XXVI.FIVE / COLLECTIVE RIDER BLOG / EN FRANCE
Born in Racing. It's more than just a tagline. Young riders have to invest in racing at the highest level, pushing themselves and building both experience and confidence. Hadley headed to France this weekend for his first European UCI race of the season. Here's what he found...
"First UCI this weekend... we travelled super early on Friday morning and did a recce of the stage 2 TT course, in the evening - my first time on the TT bike so nice to have some time on it.
Stage 1 started at 2pm on Saturday, so it was nice to have an easy morning. When we started it was a mangeable pace for the first bit, I just tried to move up and avoid early crashes. As we hit the first climb, the pace spiked - I hung on and then moved back up, this happened again and again, it was relentless! I got spat a bit later on, up a climb, but plenty of people were in the same boat, so it just formed into groups. Towards the end, I attacked and moved up to another group, which was lucky now I think about it, as the other group finished outside the time cut. It was a mad experience and the pace was just another level from what I've experienced before!
Stage 2 was the TT, an early start for me and my first time racing on a TT bike - I basically just smashed round to ensure getting inside the time cut. It was actually quite good fun, but brutal as well, especially on the open flats.
Stage 3, the final 100 km road race was just as brutal. It was laps of a 20 km circuit, with an 18% gradient climb in it - I got spat from the lead group on lap 3, and didn't get back on, but again, it grouped up into bunches of around 20 riders so I found my group and we basically did a rapid chainy to the finish. I manged to drop my group in the sprint up the final climb, which I was fairly pleased with, as it felt like a little win for me!
No doubt my new Basso build helped me in climbing so well up such steep gradients - the bike was golden all weekend - thanks to ÆIGHT, made me feel pretty cheeky when passing the numerous people with mechanicals!
Overall it was such a great time with the team in and even outside of the racing, an unreal experience and buzzing for more this season now with some experience now in the bank."
Photos by Hadley Davis
2026.RIDERS – HADLEYDAVIS
Hadley races XCO, Road, Cyclocross and Track and has just completed his second Junior Cyclocross season. He’s a regular on a league podium and won the Regional Champs race at Herne Hill. He races on a custom Basso Astra, with AEIGHT DELUX wheels. He’s a TORQ Ambassador and he rides for VCL, who he’ll represent nationally, and internationally. “Overall,” Hadley says, “my main aim for this year is to continue having fun on two wheels.” You can find him on Instagram and Strava
GOT WHAT IT TAKES TO RACE WITH US?
We’re always looking for riders to be part of our ÆIGHT CØLLECTIVE. The #aeightbikeco is about doing things a little differently - Rather than a jersey being the common theme, we kit our riders out with bespoke steel bikes and handbuilt wheels made in our Sussex workshops, the ÆIGHT WHEELWØRKS and the ÆIGHT MANUFACTØRY. We then support each other at events and races regionally, nationally and internationally - whether that’s for mountain bike, ‘cross, gravel, crit, road or TT - it’s what we call, the #aeightbikeco
The best part is that we’re not asking you to leave your team or club - that includes racing in your club/team kit. We’ve got certain brands that we work with, mostly so we can standardise shared equipment, but your own sponsors and clubs are almost always welcome. We have some strict qualifying criteria but don’t be put off by this – if you’re interested in being part of the #aeightbikeco then please get in touch by emailing your racing CV to eightbikeco@gmail.com
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