Madison Genesis moved into the lead of the OVO Energy Tour Series in Motherwell, claiming the round win in North Lanarkshire to take the Series leaders’ green jerseys on countback from defending champions JLT Condor. 

Matt Gibson of JLT Condor took the individual race victory on the night, ahead of breakaway companions Richard Handley (Madison Genesis) and Commonwealth Games hero Harry Tanfield (Canyon Eisberg), but the combined times of the leading four Madison Genesis riders gave them the win on the night and the overall lead.

In the women’s OVO Energy Tour Series it was a repeat of the opening round at Redditch, with Megan Barker and Team Breeze taking both the individual and team victories on the night.

The 20-year-old soloed to her second ever win in the Series, helping her Breeze team-mates extend their lead at the top of the standings to two points over the NJC-Biemme-Echelon team of Nikki Juniper, who came home second, 36 seconds in arrears.

“It was a bit of a surprise,” said Barker afterwards.  “I wasn’t feeling that strong after the Lincoln GP at the weekend. We actually had two other girls we were working for tonight in a sprint, so we had a few options.

 “Breaking away was pretty similar to Redditch, to be honest – I kept on pushing for a lap and I got away with Gabby Shaw. I was doing most of the work so I didn’t want to drag her around the course tonight! I went solo early on and it started to bite with five laps to go. I knew I was starting to suffer, but I knew I just had to hang on. 

“We got three riders in the top 10 again tonight, so we’re taking care of the team competition.”

Juniper’s consolation was the lead of the Eisberg Points competition in the women’s category, with the corresponding jersey in the men’s Series switching to the shoulders of race winner Gibson.

The 21-year-old, who has already been among the victories in UCI events in New Zealand and France this season, celebrated victory nearly 1,500 days on from his previous Tour Series triumph, as a junior in the 2014 Peterborough event.

Runner-up on the night Handley was a member of the JLT Condor Tour Series Champions in 2014, and now returns to the leaders’ jersey with Madison Genesis.

He said: “It’s been a good night for us.  The move went on the second lap – we worked really well together for the whole race. In that situation, you have to hope for the best behind. I could hear a bit of information about the race each lap going past the pits, and I knew that Jonny [McEvoy] was in a chase group behind. Having him in that move was probably what won us the round tonight.

“Every one of JLT Condor’s riders have won a lot of crits before, so you’d have been sensible to back them going into tonight. But we took it to them here tonight – we wanted to not let them have their own way. We’ll have to try that again in Aberdeen on Thursday and see what happens!”

In both the men and women’s Series there were first ever triumphs in the Brother Fastest Lap category, with Latvian Emils Liepins doing the honours for ONE Pro Cycling, while Storey Racing’s Beth Crumpton took the honours in the women’s Series.

Highlights from Motherwell will be shown on ITV4 on Thursday (17 May) at 17.40 and are repeated on Friday at 07.55. UK viewers can find ITV on Freeview (24), Freesat (117), Virgin Media (118) and Sky (120).

Action resumes in Scotland on Thursday, as Aberdeen welcomes the OVO Energy Tour Series for the second year running.

Click here for full round results from Motherwell.