A CYCLIST who works part time in The Missing Link bike shop in Droitwich will be vying for glory in the Tour Series which kicks off on Tuesday in Redditch (May 9).
Beth Crumpton, who made her name in cross country mountain biking, will be riding for Storey RT – the team run by multiple paralympic gold medallist Dame Sarah Storey.
Beth, who lives in Redditch and studies sports business management at the University of Worcester, will arrive at the start-line after surviving a a ‘brutal’ Women’s Tour de Yorkshire last Saturday (April 30).
She said: “It is a great feeling racing the Tour Series, I’m always excited and nervous at the same time to race it, it’s frantic racing and the atmosphere that comes along with it is unlike any other racing we get in the UK, everyone is excited to watch it and be a part of it.”
She added, racing up and down the country and across Europe, often meant she did not get chance to race in front of her nearest and dearest.
“It’s great because it gives my family and friends the opportunity to come and watch me race because it is in town and at home for them, it’ll be the one time of the year they get the chance too and it’s amazing for them to come watch me do what I most enjoy and race my bike.”
And she said it was ‘inspirational’ to have Dame Sarah as a role model and friend.
Beth, now 22, is a former Junior and Under 23 British Cross Country Mountain Bike champion and won bronze in the UK Cyclo Cross championship at elite level.
She switched from mountain biking, which involved a lot of expensive travelling to continental venues, to road racing in the summer and cyclo cross in the winter.
Mark Bonnes, who owns The Missing Link in Droitwich, said: “She has achieved great things so far and hopefully she will do well in Redditch on Tuesday.
“It’s a shame that, given what she has achieved, she hasn’t been given more recognition.
“Hopefully now she has switched from mountain biking to road racing – which is much more of a spectator sport – that will happen.”
The free to watch Tour Series kicks off in Redditch on Tuesday and will be televised on ITV4 with pictures beamed across the world.
