The 3rd stage saw Greta finish high up again and William Penn get back his yellow jersey, while in the U15 event Keir took a fine 4th place and Ben, Tom and Alex finish high up in the bunch again, this unfortunately lost Ben his yellow jersey but he remained on the same time as the leader overall, Alex though took the joint lead in the green jersey competition for sprinters, The U17 race saw mixed action with breaks on a regular basis with finally five riders getting away, unfortunately none of these were British and we worked hard to catch the break but it stayed away-loosing Adams yellow jersey, we all finished in he bunch apart from Dan who with half a lap left pulled up with a bad case of cramp.

The next day was the “Klassika”, roughly a 25km course out into the countryside then back
into Achterveld for a green jersey sprint then back out for the second half of the course and back in again, The U14 event was one lap with sporadic finishers Greta again finished high up the bunch, leaving her second overall in the U14 girls, The U15’s race took 2 laps and with
half a lap to go Tom Price started a formidable break which included Ben as well as 3 other Dutch riders, this break stayed away and Ben took a fin stage win and created a gap of nearly 50 secs to the bunch, Alex and Keir worked well to keep the break away and Alex kept his Green Jersey, Tom finished 5th in the break as he will admit himself to not being a sprinter. As the presentation for this race took place the heavens opened for the U17 event and didn’t
stop for the whole race, but it slowed the racing down even if we were cold and tired, Scott was pulled out of the race after 2 laps after being dropped and Daniel finished the race although off the back of the bunch, very respectable after 75km (3laps), I finished 4th after being dropped with a lap to go then catching the bunch and brit Rhys Lloyd finished 2nd while Kirk finished high up in the bunch.

Thursday morning and it was the turn of the second hill climb to take its toll on the riders-Greta did a respectable time of 3min15secs finishing 21st, Ben Tom and Alex finished in that order with Ben in 4th place, while Keir struggled up the hill finishing 24th, Dan was the surprise of the day finishing 25th but with the best time out of the 4 of us. Adam Blythe unfortunately lost his polka dot jersey.

Thursday evening saw another criterium and in the U14 event William Penn taking his 3rd stage but in no chance on taking yellow as he had built a lead of over half a minute, Greta again finished in the bunch and retained 3rd overall girl. Ben took his 3rd stage a remarkable achievement for a rider riding for the first time in Holland while Alex Tom and Keir finished high
in the bunch. Ben now held the yellow jersey by 3seconds while Tom Alex and Keir were all highly placed overall with Tom looking for a podium place overall and Alex keeping his Green jersey. Scott, Dan and I were all dropped early on in this race as the pace lifted to remarkable speeds, Dan had a very good excuse, he snapped his carbon bars and couldn’t continue for obvious reasons-my position dropped dramatically overall and I was now in no contention for overall lead, Kirk finished in the bunch and continued his consistent riding, but what would it
of been if the first race wasn’t cancelled.

Friday morning saw the flat 4km time trial where Greta continued her consistent run of results with a 12th place and 1st girl in this event, Ben Tom and Alex all finished in the top 15 with
Ben coming in 4th although disappointed with his ride, Keir finished 24th also disappointed with his ride, The U17 category saw a astonishing time of 5min 07secs take the victory but it was
a German rider who did that time with an average speed of just under 46km/h. The best Brit was Adam Blythe trying to make up for lost time the previous evening where his chain snapped and Scott lent him his bike as he was already dropped-I finished very happy with my time of 5min19secs beating the rest of the Brits while they all finished with respectable times and placings.

That evening saw William Penn Take his 3rd stage and Greta once more finish high up in the bunch Ben Stockdale nearly took his 4th stage but was beaten at the line by a Dutch rider
-Alex consolidated his lead in the Green Jersey competition and Keir and Tom both finished in the bunch again while Ben lost his yellow jersey in the time trial and couldn’t get it back in today’s stage. In the U17 race the race stayed together and ended in a bunch sprint with all Brits in the bunch placed well.

Saturday and the final stage saw Greta finish 6th in the gallop for the line around the 600metre
criterium circuit, which gave her 15th overall and 1st girl in her age group. William Penn
couldn’t make up the deficit needed to take the overall win but finished a well deserved 4th place. The U15 category was fast and furious from the off with Tom and Keir in a 3 man break for a long period in the middle of the race before finally being brought back together, the final sprint gave Ben a 4th Place in the stage but also couldn’t make up the deficit to the overall leader giving him a 3rd place overall, while Alex won the Green Jersey and finished respectively overall, Tom and Keir finished in the bunch and finished the overall with good placings with Tom unable to reach the podium unfortunately. The U17 race was as the U15 race fast and furious from the off with attack after attack being made-the course in use hurts a lot-nearly every 200m there is a corner and 3 corners per lap along with 5 speed bumps per lap makes interesting racing, that’s 180 corners in the race and 300 speed bumps, ow! Dan, Scott and I were dropped early on and pulled out as the bunch came round to lap us, Kirk was dropped
very early and lost his consistent run of results after feeling ill, The only Brits to finish the
race were Adam Blythe, Harry Penn and Luke Marlow, so well done to them, Adam Blythe was awarded the bunch time after complaining to the jury on the Thursday evening and so
finished 4th overall after Saturdays final stage.

Overall all riders enjoyed themselves and had a good time, and many thanks are sent to Keith Elliot, Nigel Dickinson and Prime Coaching, also Clive, Ian and Hilary who were a great help to
all who needed it.

Gareth Dickinson
For full results and info on next years tour de junior as there are limited British entries go to www.tourdejunior.nl
Pictures courtesy of website above.