This past week has given us two more wins for the Rayner Foundation.
Last weekend Matty Brennan won his second race of the season, two out of two now. The Porec Trophy in Croatia is a UCI 1.2 over 146km.
Report from Mike Underwood who spoke to Matty after the race.
Once again Matty Brennan was imperious in Istria as he won the Porec Trophy
For the 2nd time in five days on Sunday the Visma-Lease A Bike rider proved himself a Croatian champ when it came to out-sprinting the field and beating a class field
“It’s pretty special to win these two races back to back [the Umag Trophy and the Porec Trophy]. And in my first races. So unexpected." After winning in Umag, he admitted there was pressure on him. However, he added: “coming together as a team we had a plan and we executed it quite well. It was a nice way to end my stay in Croatia.”
The plan itself for the team was to attack from early on to thin out the field, especially with the parcours. And it nearly worked as one of the team’s riders Darren van Bekkum was only caught 250 m from the finish. “Fortunately we had a back up plan and we were left with the sprint. We had all options covered.”
Matty is not staying for the Istria Spring Trophy this month as he has to head back to the Netherlands for the Olympias Tour in three weeks time. “It’s probably going to rain. It’s been raining pretty much every day here, so there probably won’t be much difference,” he smiled
With a new team and a different style of racing, he’s certainly looking forward to it. As we are.
Thank you again to Matty Brennan for speaking to us.
This weekend has seen a big big win by a rider who travelled to Belgium with support from the Rayner Foundation Gateway Scheme. Seb Grindley is an experienced second year junior and part of the top UK Junior team Fensham Howes MAS Design which is run by Giles Pidcock. The team makes regular raids across the Channel to Europe, having done this now for several years they have no problem with race invitations. Its always a tough weekend out with lots of driving time but this pathway certainly works with many riders coming through the system and joining top teams abroad when they turn U23.
This weekend was the Junior version of Nokere Koerse. Spring weather and a demanding course with 17 km of cobbles for a total distance of 127km. There was wind on the day which made it surprising that a large group came to the finish together. An uphill finish of about 300 metres on cobbles was the springboard for Seb to launch and take the win!
RESULTS HERE https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=7023&y=2024
Follow SEB on Instagram @sebgrindley
Follow FHMAS on Instagram @fhmasdesign