![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/MW5_4032-1.jpg\")
Image: Mathew Wells\/SWpix.com<\/p>\nAfter a decade at the heart of Britain\u2019s domestic peloton,\u00a0Primera\u2013TeamJobs\u00a0is calling time.<\/p>\n
For ten years, the Bournemouth-based outfit has been one of the sport\u2019s constants \u2013 a familiar splash of blue in National B races, a steady presence at the sharp end of the National Road Series, and a nurturing home for riders balancing racing ambition with real-world life. But as team manager\u00a0Jason Gault\u00a0tells\u00a0The British Continental, the time has come to stop pedalling uphill.<\/p>\n
The joy has begun to seep out of it, and when that\u2019s the main reason you do it, you have to ask yourself if it\u2019s still worth it<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just become hard work on a number of levels,\u201d Gault says. \u201cThe joy has begun to seep out of it, and when that\u2019s the main reason you do it, you have to ask yourself if it\u2019s still worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Primera\u2013TeamJobs grew from local roots. Shop owner\u00a0Bill Temple, the driving force behind Bournemouth\u2019s Primera Sports, had long sponsored a small club squad before Gault took the reins and helped turn it into a serious racing outfit. Over the next decade, the team evolved into a fixture of the national scene \u2014 part development pathway, part family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI speak to riders every year who join teams and they\u2019re just another number,\u201d Gault explains. \u201cThey don\u2019t spend a lot of time with their teammates. That was the one thing we always tried to do differently. We\u2019d have team rides, we would do a lot together and build the fabric.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Gault, that ethos helped Primera\u2013TeamJobs become a rare constant in an increasingly volatile landscape. Riders came and went \u2014 some progressing to bigger teams, others staying loyal \u2014 but the team\u2019s culture remained its hallmark.<\/p>\n
Image: Mathew Wells\/SWpix.com<\/p>\n
Still, even love has limits. Running a top-flight amateur team in Britain has never been easy, but Gault says the past few seasons had tested the resolve. What was once a hobby fuelled by enthusiasm had become a second job laden with admin, costs, and uncertainty, especially in today\u2019s challenging economic climate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need tens of thousands a year to do that,\u201d he says. \u201cOn top of the kit, on top of, you know, trying to convince a bike sponsor\u2026 it\u2019s not easy. But we just feel the reward versus the effort equation has just tipped for us. It\u2019s just too much worry. Can we afford it? Is it worth it?\u201d<\/p>\n
That worry took its toll. \u201cFor the time me, Bill and the other people put in, we just thought, you know what, we just don\u2019t think it\u2019s worth it anymore. And we want to kind of bow out in a good way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gault speaks with clear affection for the sport \u2014 but also frustration at how much it has changed.<\/p>\n
The scene, I do feel, is in distress at the moment and it\u2019s a shame really<\/p>\n
\u201cEven twelve years ago, when I first got involved, started racing the elite races and crits and everything else, it was a buzz,\u201d he says. \u201cThere was so much going on. There were more races than you could shake a stick at\u2026 and in that time period it\u2019s just a fraction of what it used to be and it just doesn\u2019t feel the same anymore. So I think from a rider\u2019s point of view, and as a manager, trying to get excited about a year ahead, it\u2019s, \u2018is that race going to actually run next year?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The decline of regular local racing has, he believes, eroded the sport\u2019s foundations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a number of very local races which, although they weren\u2019t big races on the calendar, they created a buzz locally,\u201d he says. \u201cThruxton was on every week throughout the summer, Goodwood, Mountbatten\u2026 they then drove a buzz, a local buzz to get more people on bikes. Now most of those races have just died a death.\u201d<\/p>\n
He sees it as part of a wider malaise.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe scene, I do feel, is in distress at the moment and it\u2019s a shame really. You\u2019re seeing a lot of cycle firms, teams closing. It\u2019s just been a story of good teams shutting shop, not that many great teams coming in. There\u2019s just a negative feel.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/OH_5003-2.jpg\")
Image: Olly Hassell\/SWpix.com<\/p>\n
While he stops short of blame, Gault believes British Cycling could do more to support those still keeping the domestic scene alive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think BC need to do something,\u201d he says. \u201cOrganisers have got a really tough job at the moment. Councils are not helping them. They\u2019ve got more and more hoops to jump through to actually organise a race in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n
The introduction of upfront entry fees, he argues, has only deepened the malaise. Riders reluctant to part with \u00a330 or \u00a340 weeks in advance hold off entering; organisers panic at the low numbers; races get cancelled; and the next time around, trust erodes further.<\/p>\n
Where BC changed the charging system to an upfront payment\u2026 the way that has unfolded, in my opinion, is riders are not putting entries in<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere BC changed the charging system to an upfront payment, I can understand why \u2014 put your money where your mouth is, kind of thing \u2014 I do get it. But unfortunately, the way that has unfolded, in my opinion, is riders are not putting entries in because they\u2019re going, \u2018I don\u2019t want to spend my thirty to forty, fifty quid or whatever now, I\u2019ll wait.\u2019 You end up in this vicious circle.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also recalls a moment this year that left him disheartened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had an internal misunderstanding over some race entries and I had two riders who were supposed to ride the Nationals. We missed the cut-off by half a day. I spoke to probably three people [at British Cycling] and they just didn\u2019t cut us any flexibility at all. I understand there needs to be a system, but when we\u2019re an elite team that we put together to support the national race scene and everything we do\u2026 just cut us that tiny bit of slack we needed. To see those two lads miss the Nationals was quite distressing for me and for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Gault, it\u2019s not about finger-pointing \u2014 it\u2019s about culture. \u201cSometimes you just need someone at BC to say,\u00a0we get it, we\u2019ll help you out,\u201d he says. \u201cInstead, it feels like you\u2019re talking to a wall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gault insists there\u2019s no bitterness \u2013 only realism. The team has enjoyed its time, he says, and made its mark. But with sponsors pulling back and the energy required to keep things afloat increasing, it feels like the right moment to draw the curtain.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve always been happy to put the hours in,\u201d Gault admits. \u201cBut the landscape\u2019s changed. The joy that used to fuel it has just faded. You get to a point where you ask: what are we doing all this for?\u201d<\/p>\n
He does, however, look back on the team with pride.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/MW5_3454-1.jpg\")
Image: Mathew Wells\/SWpix.com<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a good run with it,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019ve enjoyed what we\u2019ve done. We\u2019re very glad to have been a part of the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n
He measures the team\u2019s legacy not in results but in relationships.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a real pleasure to bring riders in and almost, to some degree, be a stepping stone for them \u2014 creating that discipline, that culture, helping them develop not just as riders but as people<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a real pleasure to bring riders in and almost, to some degree, be a stepping stone for them \u2014 creating that discipline, that culture, helping them develop not just as riders but as people,\u201d he says. \u201cSome of the younger riders, particularly seventeen-, eighteen-year-olds who joined the team and wouldn\u2019t say boo to a goose\u2026 seeing them just develop as people, build their confidence \u2014 I think that\u2019s the legacy we\u2019ve given to a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The confirmation of the team\u2019s loss, following so closely on the heels of SRCT\u2019s closure<\/a>, leaves the domestic road scene a little thinner and a little quieter \u2014 and serves as another reminder of how fragile the ecosystem of British racing has become.<\/p>\n Read our domestic team guide here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Portsdown-Classic-preview-and-startlist-550-x-550-px-1900-x-540-px-3.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n