Tamina Oliver & Lydia Boylan finish in Top 10 for Team CTC in Blackpool
Joined by fellow CTC riders Astrid Wingler and Hannah Payton, Oliver and Boylan went into the two-day, three race event on the back of their excellent performances in the Johnson Health Tech GP at Woking, and were looking to finish high up the field in the North West.
Day One on Saturday saw the ladies compete in two races. The first event just after midday saw 58 riders set off in the Prologue 1km sprint time trial round the Palatine Circuit, with Oliver coming home in fourth with a time of 1:25.8, 1.8 seconds behind overall winner Katie Archibald, and Boylan not far behind her in sixth. Payton finished 41st and Wingler 44th with a time of 1:32.3.
The second event of Saturday was the 45 minute circuit race later in the afternoon. Oliver was the first member of the green team over the line once again in sixth position, with Boylan following home in ninth. Having had to negotiate her way through an earlier crash that held her up and open a gap between herself and the riders in front, Payton fought through the field to finish in 18th position, with Wingler coming home in 44th.
Day Two and Stage Three saw the riders leave the circuit for the 84km road race in the morning. Tamina, Lydia and Hannah all finished in the top ten in sixth, seventh and ninth places respectively, with Astrid in 36, meaning Team CTC had the most finishers in the top ten in the third and final stage.
The final overall standings from the weekend saw Tamina claim fifth, Lydia seventh, Hannah 33 and Astrid 41.
Having gone into the weekend hoping for a solid showing more than anything, Team Manager Steve Bailey was delighted by the performance the ladies gave over the weekend.
They exceeded all the expectations I had going into the weekend by a huge margin and it was fantastic to see.
"I would never have dreamed we’d get three top ten finishers in the final race because the nature of the final race didn’t suit our riders particularly, but each one of the four girls played their part and worked as a team and were fantastic over both days.
"For Tamina and Lydia to get into the overall top ten general classification was a brilliant achievement."
Steve Bailey
Team CTC Manager
