NEW SPORTSCOVER PLANET X TEAM

The elder statesmen of British cycling are to ride together again in 2007 and will take one last shot at the UK?s big races. John Tanner, Mark Lovatt and Wayne Randle will ride for Sportscover Planet X next year along with newcomer Ashley Brown.

After a quiet year for Lovatt and Tanner, the pair have come out of semi-retirement after Brown arranged sponsorship from bike manufacturer Planet X and Australian sports insurance firm Sportscover, ?they sponsored the Commonwealth Classic in Australia, and they were quite keen to get involved with cycling in Britain,? Brown said.

Brown only started racing in 2005 following a career in rugby league that saw him play for Castleford and Hunslett, "I work at a gym as a personal trainer and started training with someone who was in to triathlons so I started to go out on the bike with him,? Brown said. ?That's how I got in to cycling.?

2006 was Brown?s first full year of cycling in which he rode the FDB Insurance RAS and the Premier Calendars. After meeting Tanner and Randle, and joining them for training, talk came around to forming a team for 2007.

"We'll get together in January as a team and work out the calendar for next year, Brown said. ?It's likely to start with the Bikeline 2 Day, Tour of the Reservoir and Girvan. Sportscover wanted to do something in Ireland as well, so we will probably do the RAS-Tour of Ireland."