Pedal Heaven are a 'team to be reckoned with'

Joe Fry says that his surprise victory at the weekend's Tour of the Reservoir proves that Pedal Heaven have riders capable enough to consistently win some of the UK's biggest domestic races.

Nineteen-year-old Fry's victory in the two-stage Northumberland race makes him the youngest ever winner of the event. He finished third on the first stage that was won by JLT-Condor's Tom Moses and then produced a late attack on stage two - won by Madison-Genesis rider Erick Rowsell - to win the overall. It was also Pedal Heaven's first National A victory.

Fry, who finished tenth at the 2015 Junior Paris-Roubaix, joined Pedal Heaven in the winter after missing out on selection for this year's British Cycling Senior Academy squad, despite being part of the Junior Academy last year when he also rode for RST Racing Team.

His win in the third round of the Motorpoint Spring Cup was the Hampshire-based outfit's first Elite Road Series win, but follows on from a storming start to 2016.

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This is the first year that the team have held a UCI Continental license and its UCI team and its Excel Academy squad have won National B, criteriums and time trial races on a weekly basis thus far, to go with their ranking as the third best team at the 2015 Pearl Izumi Tour Series

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"It's great for the team to get that first Elite Road Series win and now we have to keep the momentum going," the Hertfordshire-born teenager told Cycling Weekly.

"We're still a relatively new team on the block and we're proving that we're as good as everyone else. We are a team to be reckoned with.

"Everyone gets on so well. It's a really good environment to be in and when you're that comfortable in your environment you really get the best out of everyone."

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Fry described his triumphant weekend as a "massive shock" but testamant to the camaraderie he speaks about, he now feels it is his duty to give even more support to his team-mates who shielded him from the wind and set him up for the win.

"The win's made me realise that I have the hunger for more wins and I want to repay the team now," he added.

"I want to help everyone else get their wins and do my but. They have done so much for me and I want to give it back now, whether that's me winning or helping someone else to win."