It doesn't matter how important you are, if you turn up late, for a race you will denied entry!. Four of the Katusha Alpcin team arricved for the Saturday Afternoon Hillingdon E12 circuit race for a bit of pre Prudential training, only to find they'd missed the start. They stayed arond to watch. It means I also missed my one and only chance to ever race against a UCI pro team (sort of - I was resting anyway!).
Got to love Alex Dowsett, he will have raced at Hillingdon many times - he also publishes all his data on Strava. This is equivalent to Real Madrid turning up to Goals in Cardiff for a quick five-a-side tournament because Gareth Bale played there as a youth.
I don't think they would have been allowed to race anyway as World Tour riders aren't allowed to do National Events apart from Criteriums with very specific regulations. Pretty cool that they hung around to watch however!
No, they are eligible under BC rules, provided they brought their UCI racing license with them. No UCI points - Section 7.4
EDIT: although UCI regs... 2.1.009 Only the following teams and riders may participate in national events: says you may be right - except this was a Regional A (E12). The crits the pros enter are also likely to be Regional rather than National A/B races.
Just so cool though. Dowsett regularly rides his local club 10 too.
That's ace! I like it that more and more pro's are doing normal stuff rather than just the usual UCI stuff - see EF Drapac on the GBDURO.
I used to live in Suffolk and can remember Dowsett turning up for a race when he was with Movistar. That put the local 'fast guys' back in their box!
I like it that more and more pro’s are doing normal stuff
Did they cycle up the Uxbridge road from town with their posh wheels strapped to their backs?
Sadly I was not there, but didn't see it on his Strava.