The
first and to this date only UK team in the ronde de L'Isard was put together
especially for that race . The Liverpool cycle centre aware that this area
was great for training and racing decided to bring over a team after the
then president of the Ronde approached Nick Flanagan of the Auberge
de Cyclisme in Biert.
In September 1997 he asked Nick to try
to get a national team over for the race as they had never had any UK teams
.Several years previous to that there was a British rider named Rob Harris
who had impressed all who had seen him ride .
Nick tried the then Kodak North
Wirral Velo Club after a lack of interest by the BCF .Harry
Middleton tried to get the lads together but as an amateur team it was
impossible to all get the time away .
Nick had practically given up hope when
it came to February and he had a group over from Liverpool .One of
the group passed the message back to the cycle centre and the ball started
rolling .It was at such a late date very much of a challenge we gave them
7000Frs to help them and a team was built .This was the first step for
the Liverpool cycle centre towards their creation of a racing team .They
have had now a team for several years.