Following this it was time for the E/1/2 race where Jamie
Parkinson and I were joined by Dan and Joe who decided that one race just
wasn’t enough! We went into the race with the aim of getting Jamie up the road
if possible if the right opportunity came along. After a punchy start to the
race with multiple attacks from us and other teams, the bunch began to settle.
Jamie attempted to attack at around this time, but sadly the bunch reeled it in
after a few minutes.
It was shortly after this I found the perfect opportunity to
attack myself! I went solo, and whilst a few other riders tried to bridge
across they never made it thanks to the defensive efforts of my teammates.
After around 10 minutes of effort I managed to lap the bunch, at which point I
thanked my teammates for their efforts and managed to recover. Following this
all I had to do was defend my lead by closing down any attacks, although I
still joined the Mossa train to setup Jamie for the sprint where he secured 6th
Place.
I let the bunch go with a lap till the finish so they could
fairly contest the sprint, and I rolled across the line to secure my first
bunch race win of the year – this was extremely satisfying after achieving so
many podium places this year, and TT wins just aren’t quite as special given
the delay between finishing and finding out whether you’ve managed to win!
A big thank you to my teammates, it is genuinely fantastic
racing with you all and I am loving every single minute of it this season!
Also, thank you to all of our sponsors who helped me to
achieve this 1st Place:
Parentini for the fantastically comfortable and aerodynamic clothing.
Miche for the sweet SWR Tubular wheelset, and for their motto which we always
strive to follow; We Race Together.
UpShift Nutrition for the rocket fuel.
Salice UK for the quality Vento helmet with its aerodynamic design for those
extra gains.
Squirt Cycling Products UK for all their products which keep my bike clean and
efficient.
Furthermore, a big shout out to CALM for their fantastic
work as a leading movement against suicide in the UK. Be sure to check out
their website (thecalmzone.net) to see how you can support them, or how they
can support you.
Ben Williams
