ON Sunday four members of North Devon Wheelers cycle club participated in Plymouth Corinthians cycle club?s Brentor road race. The 86 kilometre race also included the South West junior championship in which Matt Yates was hoping to take a medal. It was always going to be difficult for him to do this as his opponents included the current leader of the national junior series and his chances were dashed further when soon after the start of the race he was unfortunate to unship his chain and lost contact with the main bunch. He still managed to complete the full race distance and just missed a podium place, finishing fourth. Steve Sage made a rare appearance in a road race and it proved a successful one. Unusually for him he didn?t put in any attacks and spent the whole race riding conservatively in the bunch. His new race tactic was rewarded when he sprinted into sixth place at the end of the 10 lap race. Phil Sage and Lee Bradley were both struck with some bad luck and they were both forced to withdraw before the end of the race. The next competitive outing for most of the Wheelers will be their club championship 25 mile time trial on Bank Holiday Monday.
