After a shortened Tour Series of just three rounds in 2021 due to Covid restrictions, the program was expanded back up to a welcome seven rounds in 2022. An additional benefit was that the series was broadcast ‘live’ with full coverage of all the Mens’ and Ladies’ races.

In 2021 Canyon dhb SunGod had finished a close second in the series to Ribble Weldtite despite having won 2 of the 3 rounds. The team’s chances had been dashed in the opening laps of the first round in Guisborough when both Matt Bostock and Rory Townsend were taken out by another crashing rider. The WiV SunGod team were fired up to regain the title they had won in 2018 & 2019.

The Tour Series is primarily a team-based race with the first three riders of each team having their times accumulated to give team positions at the end of each round. The team with the lowest combined time is the winner on the night. The winning team of the 13 taking part is awarded 10 points down to 1 point for the team finishing in 10^th place. The points gained over the 7 rounds were added together to decide the overall winner of the series.

In addition there were other sub-competitions within the overall program which included the individual winner on the night, the rider who recorded the fastest lap, and a points-based sprinters contest that awarded 5,4,3,2 and 1 points for the first five riders at three intermediate sprints and the final finishing positions for each round.  Each race of the 7 round series was of one hour duration plus 5 laps of the town centre circuits with the promise of fast-paced, all-action racing!

Strong competition was expected from holders Ribble Weldtite who were fielding the Tanfield brothers and recent winner of the CiCLE Classic, Finn Crockett; the Wales Racing Academy who finished in 3^rd place in 2021; St Piran with the Mazzone brothers from the Isle of Man and, if they could field enough riders for each round, Trinity Racing (who are known to prioritise European mainland multi-day stage races over events such as the Tour Series).

Each Team could nominate up to 10 riders for the series with a sub-set of 5 riders participating in each round. The WiV SunGod 10 with much strength in depth were: Toby Barnes, Matt Bostock, Jim Brown, Matt Gibson, Thomas Mein, Ben Perry, Jacob Scott, Rory Townsend, Ollie Wood & Reece Wood.

1. WiV SunGod Tour Series Squad

Round 1: GUISBOROUGH

Team Winners: WiV SunGod

Individual Winner: Thomas Mein (WiV SunGod)

Sprints Winner: Thomas Mein (WiV SunGod)

Fastest Lap: Matt Bostock (WiV SunGod)

WiV SunGod opened their 2022 Tour Series campaign in the most dramatic style with Thomas Mein and Matt Bostock forging ahead on the opening lap and slowly extending their lead around the technical twisting circuit until they caught the rest of the field with a few laps remaining.

2. Mein leads Bostock after their early breakaway

Having mopped up the maximum intermediate sprint points along the way, Mein and Bostock refrained from lapping the field before crossing the line side-by-side with Mein being given the individual victory by the smallest of margins. Mein also became the first leader of the sprints competition by taking all intermediate sprints along the way with Bostock picking up the fastest lap award.

3. Mein and Bostock take the win in Guisborough

With Gibson finishing in 4^th place, WiV SunGod took a convincing team win with Wales Racing Academy in second and TEKKERZ taking a well-earned 3^rd place. Despite Harry Tanfield leading the peloton home in 3^rd, Ribble Weldtite had a disappointing evening and could only finish in 6^th place ceding 5 points to WiV SunGod.

It was WiV SunGod who donned the Freewheel.co.uk yellow team leaders jerseys on the podium, and despite the ups and downs to follow, it was something the team would not relinquish for the rest of the series.

4. WiV SunGod resplendent in the leaders’ jerseys

Round 2: GALASHIELS

Team Winners: WiV SunGod

Individual Winner: Jim Brown (WiV SunGod)

Sprints Winner: Matt Bostock (WiV SunGod)

Fastest Lap: Noah Hobbs (TEKKERZ)

The race at Galashiels was a much closer affair with no team being able to dominate proceedings. An early crash allowed a group of 13 riders to make their escape including a full compliment of Ribble Weldtite riders, but Round 1 winner Thomas Mein (WiV SunGod) was caught behind the crash and Wales Racing Academy had just a single rider in the group.

5. WiV SunGod string out the field in Galashiels

There were numerous attempts to establish a breakaway, particularly from WiV SunGod and Ribble Weldtite riders, but these were short-lived with the lead group remaining pretty much intact until Mein eventually bridged across with a couple of other riders as the race approached the one hour mark.

6. WiV SunGod and Ribble Weldtite battle down the high street

As the riders received the 5 laps to go sign, Jim Brown (WiV SunGod) and Finn Crockett (Ribble Weldtite) finally managed to move off the front of the group that began to splinter under the pressure. On the final lap, the front of the stretched group closed the gap to the 2 leaders though Brown manged to deliver another burst of power to take the win with Crockett holding onto 3^rd place having been pipped into 2^nd place by a fast-finishing Matt Bostock (WiV SunGod).

7. Jim Brown celebrates his win

The team result was a very close affair with Harry & Charlie Tanfield taking 5^th and 6^th places for Ribble Weldtite before Matt Gibson in 7^th secured a very close team win for WiV SunGod by just a single second.

Bostock took over the lead in the sprints competition from Mein. WiV SunGod extended their team lead to 3 points over the Wales Racing Academy who had finished 3^rd on the night and 6 points over Ribble Weldtite.

Round 3: SUNDERLAND

Team Winners: Ribble Weldtite

Individual Winner: Blake Quick (Trinity Racing)

Sprints Winner: Harry Tanfield (Ribble Weldtite)

Fastest Lap: Miguel Fernandez (Global 6)

For the first time in this series, Trinity Racing fielded a full team of 5 riders including Australian fast-man Blake Quick and United States National criterium champion Luke Lamperti who had won the Lincoln GP just 2 days previously.

The rectangular course with long back and home straights and fast, wide corners helped keep the field together for much of the race and made any decisive breakaways difficult to achieve. Trinity Racing, Ribble Weldtite, WiV SunGod and the Wales Racing Academy all had periods where they gathered en masse at the front of the peloton with the aim of controlling proceedings.

8. The long home straight in Sunderland

Disaster struck for Thomas Mein (WiV SunGod) just after he crossed the line in 3^rd place in the 3^rd intermediate sprint when he and Harry Tanfield (Ribble Weldtite), the sprints winner on the night,  touched wheels. The resulting heavy fall caused Mein to withdraw from the race with a shoulder injury and he sadly played no further part in the following rounds.

It was Trinity Racing who eventually proved to be the strongest team on the night controlling the finale with Lamperti leading out Quick and sportingly allowing the latter to pass to take the individual win on the night. This action probably also cost Trinity Racing the night’s team win although it appeared that winning the overall race was their goal after they had lost so much ground in the team classification over the first 2 rounds.

Ribble Weldtite just took the team win by 1 second from Trinity Racing with WiV SunGod a further 2 seconds back in 3^rd. To illustrate how close the racing had been, the leading 6 teams were only separated by a total of 8 seconds!

9. Sunderland staged a close fought battle between the teams

Ribble Weldtite moved into 2^nd place in the overall team classification reducing the gap to WiV SunGod to 4 points. Wales Racing Academy dropped to 3^rd place a further point behind. Bostock retained his overall lead in the sprints competition by 10 points from Tanfield.

10. WiV SunGod retain the yellow jerseys

Round 4: STRANRAER

Team Winners: Ribble Weldtite

Individual Winner: Luke Lamperti (Trinity Racing)

Sprints Winner: Harry Tanfield (Ribble Weldtite)

Fastest Lap: Matt Bostock (WiV SunGod)

Despite being a slightly more challenging circuit than Sunderland with a tight turn at the farthest point, Stranraer entertained us with another night of closely packed action racing.

11. Reece Wood and Matt Gibson lead the peloton

The key point appeared to be the fast and wide final turn where it was important to lead into the corner carrying high speed. Harry Tanfield (Ribble Weldtite) used this factor to his advantage as he again won the sprints competition on the night cutting the gap to Matthew Bostock (Ribble Weldtite) to just 4 points. Luke Lamperti (Trinity Racing) was equally impressive on this final turn and with lead-out support from his team in the closing laps pipped Tanfield to the individual win on the night. Bostock was 3^rd finisher and he also took the fastest lap award.

12. Bostock keeps the pace high

The team classification was just as tight as it had been in Sunderland with Ribble Weldtite taking a 2 second win from WiV SunGod with Trinity Racing another second back. From what looked like a potential runaway series team win for WiV SunGod after the first week, Ribble Weldtite had closed the gap to just three points!

13. Wood, Gibson, Barnes, Bostock and Perry in yellow

Round 5: CLACTON-ON-SEA

Team Winners: WiV SunGod

Individual Winner: Matt Bostock (WiV SunGod)

Sprints Winner: Matt Bostock (WiV SunGod)

Fastest Lap: Matt Bostock (WiV SunGod)

WiV SunGod were back to their winning ways at Clacton-on-Sea. The challenging circuit with tighter turns proved to be more selective with the riders being able to create gaps by accelerating out of the corners.

14. Close-up action on the sea-front

An early split left Ribble Weldtite on the back-foot with only Harry & Charlie Tanfield making the lead group. Trinity Racing had been weakened by Luke Lamperti’s return to the United States to compete in their 2022 National criterium championships, and despite only fielding 3 riders on the night, they were also influential in proceedings. Sam Culverwell (Trinity Racing) moved away solo late on before being joined by Charlie Tanfield (Ribble Weldtite).

In the final 5 laps the lead group came back together again with the team result in doubt until Culverwell crashed out on the final lap leaving WiV SunGod with a comfortable 2 minute win over Ribble Weldtite.

15. Jacob Scott drives WiV SunGod onwards

Matt Bostock (WiV SunGod) in particular had a field day! His ability to accelerate rapidly out of the final corner gave him a clean sweep of intermediate sprints and the individual win on the night from Max Walker (Trinity Racing). To cap it all, he took the fastest lap as well as helping WiV SunGod to the team win. It was amusing to the watching crowd as he visited the podium time and again to acknowledge their plaudits.

16. Matt Bostock takes the win!

Round 6: BARKING

Team Winners: Ribble Weldtite

Individual Winner: Ollie Peckover (Ribble Weldtite)

Sprints Winner: Matt Bostock (WiV SunGod)

Fastest Lap: Max Walker (Trinity Racing)

After the twisting technical circuit at Clacton-on-Sea, it was back to a straightforward rectangle with wide roads at Barking, similar to that of Sunderland.

It was the top 3 teams in the overall standings again animating proceedings with WiV SunGod, Ribble Weldtite and the Wales Cycling Academy all making moves to try and influence the outcome of the round.

17. WiV SunGod turn the screw at Barking

As the race unfolded it was Matt Bostock (WiV SunGod) who increased his lead in the sprints competition to 18 points by taking 2 of the intermediate sprints to just 1 by Harry Tanfield (Ribble Weldtite).

18. Bostock tracks Harry Tanfield, his sprint nemesis

After making a delayed appearance into the Tour Series due to injury and having loosened up his legs in Clacton-on-Sea, Rory Townsend was the leading WiV SunGod rider at Barking. Townsend joined Ollie Peckover (Ribble Weldtite), Max Walker (Trinity Racing) and Joe Beckingsale (Wales Racing Academy) in a four-man breakaway that featured over the last 10 laps of the race.

19. Townsend back on song

With a clear gap to the following peloton, the four riders had time to take stock of their relative positioning over the course of the last lap. Walker was the first to make a move coming into the final corner following closely by Peckover. Townsend had to momentarily check his pace before unleashing a dramatic final sprint to close up on the leaders. However, it was Peckover who took a marginal win by less than a hundredth of a second from Townsend with Walker in third.

Ribble Wedtite took a similarly close victory over WiV SunGod in the team classification with a combined time of just a quarter of a second quicker. Wales Racing Academy took 3^rd place just a couple of seconds back. Overall Ribble Weldtite had reduced WiV SunGod’s lead back to 3 points in the team standings. Bostock just needed 2 more points to secure the series sprinter competition.

Round 7: MANCHESTER

Team Winners and overall Team: WiV SunGod

Individual Winner: Matt Bostock (WiV SunGod)

Sprints Winner: Matt Bostock (WiV SunGod)

Fastest Lap: Ollie Wood (WiV SunGod)

WiV SunGod set out to dominate the Grand Final on another dragstrip circuit in Manchester. The 5 team riders immediately took to the front of the peloton putting the rest of the teams under severe pressure.

After Matt Bostock (WiV SunGod) had taken the first intermediate sprint of the night which ensured he would win the Freewheel.co.uk Sprint leader’s light blue jersey, Ollie Wood (WiV SunGod) made a telling solo break taking the 2^nd intermediate sprint along the way. Harry Tanfield (Ribble Weldtite) worked hard on the front of the chasing group to close down the gap which had grown to nearly 30 seconds at one point.

20. Ollie Wood powers away solo

However, as soon as Wood was caught by the following group, Bostock immediately countered and his ultimately decisive solo break was never challenged. Bostock mopped up the final intermediate sprint and rode onwards with absolute determination to take the win, his second of the series.

21. Bostock seals his second win of the series

Wood and Matt Gibson led in the following peloton taking 2^nd and 3^rd places in a clean sweep for WiV SunGod to finally nail the sportsbreaks.com Tour Series for 2022!

22. The WiV SunGod riders celebrate with team owner Tim Elverson

Ribble Weldtite took 2^nd place on the night a total of 2 minutes in arrears which also gave them 2^nd place overall in the series. St Piran were just 8 seconds behind in 3^rd place on the night, but finished 2 points behind 3rd placed Wales Racing Academy in the overall team standings in 4^th.

 Summary

The sportbreaks.com Tour Series 2022 was a great success for the WiV SunGod team with:

• 4 team wins over the 7 rounds
• 4 individual wins (Mein, Brown and 2 for Bostock)
• 4 fastest laps (Wood and 3 for Bostock)

The series also provided some outstanding and exciting racing with Ribble Weldtite, Trinity Racing and the Wales Racing Academy also notable for their aggressive and positive racing.

In a post-race interview Matt Bostock expressed his delight on the individual team wins:

“It was the perfect way to finish, it doesn’t get much better than winning solo as well. I think as a team we just ripped it up, couldn’t have been any better. The atmosphere was amazing, I wish I’d taken it in a bit more, but I was seeing double and my legs were screaming. It was a bit of a blur but the noise and the crowd was just mega.”

“The individual results don’t matter as much, because the team prize is the main thing. But it’s really good to get your hands in the air and I think we’ve won maybe four rounds out of the seven, so it couldn’t be much better. It speaks volumes that we’ve had three different winners, and we’ve basically shared them out so that says a lot about how strong of a team we’ve got. It’s almost a shame we couldn’t give everyone a win, because I think everyone’s deserved one. I don’t think we’ve had one bad night.”

At the end of the series Tim Elverson posted on social media:

What could be better than the clean sweep of podiums and a 1-2🤔
A 1 2 3 with a clean sweep of overall series prizes, Team and Sprint.
It was a tough fight for the series but pumped how my lads responded in the Clutch moments.
I wanted to take the final win in a positive way and we pulled it off with style. #thankyoulads we stepped and delivered #ltgtr

Full results for all 7 races available here.

Photos: SWpix.com and Sweetspot as marked plus some race spectators

Report: Paul & Marina Stedman