For an amateur club like Foran CT, winning a round of the National Road Series – the UK’s flagship racing calendar – can stand as the holy grail. Now it’s a reality, thanks to Danylo Riwnyj’s inspired solo victory at the Tour of the Reservoir.
The 27-year-old basked in a wind-afflicted race on Sunday afternoon, attacking on the last of three laps, with 14km to go, to take a momentous victory for his team.
“Everyone was ecstatic,” Riwnyj said of the aftermath. “The team owner, Tom Quaid, was just over the moon. Last year, the whole plan for the team was to try to win at least one. We kept sending team after team to these races, and just couldn’t get the result.
“This year, we went to Lincoln GP and it was a really close one [Foran’s Oliver Hucks finished 9th, 21 seconds down]. This is definitely the team’s best result in the UK.”
Founded in 2018 in south-west London, Foran is a fully amateur project, sponsored by its namesake construction company that also lends vans, used mid-week on building sites, to the squad to travel to races.
“The idea of the team was just to have fun with a group of lads that were all local to each other,” Riwnyj said. “The results are showing that we’re actually capable of a bit more than just turning up to races. Now we’re in the front, and winning them as well.”
At the Tour of the Reservoir on Sunday, Riwnyj led a four-rider move on the final lap. The race, to that point, had been characterised by “chaotic attacks”, which the Foran rider followed closely, before breaking free to win by 54 seconds.
“It was in my favour towards the end because the final 8km was a tailwind,” he said. “I just used that to my advantage and rode away from them.”
(Image credit: Olly Hassell/SWpix)
There have been no British men’s UCI Continental teams in the National Road Series since the collapse of Saint Piran at the end of 2024. The circuit is today made up of lower-level elite development teams and amateur clubs like Foran, a field that Riwnyj feels has intensified the racing.
“There’s so much good talent in the UK scene, so many individuals, and it makes it more exciting because there’s so much fire in it,” he said. “In a way, it’s harder [without Continental teams]: the lack of control makes the racing a lot more attritional. It’s definitely survival of the fittest.”
Born in London with Ukrainian roots, Riwnyj began cycling during Covid, around four years ago. He now balances racing with a part-time job as a sales advisor at Sigma Sports, and this year also won the Wally Gimber Trophy and five-stage Rás Mumhan in Ireland. “I’d say the harder the race, the better it is for me,” he said.
The Foran rider’s next goal will be the British Road Championships, scheduled for 28 June in Ceredigion, Wales. Last year, Riwnyj finished 18th, as one of only two amateur club cyclists in a WorldTour-stacked top-20.
“I want to come back and prove that it wasn’t just a miracle last year, maybe do one even better,” he said. “Nationals is always the biggest calendar date for us amateurs.”
Another holy grail, perhaps, might not be so far away.
