End of a successful summer for CAMS Majaco by Ian Mansell Thomas

18 minutes ago

7 min read

First things first..... A tribute to Shane O’Brien one of our young riders who tragically lost his life whilst training.. I travelled to Ireland in late June with Carolyn Gaskell, our Head of Rider Development, and Harley Widdowson, a second-year junior with us, to pay respects - personally and on behalf of the team and sponsors - at Shane’s funeral. There was an incredible turnout for it, with the cycling community from across Ireland and beyond there to honour Shane’s life and celebrate the joy that he brought to everyone he met. It was an emotional day, not least when his dad Eddie told me Shane was buried in his full team kit. To experience in such clear terms what this team means to its riders and parents was a sobering, yet uplifting, thing. Eddie is hoping to come out on some trips with us next year to support the riders, which again is a testament, both to him and to what this team means to people. RIP Shane – he will never be forgotten.

Onto some racing news…

Region Sud

At the very end of June, the boys travelled to the high Alps for three days of real climbing. Proper ski station finishes! This was due to be Shane’s next race with the team, so we, of course, did not replace him in the lineup, and the riders all donned black armbands for the race. The organiser showed his respect when the team was presented on stage before day one, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with us in a minute’s silence.

As for the racing itself, we saw some excellent results, with Milo de la Mare and Sam de la Mare achieving multiple strong top 10 finishes, and Harley Widdowson also just outside the top 10 on day 3.

This bode well for the biggest stage race on the boys’ calendar, the Ain Bugey Valromey Tour, which was to follow in early July. First though…

National Champs

We bagged two new stripey jumpers, with Aalia Clay and Leon Atkins sealing the wins in the TT Championship. For a good while, it looked like Megan Cherry would add the road race jersey too, with a brave solo break that was only caught a few hundred metres before the line. A massive ride, and Meg hung on for 2^nd, which was fantastic.

Meanwhile, over in Ireland, Emer Heverin brought back both TT and road race national jerseys – awesome stuff. She was to go on and add a European jersey later in July too – taking the European Points Race title on the track. Quite some haul!

Valromey

Another week in the Alps for this huge race, and what a week it was!

In the junior men’s race, there was an exceptional, and exceptionally consistent, performance from Milo de la Mare, who brought home the white jersey, for best first year junior, with his 8^th place finish in the overall standings. Twin brother Sam wasn’t too far behind either, finishing a strong 15^th overall. You really need to watch out for these names in the years to come…

In the junior women’s Valromey, run as three separate one-day races with no overall standing, there were excellent performances from Gabby McHugh, 7^th on day two, and Aalia Clay, 9^th on day one.

Into August, and a truly busy month

All our girls headed out for some national-level racing in Spain at the start of the month, taking in Volta Ciclista a Osona (racing with the Elites) and Vuelta a Cantabria (junior-only).

In Osona in Catalunya, Zoe Roche took an excellent 6^th place on stage 2, before Gabby McHugh went even better with 4^th on stage 3.

The girls then travelled west to Cantabria, where we seemed to be a very big part of proceedings, coming away with 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 8^th on stage 1; 2^nd, 4^th and 7^th on stage 2; then 1^st, 3^rd and 6^th on stage 2, with Emer Heverin getting her hands in the air. A superb few days’ work, with Zoe Roach 2^nd in the final GC (as well as winning a number of jerseys!) and Aalia 3^rd.

The lads were then out in the Ardennes for Aubel-Thimister-Stavelot, again one of the top three stage races in Europe. Tough racing, with a team time trial thrown into the mix and a Queen stage at the end, which brought all the Ardennes climbs to the party. More top riding from Sam de la Mare, who finished 9^th on said Queen stage and 10^th overall, the second-placed young rider.

Barely pausing for breath, the boys were out at the Ronde des Vallées in Brittany the following weekend. Stage one unfortunately saw some big crashes, with all our riders down at one point or other. All were ok, but Alex Coles suffered quite a bit of road rash, which prevented him starting on day two. Day two kicked off with a TT, which saw strong rides from Gus Dutton (4^th) and Dan Davies (6^th). It was all to play for on the final road stage, a tougher course than stage 1, which acted to break things up a bit. Gus and Sam got into the small chase group, behind the two leaders, with Sam eventually finishing 4^th and Gus 5^th. Behind them, the other lads did a great job of ensuring no one closed the gap to our riders ahead. Time gaps on the line meant that Sam and Gus made up 2/3 of the podium, finishing 2^nd and 3^rd overall. Interestingly, the winner was from the US team Hot Tubes, who are also a Netcompany INEOS development partner, sort of making it an all-INEOS podium!

No rest for the staff, as it was back to the Basque Country the next weekend, where the girls were racing Emakume Gazteen Itzulia, a two-stage Nations Cup race. A reduced bunch took on the very technical finish for stage 1, where Zoe Roche used all her crit chops to take the win in the sprint. Rose Lewis was close behind in 6^th, with almost all our riders in that select front bunch. Stage 2 was a much climbier affair (is that a word? It is, right?). Ruby Isaac got into the break of the day, which looked likely to hold until the last kilometre or so of the hard uphill finish. She and another of her co-escapees were caught, but she still held on for an excellent 5^th. Zoe was in the group closing the gap, eventually taking 2^nd on the stage and 2^nd in the overall GC. Zoe also picked up the points jersey, with Ruby 2^nd in the sprint competition.

Was August over yet? Was it heck…

Next up, Belgium for everyone as we had a boys’ team and a girls’ team at Druivenkoers Overijse, a one-day race in the Flemish Brabant. Having tasted success here in the girls’ race last year, with Lidia Cusack taking the win, could we repeat it? Very, very nearly was the answer. Aalia Clay was in the break of the day, which formed of three riders after only 3km. They were eventually reeled in by a select chase group with about 5km remaining. We now had Aalia and Gabby McHugh in the front, and Gabby looked set for the win before just getting rolled on the line. A fine second place though, and an 8^th place for Aalia. In the boys’ race, Milo de la Mare was up the road with a small bunch in the closing stages, eventually finishing 12^th.

The girls then headed west to Brittany, for GP de Plouay, another race where we’ve won before. The girls raced aggressively throughout, but things eventually came down to a bunch kick, with Emer Heverin first home for us in 11^th.

The boys rounded out August with another Belgian race, Route des Géants, starting and finishing in Ypres. Yet again, a race we’ve won in the past! No joy this time though, despite Sam’s best efforts in the break, before things came back together with our riders finishing in the bunch.

The last dance

September sees our successful season wrap up, with two final races for our junior men. This coming weekend, they travel to Switzerland for GP Rüebliland (the third of those top-three stage races I mentioned), before travelling a little closer to home for Keizer des Juniores in West Flanders a couple of weeks later.

A massive shout out to our volunteer staff

As you can imagine, making sure that our talented young riders are fully supported across such an extensive calendar is a mammoth task. Identifying, interviewing, vetting training and supporting those who give their support is a never-ending process for us, and I’d like to spend a moment thanking some of those amazing people who work with the team.

That’s a whole lot of true legends, who help us do what we do, week in, week out. If you fancy coming out for a race in 2027 and joining this happy bunch, just drop me a message. Or if you take on the services of any of these folks, do please mention the team.

Carolyn Gaskell, DS and Head of Rider Development

Dexter Mansel-Thomas, DS and Head of Scouting

Simon Beldon, DS

Ella Jamieson, DS

Henry Latimer, DS

Max Holgate, DS

Andy Turner, DS

Alice Wood, mentor

Tom Abbott, mechanic

Ken Baker, mechanic

Dave Oldale, mechanic

Mike Jenner, mechanic