Rytlewski wins Fitchburg Longsjo Classic

Fitchburg, MA, July 2:Jake Rytlewski of team Rite Aid won the 2007 Fitchburg Longsjo Classic aboard his Merlin CR Works. His team mate Alejandro Borrajo finished 3rd overall and won one of the stages also aboard a Merlin CR Works. _

Merlin Win Brighouse Elite Cri

Merlin's Tom Barras on the podium after winning the Brighouse Town Centre Elite Criterium and being interviewed in the winners jersey by Mike Smith.

The Merlin Team have had another great result. With Tom Barras, winning the Brighouse Town centre Elite Criterium, on Tuesday evening.

This followed a superb team effort by the Merlin guys. Stephen Adams featured strongly in an early breakaway, this attempt was followed firstly by Liam Holohan and then by Jon Mozley, without success. After these early skirmishes, Tom Barras went on the attack with a 5 man break, the rest of the Merlin Team then worked hard, to control the chasers and allow the Barras group to stay away to the finish, where Tom took out the win, from Andy Tinsley and Recyclings Simon Holt.

Jon Mozley was 10th with Stephen Adams 12th and Tom Smith 14th.
A super result for the Team, coming on the back of Jon Mozleys, 3rd place in the London Smithfield race at the weekend.

The race was superbly organised and attracted a very large crowd around the circuit, which must have delighted the sponsors and organisers who had provided a very generous prize list. _

Borrajo close in Philadelphia

Philadelphia, PA, June 10: Alejandro Borrajo of team Rite Aid finished 4th at the 2007 Philadelphia International Championships aboard his Merlin CR Works. The Philadelphia International Championships was the third and final race of the 2007 Commerce Bank Triple Crown and Borrajo had already finished second at the second event in Reading.

Congrats to the whole team. _

Borrajo second at Reading Classic

Reading, PA, June 7: Alejandro Borrajo of team Rite Aid had a fantastic second place finish at the 2007 Reading Classic aboard his Merlin Works CR. The Reading Classic is the second race of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown and Borrajo only was beaten by Bernhard Eisel of team T-Mobile. _

Borrajo rocks at Tour of Somerville

Somerville, NJ, May 28: Alejandro Borrajo of Team Rite Aid rocked to a great 2nd place finish at the 2007 Tour of Somerville on his Merlin CR Works. This race has a fantastic history and is considered a Memorial Day weekend classic. _

180 Degrees - Pole to Pole

Finally, after two frustrating weeks the boys are underway again heading south as fast as they can to make the most of the sea ice before it breaks up completely. Dog teams are escorting them over the treacherous headland and crevasse fields before they descend on to the sea ice at Savissivik to travel south.

Over the last two weeks the boys have made many friends among the locals at Thule Air Base and we are grateful to them for their hospitality and support. Rob and James send their warmest thanks to all the folk at Dundas who made them so welcome.

Ice Maiden however has had a much rougher time. She was caught in a storm off the west coast and whilst reaching speeds of 11 knots, she was knocked down and suffered some minor damage losing a liferaft in the process. The bow went under so deep that one of the hydrostatic releases deployed one of the liferafts off the foredeck! The crew were shaken but not hurt and Ice Maiden is now in Nuuk harbour waiting for Tim, our expedition skipper to arrive on Saturday. There is still a lot of ice and navigating north of Disko Bay is going to prove very challenging next week!

For more information, visit 180 degrees _

Merlin Posts Good Results

After a solid team performance the previous week in the Melton Classic Race. The team showed they had recovered well, adding more impressive results over the last few days.

On Thursday, Jon Mozley and Tom Barras both took a win each for the Merlin Team.
Jon won the Mallory Park circuit race and Tom Barras won the Science in Sport Criterium at Preston, in a very tight 40 up sprint finish.

Stephen Adams, one of Merlin's first year seniors, competed in the Nigel Meason, two day event in Leicestershire over the weekend.
His strong consistent riding took him to 4th place overall, beating many fancied riders after the two days of very fast racing.
The event consisted of a 64 mile road stage on Saturday, followed by a 2.7 mile tt, with a 75 mile, hilly road stage on the Sunday.
In addition to his 4th place Stephen also won a fine engraved glass Trophy for the 1st placed under 23 rider.

Tom Barras and Liam Holohan travelled to Middlesbrough on Sunday to ride in the 90 mile Stan Robson Trophy race. Both riders were part of an 8 man break that dominated the race.

Nearing the end of the race, Barras went clear with Recycling's Olympian, Chris Newton.
In the sprint for the line, Tom looked to have it won, but a motercycle marshal had positioned his bike badly on the last corner, forcing Tom to brake hard, this allowed Newton to get his wheel in front to take the win on the line, leaving Tom disappointed and angry to miss the win, but still with an exellent 2nd place.
Liam Holohan, who is also a first year senior followed the pair in, to take an excellent 4th place after policing the remains of the break. Both these riders produced a superb ride in this hard fought race.

Merlin's two young development riders also had a good result with Sam Lowe taking a win and older brother Thomas got a fine 2nd place in his race at Hetton.

The weekend was a double celebration for these two Merlin youngsters , with the news that they had both gained their Black Belt award for Karate.
Dont mess with these two!!! _

Rite-Aid Update

The boys are riding extremely well as we begin preparations for the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling in June. If you haven't experienced this week long community festival/world class bike race, I strongly encourage you to make plans to attend. There are four races in three cities: The Tom Bamford Lancaster Classic in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on June 3rd; the Reading Classic in Reading, Pennsylvania on June 7th; The Liberty Classic (women) and the Philadelphia International Championship both on June 10th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Philly event features 180 world class athletes from over 20 countries racing 156 miles in front of 350,000 enthusiastic fans...you have to experience it first hand to appreciate the level of excitement. This will be the 23rd year for this thrilling race and it promises to be the best ever. In addition to the racing, there will be a Fitness Expo with over 40 exhibitors, a Family Fun Center for kids, amateur racing, a Family Fun Ride on the race course itself, food, and great race merchandise. For more information contact Jory Reinhart at Pro Cycling Tour jreinhart@procyclingtour.com

Next up for race reports...Rite Aid wins at SE Crit Series.

Stay tuned!
Rite-Aid PDF _