Jon Mould continued his dominance of the Pearl Izumi Tour Series in Croydon on Tuesday night by securing another nail-biting win.
The Team JLT Condor rider and British Cycling Olympic Academy Programme member, now has a record-breaking tally of 11 wins in the Series, with his six wins in 2016 the most in a single season.
A Croydon crowd enjoyed a new track layout and turned out in full force to witness a spectacular finish to the penultimate stage of the series which concludes in Portsmouth today.
Mould, 25, of Newport in Wales, again won a sprint finish despite rivals hoping a daunting new track layout in difficult weather and light conditions might help level the stakes.
FAST FINISHER: Jon Mould claims another sprint victory
“It’s always interesting turning up to a new course, everyone’s on the same field, no one knows what’s going to happen or how it’s going to go,” said Mould.
“I was struggling with glasses choice there, if it’s a nice day you put your sunglasses on and by the time it finishes you can’t see anything.
“After an hour though you know all the corners, where all the potholes are so you don’t need to see.”
Mould was joined on the podium by Tom Stewart of Madison Genesis and Johnny McEvoy of NFTO, with Sebastian Mora of Team Raleigh GAC taking the point’s victory and JLT Condor’s Graham Briggs winning fastest lap.
FOLLOW THE LEADER: A breakaway group heads the field during the race
With records left in his wake and the mentorship of teammate and Olympic gold medallist Ed Clancy, the future looks incredibly bright for Mould, but the Brit is refusing to get distracted from this season.
“Portsmouth is next, then a bit of waiting then a lot of national road series, making sure we qualify for the Tour of Britain at the end of the year,” he said.
“I’m taking every night as it comes. You get stuck into every race and move on from there.”
A revised track layout saw the middle section of the course loop back next to a start finish straight packed full of spectators in what Mayor Wayne Trakas-Lawor described as a lot of fun.
The excitement grew even further as the lead group bunched together for the final lap, and Mould once again took victory on the line, which has started to become a regular occurrence.
NEW ROUTE: Spectators lined the main straight to watch the cyclists in action
Despite a victory margin of just four hundredths of a second, Mould said: “I’m used to it, it’s a good bit of fun.”
Madison Genesis took the team victory on the night reducing the point deficit to leaders JLT Condor, who only finished fourth, to just seven before the final round in Portsmouth.
Rory Townsend of Pedal Heaven leads the points classification, followed by JLT Condor’s Chris Lawless and Mould in second and third.
The women’s Matrix Fitness GP Series preceded the men’s event and saw an individual victory for Grace Garner of Podium Ambition in another sprint finish, and a team win for overall leaders Drops Cycling.
The final round also takes place in Portsmouth tonight.
All pictures taken by Connor Andrews
