News Round Up

Local News Round-up 04/02/11

· Daniel Lloyd (Garmin-Cervelo) has put the finishing touches to his winter training before he starts his 8th season as a professional bike rider. Queens Park based Lloyd has been using the hills of the New Forest and the Purbecks to fine tune his fitness ahead of his first race, Le Tour Mediterranean in France next week. He then moves onto Belgium and is aiming to be in good form for the eight day classic race, “Paris-Nice”. Starting in the French capital the race heads to the Cote d’ Azur and is known as “The race to the Sun”. Selection for the Tour of Italy and Tour De France, both of which Lloyd rode in 2010 may prove harder this year, the Garmin-Cervelo team is very strong and includes current world champion Thor Hushovd and former British champion David Millar. Lloyd will look towards the Tour of Spain and the world championships later in the year. He already has one eye on the London Olympic games “It’s a huge goal to represent Great Britain in London, but there are so many good professionals from Britain, that I will have to do something special to earn my place” he told the Echo.

· Parkstone Cycle Clothing specialists, Prendas Ciclismo, will this season sponsor one of the top women’s teams in the country. The new team, Horizon Fitness –Prendas Ciclismo will compete in all the major UK races as well as on the continent and with three riders on the GB pursuit squad they will challenge on all fronts. Mick Tarrant of Prendas Ciclismo commented, “We have supported lots of riders over the years including a young Bradley Wiggins, its always tougher for a women’s team to find sponsors, so we are delighted to provide the team with all their clothing and accessories, we will be working with the team to develop female specific clothing.” It is a good time for women’s cycle racing with more events on the calendar and the number of professional teams increasing.