The Armed Forces Cycling Classic is on this weekend in Arlington. Matt Bostock of Ribble Rebellion Cycling team took a few minutes to share some thoughts on what makes this race event special.
Listen Live to the race action this weekend – streaming here:
1. Please introduce yourself and give us a little back ground on you and your team.
Hi, I’m Matt Bostock and I race as part of the Ribble Rebellion race team. I’ve been racing bikes since I was about 5 years old, starting out with weekly races on the Isle of Man run by Manx legend Dot Tilbury.
Since then I’ve raced road and track for GB, ridden at continental level in the UK for a number of years having a lot of success in the UK crits and most recently ridden professionally for Bolton Equities Black Spoke on the road in 2023.This year brought me to the newly set up criterium team – Ribble Rebellion.
We have 9 guys, hand picked towards the end of 2023 to give us the best chance of success. The team is all about racing crits between the UK and the USA, winning races, showing off our Ribble’s with the mad paint job and of course having fun along the way.
I’ve loved being a part of the team so far and we’ve already had more success than we could have hoped for.
2. What’s your history with this race and what do you think makes this race unique from other races?
It’s our first time at this race, but I’ve heard great things and from what I can see it’s 2 days, 2 quite different courses and 2 different types of riders could do well. The second day seems a lot more challenging and so far this year that seems to be suiting us the best as a team. The heat will play a part so riding smart will be key to success on both days. The pictures look like a real party and it seems really well supported by sponsors, teams and locals so I’m looking forward to experiencing the atmosphere.
I’m looking forward to making memories this year and am really just excited to experience the atmosphere as it looks electric!
3. Goals for this weekend – what do you and the team hope to achieve?
We’re coming to win no question, and hopefully day 2 will suit us the best as a squad. To be honest we’re still figuring out how best to ride as a team and what type of courses suit us down to the ground. It seems we’ve had our best success the more difficult the course has been so hopefully this race is no different. We have a lot of cards to play so fingers crossed.
4. What would you say to riders and fans who haven’t seen this race before?
I’d say just tune in and take a look. Criteriums are always exciting and this will certainly be no different. We’ve really been animating the racing so far this year so if you want to watch an exciting race with aggressive tactics RIbble are the team to support.
The 2024 Armed Forces Cycling Classic, proudly brought to you by The Boeing Company, will take place on Saturday and Sunday, June 1 & 2. The Armed Forces Cycling Classic is the region’s premier cycling event, open to cycling enthusiasts of all abilities. Racing will feature the Nation’s top Pro men and women. Listen Live to the AFCC from Arlington, Virginia, Saturday and Sunday, June 1/2. The broadcast will go live Saturday at 11:00am EST time, and Sunday at 9:45am EST.
Tune into the BlueHalo Listen Live Studio to catch all of the insights and action of this year’s Armed Forces Cycling Classic presented by The Boeing Company from the course-side Audio Broadcast.
See more info: https://cyclingclassic.org/radio
Listen Live to the race action this weekend – streaming here:
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