How hard is it to win a bike race? In the summer of 2021 GCN+ decided to find out by putting together seven strong local cyclists to train and race as a team under the leadership of EF Education-NIPPO sports director; Tom Southam. Can ‘Worldtour’ Tom whip these ‘Cat Four’ riders into a race-winning machine? And how well can they work together, knowing there’s a selection process for the final road race that will leave two riders left out of the team? In part one, we meet our riders, and Tom puts them through their paces with a tough training ride that includes a sprints competition and a hill climb race. They then line up for an individual time trial to further prove their abilities – but what will our sports director make of his new charges?