Vaudin eyes return to Guernsey team

It is an ambition shared by many, and although Commonwealth Games men James Roe and Mike Serafin remain the riders to beat, the returning youngster is holding his own.

Vaudin managed to stick on Roe and Serafin for half of yesterday’s Winter Mountain Bike Cross-Country Series round at La Pomare, and though he soon tired, he still finished third by a very comfortable margin.

‘It was 30 minutes and zero seconds, literally dead on, and I was just like “Nah, I’ve had enough” and rode the rest of the race by myself,’ he said.

‘I’m really happy with that and today was quite good as far as I go with racing – I’m not training that much because it’s winter, eh?’

For a rider who competed at Gotland 2017 but subsequently lost interest and only returned fully last year, this latest result continues a promising return to form.

He has added valuable competitive depth to events like the Mountain Bike Tour of Guernsey and even picked up a couple welcome wins during the summer series.

‘For the future, I want to go to the next Island Games,’ he added.

‘The main aim is to do that.’

A winning Roe covered his 11 laps in 1hr 5min. 31sec., having sped up on the sixth to drop Serafin, who later suffered a puncture and came in just under 2min. behind on a bike kindly donated by Velo Club stalwart Gary Wallbridge.

Vaudin closed in 1-07-51 as the highly-established Andy Colver and Matt Osborn filled the next two positions.

Under-16s Chay Kennedy-Cook and Dan Clark both made the top 10, and together with Thierry Le Cheminant pushing the leaders before dropping back slightly and later crashing, it shows that the sport’s old guard cannot afford to be complacent.

Teenager Kylie Vaudin overcame bike issues on the first lap to take top woman and place 13th overall.

Vaudin covered her nine laps in 1-06-07, over 5min. clear of runner-up Nor Holden. From a lap down came the improving Jamy Petit and Island Games woman Maddie Wilson, who is returning after time out.