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Caithness Cyclist David Smith Wins
Biggest Junior Road Race In Britain
Helping Scotland To Win the Team Race
The Junior Tour of Wales was won in dramatic style by David Smith from
Dunnet, Caithness. The three day race over 5 stages in south Wales is the
most prestigious road race for 16-18 year old riders in Britain, and is
the one every aspiring rider wants to win.
 Helped
by superb support from his three team mates, Sean Newington, Bruce Edgar
and Bruce Wallace, David took the overall lead, within the final 20 miles
of the race. The result was far from secure however because the
ultimate test was still to come � the 3 mile climb up The Tumble Hill,
arguably one of the hardest tests on the racing calendar. David's
situation was seriously affected by a puncture 12 miles from the finish
which nearly resulted in him crashing at high speed. His strength and bike
handling skills were put to the test following a wheel change as he raced
to catch up with the lead group of three he'd been with since the start.
By the bottom of the notoriously difficult climb he was back in
contention, and soon began to drive the pace, whittling the opposition
down to two. As they neared the summit David powered away from his closest
rivals to take a thoroughly deserved victory by 26 seconds overall.
 His
winning margin had been strengthened by a start to finish attack the
previous day at the newly opened Brynmar Circuit. Working with one
other rider for much of the time and relying on his team mates to
frustrate the following bunch David kept the fast disintegrating field at
about 200-300metres for an hour before crossing the line second. In
the last two races David's attacking strategy helped him win the prizes
for 'King of the Mountains' and take second in the 'Points Race' for
sprint bonuses.
 The
Scotland Junior Road Racing Team were quite simply outstanding and
controlled the race with a maturity well beyond their years. The
strength of the squad was underlined by the fact that, out of eighty
riders, all the Scottish Team were in the top eleven at the start of the
final fifty mile race. The Team Prize was just desserts for them,
and their mentor and manager Gordon Goldie.
Overall General Classification � 1st
David Smith - Scotland
Overall General Classification � 5th Sean Newington - Scotland
Stage 4 � 2nd David Smith - Scotland
Stage 5 � 1st David Smith - Scotland
Hot Spot Sprints Overall - 2nd David
Smith - Scotland
King of the mountains � 1st David Smith - Scotland
Scotland also won 4 out of the 5 stages
and therefore the overall Team competition. |