The Big Guns

The survivors of last year’s calamitous end to the domestic calendar are back stronger than ever.

- Vern Pitt

Every cyclist has fallen off their bike. From highspeed tumbles to stationary fumbles with a resistant clipless pedal, we’ve all had them. Often there is a moment between the fall being inevitable and hitting the ground when you have time to contemplate how hard this particular impact will be — will you break a collarbone or merely scratch your shifter and get back up?

For the British Continental cycling scene that moment, from the crash to the consequences, stretched on from late August into October last year. First, One Pro Cycling announced it would switch to being a women’s team (it never did) and finally, most shockingly, JLT-Condor — the scene’s longest running squad — folded. Conti-level cycling in the UK was tumbling, but would it get away with scratches or was something broken?

“It looked dire really at that moment in time,” recalls Wiggins-Le Col manager Simon Cope.

“It is a shame that teams are having to fold,” says Vitus Pro Cycling manager Cherie Pridham. “But it is part of the natural cycle of things.”

But not everyone was worried. “I knew the rumbling of what was going on in other teams and that some would move around and shape up so I thought the number of teams was not likely to change,” says Tim Elverson, manager of Canyon-dhb-Bloor Homes. His confidence was well founded — by the end of November two new teams had emerged to join the Continental level, Ribble and SwiftCarbon — an evolution of the KTM elite-level team. The British scene appeared to be left with only scratches.