Halfords Tour Series Round 4: Exeter double for Dean Downing

Rapha-Condor-Sharp’s Dean Downing may hail from Sheffield, but he’s clearly at home on the streets of Exeter too, winning the bunch sprint in tonight’s Halfords Tour Series Round 4 in front of a huge crowd in the cathedral city where he had triumphed in last year’s debut edition of the race.

After ceding the lead in the team competition to Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta in Portsmouth on Tuesday evening, the team in black clearly felt there was a point to prove, and their jerseys were to the fore as its riders fought it out with Endura at the front of the bunch sprint.

While team-mates Zak Dempster and Dean Windsor followed Downing home in second and fifth place respectively to claim the team prize for the night, that wasn’t quite enough for Rapha-Condor-Sharp to get back to the top of the overall standings, although they do jump back into second place.

It was a disappointing night, however, for Kuota-road.cc, who finished last in the team competition, and they will be looking to put a frustrating week behind them when racing resumes on Tuesday in Southport, where they are the designated home team.

We’ll be running a competition for two lucky people to enjoy VIP hospitality there courtesy of the organsisers, so look out for that here on road.cc in the next day or so.

Highlights of the Exeter round are on ITV4 at 7pm on Friday evening, and full details of the other races in the series can be found at www.tourseries.co.uk.

Halfords Tour Series Round Four Results

Team
1) Rapha-Condor-Sharp
2) Endura Racing
3) CyclePremier.com-Metaltek
4) Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta
5) Team Corley Cycles
6) Sigma Sport-Specialized
7) Pendragon-Le Col-Colnago
8) Team Raleigh
9) Team Ireland
10) Kuota-road.cc

Individual
1) Dean Downing Rapha-Condor-Sharp
2) Zak Dempster Rapha-Condor-Sharp
3) Ian Wilkinson Endura Racing
4) Jack Bauer Endura Racing
5) Dean Windsor Rapha-Condor-Sharp

The Halfords Tour Series Standings (after four rounds)
1) Motorpoint-Marshalls Pasta 35pts
2) Rapha-Condor-Sharp 31pts
3) Endura Racing 31pts
4) Pendragon-Le Col-Colnago 26pts
5) Sigma Sport-Specialized 24pts
6) Team Raleigh 23pts
7) CyclePremier.com-Metaltek 21pts
8) Team Corley Cycles 14pts
9) Kuota-road.cc 10pts
10) Team Ireland 5pts

Boardman Bikes Sprints Competition Results
1) Graham Briggs Rapha-Condor-Sharp 14pts
2) Liam Holohan Team Raleigh 9pts
3) Dean Downing Rapha-Condor-Sharp 7pts

Boardman Bikes Sprints Competition Overall Standings
1) Liam Holohan Team Raleigh 30pts
2) Graham Briggs Rapha-Condo-Sharp 24pts
3) Kristian House Rapha-Condor-Sharp 22pts