Newton gears up for track finals

Cycling

OLDHAM cycling ace Chris Newton returned from South Africa after a successful couple of stage races, and is now busy preparing for the World Track Championships in Poland later this month.

After riding the four-day Boland Tour the previous week, Newton clocked up the miles in the Giro del Capo, which was a series of four races covering more than 500 kilometres in four days.

Originally planned to be a stage race, the event was changed to four single day races at the last minute, and Newton said: “It was good to get the miles in and it turned out to be a good training session.”

With around 76 riders competing, Newton was 31st in the opening race which covered 106 kilometres. Team-mate on the Rapha Condor team Kristian House was eighth and Simon Richardson ninth.

The following day Newton was 18th at the end of the 143-kilometre second race with colleague Tom Southam fifth, and Newton was 66th and 32nd in the third and fourth races, where he clocked up another 281 kilometres.

Now back at a track camp in Manchester, Newton is preparing for the World Championships from March 25-29 at Pruszkow in Poland.