For the second year running, Team FBUK took to the start of the Tour of Brittany, a UCI 2.2 ranked 5 day stage race in France. With a strong team, fresh from a training camp in the Alps, Team FBUK knew this race would be a great chance from them to show their faces at the front of the peloton and challenge strongly overall.
From the beginning of the race, the team plan was to challenge in the King of the Mountains jersey and they didn't disappoint. Thanks to amazing team work, Helen Wyman took the KoM jersey on the first stage. With the second hill sprint forcing a small break, Helen also managed to take 3rd on the first stage and found herself rather busy on the podium that evening.
The team then focussed not only keeping the KoM Jersey but also trying to secure a strong overall position. The team set about this superbly and controlled the race for much of the second stage managing to secure maximum Kom Points and keeping the jersey into day 3. Helen also remained in 3rd on GC after finishing 10th on the stage.
The Third day was dominated by a break which included Yolandi du Toit on FBUK. Unfortunately, Yolandi was caught with just 3km to go, having ridden for some 40km ahead of the bunch. It was however another good show of strength by the team.
Having missed an important break on stage 3, Helen moved down to 9th on GC on the 3rd, however she moved further forward in the KoM Standings. The team Major objectives remained holding the jersey for the entire tour and this continued on day 4, with 2 split stages.
The morning of day 4 was very hilly 10km individual time trial. Helen, 11th in this stage last year was determined to try to better that result and didn't disappoint. Still fresh thanks to the hard work put in by her team, Helen managed to get 4th on the stage, with Yolandi also in the top 20.
With team spirit very high following the morning stage, the team finished the hard work of securing the jersey one day early. With Helen again taking maximum points on the stage, the jersey was now secure and the final stage could hold different plans.
Having narrowly missed the stage win earlier in the tour, the team tried to get Yolandi away from the bunch on the short final stage of just 71km. With 40-degree heat, it wasn't going to be easy, but with 3 of the final finishing circuits completed, Yolandi managed to force a break and was joined by 5 other riders. In a tight technical finish, Yolandi finished well in 4th place and Managed to move up to 15th on GC. Helen again finished well and secured 10th place on GC.
All of the team work extremely hard for the results and with this being only the first year for the team, it shows just how strong the team have become. The team now race the Tour of Limoges, followed by World Cup races in Denmark and Sweden.
The team would also like to thank the hard work by those at Fat Birds Don't Fly in Norfolk, Schwalbe, ABUS Helmets and Schwinn for making these results possible for the team.
www.teamfbuk.com
Bex Hopkins
