While Geraint Thomas was engulfed in a battle for the maglia rosa at the Giro d’Italia last week, just across the Adriatic Sea in Albania another Brit was involved in a tight general classification tussle of his own. Here is the story of Max Stedman‘s Tour of Albania win.
Crossroads
After seven years riding at UCI Continental level, Stedman had found himself without a ride for 2023 after the sudden demise of Tim Elverson’s AT85 Pro Cycling team in mid-March, just before his 27th birthday.
Stopping after the fall of AT85 did cross my mind a lot. But I had put a lot of work into the winter and didn’t really want to put that to waste
Stedman, a winner of the Tour of Antalya (2.1) in 2020, found himself questioning his future. But, having dedicated the winter to getting into the best shape possible, he decided he didn’t want to let his hard work go to waste.
Mission accomplished. Max and teammate Ryan Christensen at the end of stage 4 of the 2020 Tour of Antalya. Photo: Brian Black Hodes / Tour of Antalya
A climber by trade, who was at one point courted by Jumbo-Visma, Stedman thrives best when the road rises. He is therefore often more at home in international stage races than on the typically flatter roads of Britain’s one-day national road racing circuit.
In need of an opportunity to showcase his talent, especially after a difficult few seasons after his Antalya win, Stedman was put in touch with the Velo Schils Interbike team through his network of training partners active in Bristol, and secured a ride at the Tour of Albania with the team, a UCI 2.2 stage race.
Velo Schils
Velo Schils originated in Belgium in 1948 under the leadership of professional racer Joseph (Jef) Schils. One of his most notable victories was the 293km 1953 Paris-Tours race when he was riding for the Bianchi-Pirelli team. Jef’s son Patrick moved to the UK and opened up the Velo Schils Interbike independent family business in Marks Tey, Colchester in 1997.
As well as their core cycling and accessories business, Velo Schils Interbike supports a large active club of over 150 members who participate in social club rides, sportives, national and international racing. The international race programme enables riders from non-UCI teams to gain experience in UCI-level one-day and multi-day stage races.
The race
The five-day Tour of Albania ran from the 22nd to the 26th May and was first held as a UCI race in 2017. The race was the first international foray of 2023 for Velo Schils Interbike RT, with the team represented by Eugene Cross, Peter Fuller, Carl Jolly, Charlie Lacaille and Stedman, supported by DS Jaak Lepere and mechanic Neil Hughes.
These are mostly self-sufficient races, washing your own bike and kit, paying for flights, etc. You really invest in yourself, it brings the basics back in
With Olympic qualification points up for grabs, the Tour of Albania was a fiercely contested stage race incorporating national and club teams from the Balkans, southern and eastern Europe. National teams competing included Albania, Azerbaijan, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey with the strongest club team probably being CSA Steaua Bucharest from Romania.
Image: AlbanianSport.com
The Tour opened with the demanding 142km queen stage from the capital Tirana to Kerrabe that concluded with a 10.7km mountain climb at an average of 5.4%. Velo Schils Interbike RT found themselves in a tough position in the first half of the stage with all riders behind a split after Lacaille had crashed and Stedman had punctured.
With failure looming at this early point, Stedman and Jolly rode hard for 30 minutes to close a 90-second gap to get back into contention before the final climb. As the bunch hit the ascent, riders were steadily shelled from the leading group leaving just five riders to contest the final sprint. Unbottling three years of frustration since his win at the Tour of Antalya, Stedman let out a whoop of delight as he surged to victory over last year’s GC runner-up Christian Raileanu (CSA Steaua Bucharest) and Periklis Ilias (Greece).
Credit: AlbanianSport.com
As the excitement of the opening stage win subsided along with the dinner-time champagne bubbles, the reality dawned that the team now had to defend Stedman’s yellow jersey for four further stages under the threat of constant attacks from the four riders within 13 seconds of Stedman.
On stage 2 the team took the traditional method of protecting a GC lead by riding at the head of the peloton and closing a five-man breakaway in the closing stages with Stedman sprinting to ninth place, though losing Fuller as a DNF in the process.
Stage 3 was a much messier affair with a 19-man break (including Lacaille who finished in a fine 10th place) going clear. Stedman and Jolly were left with the main GC contenders in their group and they battled to contain these riders while also limiting their losses to the break to just over one minute as they descended into the scenic coastal town of Vlore.
Credit: AlbanianSport.com
With five competitors now within 24 seconds of Stedman’s lead, the long 180km stage 4 was potentially going to be crunch time. However, the four remaining Velo Schils Interbike RT riders probably had their best team performance of the week, riding largely on the front of the peloton again as they cruised up into the mountains of southern Albania towards Permet under threatening skies. With 45km to go torrents of heavy hail hammered the peloton and the stage was brought to a premature end under the rider safety protocol with no time gaps being awarded and positions remaining as they were at the start of the day.
We weren’t the biggest nor the strongest team and the result only tells half the story of how hard Charlie, Eugene, Carl and myself had to work
Bright sunshine greeted the riders for the shorter 122km final stage 5 back northwards towards Vier. A three-man breakaway left the Velo Schils Interbike RT riders to man-mark the GC contenders and help steadily close the gap to the breakaway to just eight seconds by the finish. Stedman took 11th place on the stage and the GC honours along with it.
“This was so awesome to win,” reflected Stedman after the race. “Stopping after the fall of AT85 did cross my mind a lot. But I had put a lot of work into the winter and didn’t really want to put that to waste. So this has made it all 100% worth it and pretty special.
“Schils gave me a chance to race internationally and it has been humbling. These are mostly self-sufficient races, washing your own bike and kit, paying for flights, etc. You really invest in yourself, it brings the basics back in but it creates a very relaxed environment.
“We weren’t the biggest nor the strongest team and the result only tells half the story of how hard Charlie, Eugene, Carl and myself had to work.”
Huge thanks to Paul and Marina Stedman for collaborating with us to produce this post.
While Geraint Thomas was engulfed in a battle for the maglia rosa at the Giro d’Italia last week, just across the Adriatic Sea in Albania another Brit was involved in a tight general classification tussle of his own. Here is the story of Max Stedman‘s Tour of Albania win.
Crossroads
After seven years riding at UCI Continental level, Stedman had found himself without a ride for 2023 after the sudden demise of Tim Elverson’s AT85 Pro Cycling team in mid-March, just before his 27th birthday.
Stedman, a winner of the Tour of Antalya (2.1) in 2020, found himself questioning his future. But, having dedicated the winter to getting into the best shape possible, he decided he didn’t want to let his hard work go to waste.
A climber by trade, who was at one point courted by Jumbo-Visma, Stedman thrives best when the road rises. He is therefore often more at home in international stage races than on the typically flatter roads of Britain’s one-day national road racing circuit.
In need of an opportunity to showcase his talent, especially after a difficult few seasons after his Antalya win, Stedman was put in touch with the Velo Schils Interbike team through his network of training partners active in Bristol, and secured a ride at the Tour of Albania with the team, a UCI 2.2 stage race.
Velo Schils
Velo Schils originated in Belgium in 1948 under the leadership of professional racer Joseph (Jef) Schils. One of his most notable victories was the 293km 1953 Paris-Tours race when he was riding for the Bianchi-Pirelli team. Jef’s son Patrick moved to the UK and opened up the Velo Schils Interbike independent family business in Marks Tey, Colchester in 1997.
As well as their core cycling and accessories business, Velo Schils Interbike supports a large active club of over 150 members who participate in social club rides, sportives, national and international racing. The international race programme enables riders from non-UCI teams to gain experience in UCI-level one-day and multi-day stage races.
The race
The five-day Tour of Albania ran from the 22nd to the 26th May and was first held as a UCI race in 2017. The race was the first international foray of 2023 for Velo Schils Interbike RT, with the team represented by Eugene Cross, Peter Fuller, Carl Jolly, Charlie Lacaille and Stedman, supported by DS Jaak Lepere and mechanic Neil Hughes.
With Olympic qualification points up for grabs, the Tour of Albania was a fiercely contested stage race incorporating national and club teams from the Balkans, southern and eastern Europe. National teams competing included Albania, Azerbaijan, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey with the strongest club team probably being CSA Steaua Bucharest from Romania.
The Tour opened with the demanding 142km queen stage from the capital Tirana to Kerrabe that concluded with a 10.7km mountain climb at an average of 5.4%. Velo Schils Interbike RT found themselves in a tough position in the first half of the stage with all riders behind a split after Lacaille had crashed and Stedman had punctured.
With failure looming at this early point, Stedman and Jolly rode hard for 30 minutes to close a 90-second gap to get back into contention before the final climb. As the bunch hit the ascent, riders were steadily shelled from the leading group leaving just five riders to contest the final sprint. Unbottling three years of frustration since his win at the Tour of Antalya, Stedman let out a whoop of delight as he surged to victory over last year’s GC runner-up Christian Raileanu (CSA Steaua Bucharest) and Periklis Ilias (Greece).
As the excitement of the opening stage win subsided along with the dinner-time champagne bubbles, the reality dawned that the team now had to defend Stedman’s yellow jersey for four further stages under the threat of constant attacks from the four riders within 13 seconds of Stedman.
On stage 2 the team took the traditional method of protecting a GC lead by riding at the head of the peloton and closing a five-man breakaway in the closing stages with Stedman sprinting to ninth place, though losing Fuller as a DNF in the process.
Stage 3 was a much messier affair with a 19-man break (including Lacaille who finished in a fine 10th place) going clear. Stedman and Jolly were left with the main GC contenders in their group and they battled to contain these riders while also limiting their losses to the break to just over one minute as they descended into the scenic coastal town of Vlore.
With five competitors now within 24 seconds of Stedman’s lead, the long 180km stage 4 was potentially going to be crunch time. However, the four remaining Velo Schils Interbike RT riders probably had their best team performance of the week, riding largely on the front of the peloton again as they cruised up into the mountains of southern Albania towards Permet under threatening skies. With 45km to go torrents of heavy hail hammered the peloton and the stage was brought to a premature end under the rider safety protocol with no time gaps being awarded and positions remaining as they were at the start of the day.
Bright sunshine greeted the riders for the shorter 122km final stage 5 back northwards towards Vier. A three-man breakaway left the Velo Schils Interbike RT riders to man-mark the GC contenders and help steadily close the gap to the breakaway to just eight seconds by the finish. Stedman took 11th place on the stage and the GC honours along with it.
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
Reaction
“This was so awesome to win,” reflected Stedman after the race. “Stopping after the fall of AT85 did cross my mind a lot. But I had put a lot of work into the winter and didn’t really want to put that to waste. So this has made it all 100% worth it and pretty special.
“Schils gave me a chance to race internationally and it has been humbling. These are mostly self-sufficient races, washing your own bike and kit, paying for flights, etc. You really invest in yourself, it brings the basics back in but it creates a very relaxed environment.
“We weren’t the biggest nor the strongest team and the result only tells half the story of how hard Charlie, Eugene, Carl and myself had to work.”
Huge thanks to Paul and Marina Stedman for collaborating with us to produce this post.
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