John
Herety - Gearing up for Girvan
Sunday 16th March, 2008
by Ed Hood
He’s won a Peace Race stage, French amateur
classics, the British pro road champs and was robbed of the GP Pino
Cerami – the judges gave it to local hero Rony van Holen –
but photos later showed that the Englishman’s wheel was first
across the line.
Now he’s passing all that experience on to
a new generation through his role as team manager of London squad
Rapha-Condor Recycling, who are north of the border to recce the hills,
gravel, rain, wind farms and sheep that are – Girvan.
The guys are riding the Musselburgh 3-Up, John? "It’s
a good skill to have, roadmen used to ride a lot of them back in the
‘good old days,’ there was nothing on in England and we
were coming up to do our Girvan recce, so we just thought we’d
ride."
Team morale must be good after the
Bikeline win? "Yes, very good but there will
be no complacency, we’re expected to be the best team, we were
on the training camp then started racing early, so we have a little
advantage, but the other teams will catch us up, so we’re taking
nothing for granted."
Dean is going well, isn’t he? "Interestingly,
despite all the years he’s raced and been a big name on the
UK scene, that’s the first time he’s ever had a team at
his disposal like that.
"He was very nervous about the responsibility
and he learned a lot about handling pressure."
Girvan, it must be a big deal, here you are a week before
the start. "I did this last year, we came up a week
early to get to know the roads, there’s obviously the training
aspect, but if you know that the top is ‘just round the next
corner’ then you can dig a bit deeper and hang on.
"The squad is predominantly the same as
last year, but it does no harm to remind the guys of what to expect.
It’s going to be a hard race to win; we’re the team to
beat at the moment, so I expect we’ll get other teams collaborating
against us – that’s bike racing, though!
"Girvan is a different race from the Bikeline,
there’s no opening time trial, but there are time bonuses –
the race is won and lost on the bonuses.
"We can’t leave it to those bonuses
because there are some quick guys – like Evan (Oliphant of PCA)
and Wilko (’07 Girvan winner, Andy Wilkinson of Science in Sport
– Trek) who are liable to grab them. Wilko is probably the favourite;
but I know that Evan is also very motivated to win, he’s a big
threat."
What about the Rapha v. PCA rivalry? "We’re
both trying to encourage it! It gets us more column inches, but we
want to keep it friendly, the British cycling scene is too small to
have grudge matches going on, but provided it’s light hearted
I don’t think it’s a problem. I think some of the internet
forums have been getting a bit heated about which is the best team,
though!"
It's
26 years since you turned pro – how do you remain so enthusiastic?
"I love it; it’s a lot better than working for a living!
My career as a pro was cut short by illness, so it wasn’t like
I’d ‘had enough of it’ when I stopped racing.
"I wouldn’t want to manage at any
higher level than this, but it would be nice to have a little more
money in the budget. I’m quite happy that we’re a ‘feeder
team’ for riders to move on to greater things from."
Rapha/PCA/Pinarello/SIS/Halfords – the UK scene is getting
better isn’t it; could it be like the 80’s again, with
city centre races? "The last three or four years
have certainly seen the racing improve, it’s mainly the same
guys winning, but in better organised teams. That’s one of the
pleasures of the job, teaching young riders how to race properly,
you see riders who have never won a Premier Calendar race going up
the road from the gun – I don’t know what they are trying
to achieve.
"The racing here is getting more like
continental racing with the race-winning move generally being made
late in the race. As for the future, it’s getting more difficult
with the police (witness the demise of the Archer Grand Prix) and
I think that place to place racing will be very hard to organise.
"City centre racing will be harder to
organise these days too with the increasing move towards pedestrian
precincts; although the Smithfield nocturne is proving to be a big
success. I think the future is liable to be along Belgian lines, with
kermesse type racing and rapport built with local communities."
Why is ‘Rapha’ the dominant sponsor?
"If you look on the back of the jersey, you’ll see
a little logo that says ‘recyclinglives’
– this is a new initiative that Recycling are involved in: there
are going to be 10 or 12 centres around the country where people can
go and get their lives back on track – people who have maybe
left the forces, but with nowhere to live or a plan for the future.
"They can live at one of these centres
and work there too – recycling televisions, computers and the
like. This is a big project and it’s moving very quickly because
a politician was impressed by the scheme and has embraced it. With
all this on the go, Recycling have eased back on their involvement,
but they hope to be back in a bigger way, next year."
How’s Chris Newton after his crash?
"He had a titanium plate fitted to the collar bone at Sheffield
Hallam University on Tuesday and he’s hoping to be back on the
turbo in five or six days, maybe racing in four weeks."
ASO v. UCI? "Having lived in France, I’d
like to see the UCI win! The Tour has become so big and ASO so strong,
but you can’t have a race organiser dictating to the sport’s
governing body. It’s no surprise to see French politicians involved
on the side of ASO, the revenue that the Tour brings into France is
phenomenal and they won’t want to see that jeopardised.
"The thing is though, that the Tour is
the best race in the world, really only the Americans can challenge
that dominance, if you look at the way the Tours of California and
Georgia have grown it’s very impressive. The teams stay in these
wonderful hotels and the word goes round that it’s a good race,
so the riders forget their usual reluctance to travel across time
zones.
"I’m not saying that the UCI will
come out on top, but I hope they do."
VeloResults would like
to thank John for his time and wish him and the squad all the best
for Girvan.
[And anyway, Rony van Holen’s haircuts were always the worst,
John!]
As mentioned in John's interview, he fielded 4
teams in yesterday's Musselburgh RCC 3-Up 28.4-mile time trial in
East Lothian, which had a start sheet boasting 30 teams.
3 of the Rapha teams finished in the top 4, with
first going to Dale Appleby, Kristian House and Rob Partridge, who
won the event with 1-03-52.
However, they were nearly upset by the PedalPower
team of Gary Hand, Gordon Murdoch and Scott McRae, who were only 25
seconds away from taking the top spot.
Dean Downing led his 2 team-mates Rhys Lloyd and
Ryan Bonser to third place, while fourth place was taken by Tom Diggle,
Simon Holt and Graham Briggs.
John's teams used their road bikes for the 3-up,
as there isn't a time trial at the Girvan next weekend, whilst most
of the local teams taking part were competing on their TT bikes, and
today John takes his teams over to the West coast to recce the first
stage of the Girvan.
Musselburgh 3-up Team Time Trial Result
1. Rapha Condor/Recycling.co.uk
Rob Partridge, Kristian House, Dale Appleby
2. Pedal Power RT
Gordon Murdoch, Gary Hand, Scott MaCrae
3. Rapha Condor/Recycling.co.uk
Dean Downing, Rhys Lloyd, Ryan Bonser
4. Rapha Condor/Recycling.co.uk
Tom Diggle, Graham Briggs, Simon Holt
[more to follow]
