Cycling Time Trials restores Evans and Drake’s hill-climb medals

Cycling Time Trials has withdrawn the disqualifications of Dan Evans and Giles Drake, reinstated their British National Hill-Climb results and returned their open team medals, Cycling Weekly said. The riders had been asked to return their medals after the body found they had changed teams too often.

Evans finished seventh and Drake 10th at Porlock Toll Road in Somerset. They and their ASSOS UK Race Team teammate Ed Laverack originally won the open team prize. Laverack remains the individual open national champion: he set the fastest senior time, and his result was not affected by the disqualifications.

Cycling Weekly’s November report described the prize as based on cumulative finishing places, while its October report said it was calculated from the combined times of each team’s three best riders.

After Evans and Drake were disqualified, the team title was awarded to Schils-Doltcini RT riders Paddy Clark, Eugene Cross and Carl Jolly.

The appeal panel’s reasoning

Cycling Time Trials initially said Regulation 8 prohibits riders from changing clubs or teams more than once in a calendar year. Evans moved from ASSOS to Black Catt CC in February and returned to ASSOS seven months later. Drake moved from Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli to Port Sunlight Wheelers in July, then to ASSOS in October.

The appeal panel heard the case on 10 November and reversed the ruling by a majority. Directors Sue Bowler and Alexander Royle and Yorkshire district secretary Steve Burrows sat on the panel. It found that the riders had not acted dishonestly or intended to gain financially.

The appeal statement said the riders’ previous club was not affiliated when they entered their first event of the year, so their later move to ASSOS counted as their first change that calendar year. Evans said ASSOS had not been affiliated at the start of the year, so he entered events through his local club before returning.

Evans said disqualification had been a disproportionate first response, but praised the body for reversing its decision. His overriding feeling, he said, was relief.