teamwallis-CHH Cycling Team

Tom Moses clinched a stunning first win of the season for teamwallis-CHH with a surging sprint finish in Clitheroe’s West Pennine RC Road Race.

The 17-year-old tagged on to a late break involving Mike Harrison (Congleton CC), Duncan Putman (Derby Mercury) and Gareth McGuinness (Energy Cycles) before bursting over the line in first with the chasing pack close behind.

Fellow teamwallis-CHH junior Lewis Balyckyi also performed well, initiating a number of mini-breaks himself before finishing in the top 15 along with team-mate Iain Armstrong.

The Clitheroe course, a rolling and windy 11 mile route with a rapid mid-section descent at Chaigley, allowed for few sustained breakaways, with most attempts chased down by the peloton within minutes.

Tom led the charge early on, deserting the main group with four other riders in the opening lap, before launching a two-man attack two laps into the race.

The chasing pack were reluctant to let anyone go clear though and Tom dissolved back into the pack on both attempts.

But two miles from the finish the inevitable split in the bunch came. Tom tagged on to the back of a three man breakaway with just a descent and a final climb left to negotiate, before notching up his first victory of the season with a tremendous sprint finish.

Tom Moses:
“I was trying to get in a break early, but whenever I seemed to get to the front everyone else seemed to be on my back wheel- like I had a rope on my seat-post!

“The first few laps were a bit steady really. I just tried to sit back for a while, but with about two laps to go there was a little break away. I tried to do some big turns on the front to bring it back a little so that we weren’t racing for 10th or anything like that.

“Whenever I made a move, everyone followed me. But on the last lap of the last climb, no-one followed me when I went and I got away with three others. I sat on them down the climb because my junior gear was too small to really be able to do anything. Then at the bottom of the climb I hit it hard, let them do some work and then sprinted at the end and got around them.”

Lewis Balyckyi:
“I finished in the top 15 so I'm very happy.

“I wasn't feeling too good in the first couple of laps but got myself into it as the race went on. I took on some more bottles and food and by the third lap I felt pretty good and started to make some moves.

“Everyone was chasing everything down and no-one let anyone get away until right at the end. I saw Tom go off the front, saw the guys go after him and thought 'he's got a really good chance with this'.”

Iain Armstrong
“It was a pretty rolling course, well suited to Lewis and Tom, especially Tom who conserved his energy and road a good race.

“We tried to cover most of the breaks early on but because of the nature of the course the breaks never really stayed away.

“The three of us were up there in the top quarter of the race and we got our first win of the season so it’s a pretty good result all round.”