Wednesday, 27th May, 2009
With the ground-breaking first round of the Tour Series in Milton Keynes now a distant memory, it is time for the teams to turn their sights to the second race of the series in Exeter tomorrow night.

With the Irish Ras stage race now finished many teams will be back to full strength and leading Tour Series team Candi TV / Marshall Pasta will look to put their rivals to the sword once more as they increase their strength still further with the addition of Russell Downing upon his return to the UK. Winner of round one Graham Briggs can be sure that along with winner on Jersey at the weekend, Malcolm Elliot, and Downing, he has a couple of the strongest allies of any team.

Halfords – Bikehut will be in Exeter to prove a point following their showing in Milton Keynes. After the disqualification and relegation to second spot for Rob Hayles at the round one race the Portsmouth-man will look to make amends, and after his unfortunate mechanical at Milton Keynes Ed Clancy will be equally fired up for this one. Team DS Keith Lambert also brings in Rob Partridge and Mark McNally to back up Hayles, Clancy and Andy Tennant as the boys in orange will be looking to have things their way this week.

Former National Circuit Champion and third-placer at Milton Keynes, Simon Gaywood, heads south with rest of the Team Corley Cycles team looking to once again show their colours at the head of affairs.

After their excellent showing in round one BMC UK RT manager James Whatling has chosen to ride at Exeter with Dan Kogan, Andy Lyons, Dean Shannon and Ben Thompson joining him in the team line-up.

www.cyclingbargains.com - Infinis - Metaltek Racing Team manager Rod Freeman has a relatively unchanged team from round one. Jason White, who was very prominent at Milton Keynes, returns to chance his arm once more. Ex under 23 National Cyclo Cross Champion Daniel Booth, has decided to be with his family this week as he expects the birth of his first child. Booth is replaced by Rob Orr. Rod also selects 19 year-old Matt Fostun, the youngest rider on the tour.

Following his great win in Ireland at the Ras last week Simon Richardson, Rapha – Condor, will be looking for a strong showing this week. The team is now back to full strength and team DS John Herety will be able to choose from his top riders to back-up 2008 National circuit champion Dean Downing in his quest to improve on his 6th place in Milton Keynes. Downing is joined by Kristian House, Tom Southam, Ras winner Richardson and Darren Lapthorne. Expect the Rapha-condor boys to be highly prominent in the action this week.

2007 national circuit champ James MacCallum once again heads-up the Endura racing challenge alongside fellow round one riders Scott Macrae and David Lines. Youngsters Josh James and Callum Wilkinson come in to make up the Scottish-based five man squad as they make the long trip south.

Sport Beans - Wilier team manager Clive Richardson hopes to add Tour of the Reservoir 4th placer Marcin Bialoblocki (following his 4 week lay-off after a broken collarbone) to an otherwise unchanged squad from Milton Keynes.

Sigma Sport – Specialized look to build on their strong showing from round one with Dan Duguid, Gary Dodd, Yanto Barker, Jerone Walters and Gareth Montgomerie making up the Surrey-based squad. After a couple of weeks at the Ras, team manager Matt Stephens sits round two out, however expect good things from strong-man Barker and active round one rider Duguid. 


Milton Keynes runners-up in the team contest, Plowman Craven – Madison will once more field a strong squad with Tony Gibb once again heading up a strong squad including Jon Mozley, Steve Adams, Jeroen Janssen and Tom Barras.

When racing begins at 7.00pm on Thursday evening, Exeter will look to embace all of the pagentary that this exciting race series brings. With support events running from 3.00pm there will be plenty for the Tour Series fans to see and do leading up to the main event.

One thing that the riders can be sure of this week is a very different circuit. The boulevards of Milton Keynes are replaced with historic high streets, castles and clock towers. The intimate circuit also offers a tight left hand corner into the short dash for the start / finish line where optimal bike handling and peloton positioning skills will be called upon for those wishing to be in the reckoning.

Please note that limited hospitality is still available at the Tour Series venues - see website for details.

Replica Tour Series merchandise is also available from Endura and at the event venues within the Promo Zone.


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