As the dust starts to settle on another unforgettable Tour de Yorkshire – and his legs start to come back to life after a savage final stage – James Lowsley-Williams looks back at what an incredible weekend it was for him personally and for BIKE Channel Canyon as a whole…
To put the weekend into perspective, the BIKE Channel Canyon team has been together for a grand total of four months and we are a fairly young squad, with an average age of 23.
The Tour de Yorkshire was the first stage race for the team and for a few of us it was the biggest event we have competed in.
To then come away with a podium place on the first stage with Chris Opie and two Dimension Data jerseys for the most active rider (Harry Tanfield and Dexter Gardias), while attacking the race on all three days with riders in the break and not forgetting a fantastic ride from our young climber Max Stedman with 23rd on a brutal last stage (and general classification), was incredible.
For me personally, the plan was to get in the break on the first day and to have a go at picking up one of the jerseys.
When the break was established, I was then looking at the jersey. To be honest, I wasn’t sure which one to go for, so in true Hank style I went for both the sprints jersey and the climbers one.
I attacked hard on the first climb and just got caught on the line. Judging by the social media comments from David Millar, I went a little early, so next time I will be keeping that in mind!
I just missed out on the jersey but it was a good day out. It was phenomenal to head such a big race and in front of such an incredible crowd.
To then get in
