After a spell of overseas stage racing in Ireland and Romania for Team KTM UK, local cyclist Andy Turner has just returned home from competing in the two-day Tour of The Reservoir (part of the HSBC UK Grand Prix Series) and the British National Time Trial and Road Race Championships in the north of England.

The Time Trial took place at Kirkley Hall, near Ponteland in Northumbria on June 28th. The 40km event took place on a challenging technical circuit along narrow country roads and involved some very tight corners. Andy had several days to train on the circuit and familiarise himself with it.

Unexpectedly, extreme heat turned out to be the biggest issue for many riders on the day of the event. Tarmac had already started to melt during the ladies’ TT in the morning and, by the time the senior men started at 5:00pm, parts of the course were pretty soft.

“It was a really tough ride,” said Andy. “I hadn’t had the best preparation on the new KTM TT bike as my focus so far this season has been road and stage racing over considerably longer distances. However, the bike and wheels felt great and coped well with the road conditions. I’m looking forward to doing some open TTs between now and the autumn to see if I can nail some new PBs.”

Andy finished 28th overall, with the podium spots being taken, as predicted, by Thomas, Tanfield and Dowsett after some nail-biting final laps.

The climax of the week was the 186km Road Race on July 1st. This started in the picturesque village of Stamfordham, west of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 160 riders took to the start line, with World Tour and UK professionals rubbing shoulders with riders from UK Elite teams.

It turned out to be yet another scorching day and the village was already in carnival atmosphere, with crowds of spectators having gathered throughout the morning.

Andy started up near the front of the race and, as soon as the flag dropped, tried to get involved in a few moves. However, none of these were able to stay away and he settled into the rhythm of the main bunch of riders. After a large group had gone clear and looked set to contest the win, Andy managed to break away from the main bunch with one other rider.

Over the coming laps they were joined by several others and also picked up a few who had dropped off from the lead group up ahead. Unfortunately, Andy’s group was black flagged and removed from the race with one lap to go, along with the rest of the peloton a few minutes behind.

Andy said: “There’s something really special about riding the Nationals, especially when you realise a world class pro like Mark Cavendish is on your wheel! It was a bit gutting to get black flagged and pulled out just 20km from the finish as we were pretty certain we were within the time cut but we must have just missed it. It would have been great to be able to finish such a prestigious race after so many miles of hard riding.”

Andy will be in action again closer to home at the Wales Open Criterium in Abergavenny on the evening of Friday, July 6th and the Bristol GP on Sunday, July 8th. The following weekend will see him return to the north east for the next round of the UK Grand Prix Series, The Stockton GP.