Verenti Dragon Ride 2010 is a fiery success story.

[veloriders]

After what looked like the possibility of heavy rain at the 2010 Verenti Dragon Ride, the weather gods relented and the sun broke through to bathe the event in sunshine from start to finish on Sunday. Former winner of Paris-Roubaix Magnus Backstedt and his Team Sprocket riders added some professional glamour as did former World Keirin and BMX Champion Jamie Staff who brought along his BMX Academy, but once again the real stars of the event were the public who rode in their thousands over the three course lengths of 190km, 130km and the new 40km „corto‟ route.
The fastest time of the day over the 190km Grand Fondo course was set by Team Wiggle professional rider Ben Simmons with a stunning time of 5.40‟40”. He was followed in by a group of four riders led by Taylor Johnstone at 5.45‟45” and all separated by a mere two seconds. The best junior rider of the day was South Londoner Germain Burton with a fabulous 5.45‟47”!
“We have had a terrific event this year, I believe this has been the best yet in the history of the Dragon. All our supporters and sponsors have done a really wonderful job and we couldn‟t have asked for more from the public, their fighting spirit is inspirational,” com-mented organiser Lou Lusardi of BreakAway Cycling, “our partnership with Verenti has taken this event to a new level and we have great plans for the future.”
Also spotted toiling on what is one of the hardest but most rewarding of sportives in the UK were, Sky News Presenter Dermot Murnaghan, Cycleport.org roving reporter Howie Johnson and Cycling Weekly staffers Lionel Birnie and Simon Richardson.
Once again the Verenti Dragon Ride had its fair share of characters with at least one uni-cyclist entering and an almost as brave entrant riding fixed wheel, neither an easy pros-pect descending the Bwlch and the Rhigos Pass!
Work will begin on the 2011 Verenti Dragon Ride almost immediately, with further expan-sion of the start/finish village and some new and exciting additions to this well loved chal-lenge ride.
www.verentidragonride.com
ENDS
Media Release
7th June 2010
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www.veloriders.co.uk