Harrison Woods heads into a new era with a Tour of the Algarve

Torbay’s pro cyclist Harrison Wood is poised to lead his new team Feirense-Beeceler into the first big race of the season in Portugal this weekend.

Wood is hoping to put a winter’s training in depressingly wet UK weather behind him in Saturday’s Figueira Champions Classic.

It will be his first outing for Feirense after his close-season move from Portuguese rivals Anicolor/Campicarn CT.

“I’m excited to get racing again, and for the first time for the team,” said former Mid-Devon CC graduate Wood, 25.

“When I went over there last month, everything was in place and I was impressed how professional it was.

“Feirense may not look as big as Anicolor, but they are not a team that makes much noise.

“They have been around a long time, the atmosphere around the squad was good, their facilities are excellent, as they are attached to the Feirense (First Division) football team, and all the riders seemed to be at a good level.”

The weather in Portugal hasn’t been much better than ours – a planned curtain-raising race was cancelled there last weekend – but conditions are the last worry for Wood after months of training in the wind and rain here.

“It’s been terrible weather for riding, although it hasn’t been cold,” he said.

“I’ve done a solid winter, with a lot of gym work and more ‘top-end’ stuff on power efforts and sprinting.

“Explosiveness seems to be the key to climbing these days, rather than sustained efforts at one pace, so I’ve been working on that.

“It’s gone well and I feel good.”

The 120-mile Figueira Classic will be followed by the five-day Tour of the Algarve, starting on February 18, and both will be severe early-season tests.

Wood and Feirense will be up against six WorldTour teams, plus his former squads Anicolor and French Team Cofidis, who were relegated from the WorldTour for the first time last year.

Ex-MDCC junior George Watch (Team PB Performance) finished an encouraging eighth in Hampshire’s Portsdown Classic, the first race of the UK road season.

Meryn Kitching and Bayley Woodger just missed out on podiums at the Bath & Swindon Winter Circuit Series.

And James Allen, fresh from winning the SW Cyclo-Cross League, was an impressive winner of the Youth category at the Soggy Bottom CX Series in Plymouth.

MDCC results: Soggy Bottom CX Series R2 (Newnham Park) Youth – 1 James Allen; Vet50 – 5 Andy Taylor; U12 – 4 Caspian Wikeley, 6 Caue Bruzzone, 7 Risu Wikeley, 13 Jensen Scott; Bath & Swindon Winter Circuit Series R2 3/4th Cat – 4 Meryn Kitching; E123 Cat – 6 Bayley Woodger.