BOURNEMOUTH professional Daniel Lloyd (Garmin-Cervello) told a packed audience about life on the road in the world’s greatest bike race, The Tour de France.

Lloyd also spoke of his experiences on the Tour of Italy and the prospect of riding the spring classics in Belgium with team-mate and new world road race champion Thor Hushovd of Norway. The fund-raising event was organized by Alan Mcrae, the driving force behind the new cycling track currently under construction at Slade’s Farm.

The 250-metre Olympic sized community track, part funded by British Cycling, Sport England and Bournemouth Borough Council, is the first outdoor track to be built in the UK since 1962.

The Cycling Centre is on course to open in April 2011 and Mcrae is hoping to raise in the region of £26,000 to purchase equipment.

<•>Rob Jeffries (Poole Wheelers) was in sparkling form on the Calshot track, winning the distance race, the senior scratch race, the unknown distance and the senior sprint.

The first round of the Calshot Winter League proved a successful day out for the Poole club, with Jeffries’s team-mates Ryan Weston, Daryl Price and Gordon Skillen all taking victories.

Jubilee youngster James Bonney won the youth points race.

<•>More than 140 riders turned out for the Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers 50-mile reliability trial, with Steve Groome (BJW) the first to arrive back at the HQ. This Sunday, the Bournemouth Arrow club will run its 60-mile event, the Win Green Classic.

Sign-on is at Merley Community Centre from 8.30am.