Max Stedman being interviewed post Tour of Britain. Photo Credit Canyon Eisberg
Tour of Britain Platform Propels Stedman into further Team GB U23 Honours
With the Tour of Britain ending only 5 days ago, and Max Stedman achieving a personal goal of 20th in the General Classification of the race, significant performances with his team Canyon Eisberg (UCI Continental) and a dominant display in France for the GB U23, has led to further selection.
Max has given us his reflections on the event:
“The Tour Of Britain was a great experience, easily the longest and hardest race I've done to date, against the highest quality competition, I was sat at breakfast one morning, 9 of the riders in the room had won a stage of a Grand Tour!!!” Grand Tour events include the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France & Vuelta a España!
“So I was super happy to be hold my own consistently against them. It shows the gap to the very top of the sport isn't massive. The highlights for me were obviously the Devon stage, I had a lot of Uni friends, local friends and family support, and it was the first real hard stage of the race, and the size of the crowds at the side of the roads were amazing.”
The 8 stage 1,140km tour of Britain had significant highlights for Max, with finishing 9th in stage 6 Barrow-in-Furness to Whinlatter Pass as a huge performance in his riding career.
“Finishing 9th on the Queen Stage (6), that finished at the top of Whinlatter Pass was pretty unbelievable, looking at the start list before hand, I didn't think that's be possible at all, and has given me a lot of belief for the future years. I managed a top 20 on the General Classification at the death on the final half lap in the Stage 8 finishing circuit around London, which going into the race I said was a target, so was really happy with that!”
“The team overall did great as well, with my team mate Andy Tennent rolling two 9th places in the sprint stages, and Alex Paton winning the Eisberg Intermediate sprints jersey.”
Team GB did not wait to inform Max of his selection post the end of stage 8 in London:
“Almost immediately after the London stage I was informed that's been selected to represent Great Britain at the U23 World Road Race Championships in Innsbruck, Austria at the end of the month. For me, it's a huge privilege and a proud moment, genuinely, I had it written down as a goal when the race season started in March, but I thought it was a massive long shot. The team of 5 is super strong and I think we could roll a big result! It's nice to see the hard miles around Devon paying off.”
Max’s success post university is by no mean feat and is a testament to his hard work during his studies. Having made good use of the wealth of rolling Devon hills, roads and lanes that is on offer (not to mention Queen’s Drive and Stocker Road leading up to the Sports Park...) I’m sure we will be hearing more about this alumni in future competitions.
Tune into the World Road Race Championships from the 23rd to 30th September and keep an eye out for Max and his team.
Written by James Fleming
Sport Scholarship & Recruitment Officer
Date: 24 July 2018