Our Team

Antony Stapleton 

 

Known to some as ‘Mr Mallorca’, Antony has been guiding, either on a personal or a professional level on the island since 2004.  It all started with a club group of four, that became eight, that became 18, and ended up ten years later as a group of 48!  That was followed by guiding for various organisations on the island, along with some private guiding, for the next ten years.  An extensive knowledge of the island's lanes, hills and villages ensures a smooth, safe passage through paradise.

 

Being a qualified bike mechanic is a further skill set, which proves invaluable when looking after clients on the island.  With 20 or so bikes being prepared for the days riding, something is bound to crop up, you can be sure.  

 

For Spring 2024 we see the re-emergence of Total Velo Cycling Holidays as a solo entity, with Antony bringing together his trusted team, to give clients an unforgettable cycling holiday, or indeed, training camp.

 

A reasonable roadman, time triallist and general Rouleur in years gone by, Antony still tends to manage our faster groups, particularly on the big mileage days.  Noone can cheat the effects of time though, and if it’s a super-fast day with numerous mountain summits being ticked off that’s required by our clients, then it’s time to hand over to... 

 

Duncan Gilbert 

 

Duncan is our specialist climber who prepares fastidiously for his ‘tours of duty’ in paradise.  Fast on the flat, safe on the descents but deadly on the climbs, Duncan is a rider in the modern ilk, who likes to ride hard but he has the ability to be always looking out for his group.  An established road rider, a capable time triallist on sporting courses, Duncan’s racing enthusiasm has been tempered slightly by his love of riding in Mallorca, and in recent seasons, his annual highlights have centred around heavy-duty climbing weeks on Mallorca, and in the Dolomites.  If it’s mountain summits and ticking off brown altitude signs you're after, this Duncan's wheel, is the wheel to follow. 

 

The ‘Dennett Double Act’ 

 

Ben & Karen have been riding and guiding on Mallorca for over twenty years.  They have smoothly guided clients out of Arenal, Cala Millor, Puerto Pollensa and of course, Alcudia in recent years.  Leading rides at between 24 km/h (15mph) and 28 km/h (17mph) is their forte, using the very best roads on the island. Ben has an intricate knowledge of not only the lanes of Mallorca, but also the uber complex medieval village and town centres.  In fact, Ben is one of very few living guides to successfully navigate the ‘ring of death’, that is to get right across the old quarter of Felanitx, without going wrong or getting lost!  Joking aside this popular couple have a band of followers that only want to ride with them on Mallorca, year after year. 

 

Les Pick  

 

Les is a new member of our team for 2024, another long-term rider who is a former British TT national medallist, and has been cycling since he was 15.  He has many years of group leading experience, both in the UK and Mallorca. He currently mixes up his cycling and is equally focused on gravel, MTB and road, as well as racing tandem in local TT’s.  Often seen at or near the front of the peloton, ether leading a ride, or especially on the race to the bar!

 

Dawn Riley 

 

Dawn represents the face of modern cycling and has been riding in Mallorca since 2017.  When it became clear that, she knew the roads of Mallorca better than some of the Islands' existing Garmin gazing guides, and combined with her experience of leading groups at home for her club VC Norwich, it was apparent her destiny lay as a professional guide.  With her cycle experience as a youth spent riding fixed wheel around Huddersfield, Dawn knows all about going uphill!  Dawn will be looking after our 24 km/h (15mph) groups throughout April, and will be in our faster groups training in March.  In addition to this, Dawn handles much of the backroom tasks admirably for Total Velo, looking after both IT and communications.  

 

Mary Bower 

 

A fiercely competitive time triallist at National level over three seasons from 2013 onwards, Mary has been riding on the island since 2011, initially training hard for competition and in recent years riding for pleasure. An expert in ride management Mary, is now not quite so fierce, and is happy to move a little slower and can be found at the helm of any group be it at 24, 26, 28 or 30 km/h. 

 

Andrew Wild

 

This experienced, stylish and powerful rider is one of our most ardent supporters and his guidance was instrumental in the creation of TVCH. He actually booked on this spring as a guest but with our burgeoning numbers Andrew Wild kindly agreed to ‘cross the floor’ and will be guiding, alongside Antony for our 17-19 mph riders.  Andrew has spent over 60 days riding on Mallorca over the past two years alone, therefore he knows where he’s going.  Andrew is of course, an experienced ride manager for his Harrogate club, "the Cappuccino’s".

 

Steve Pennock  

 

Mentor, multi skilled designer, sounding board, business adviser and IT consultant; Steve has been instrumental in the re-emergence of Total Velo, not least as the designer of our website, and amazing kit!  We are indebted to him for his help and professional guidance.  Steve will be making various cameo appearances in the riding groups on the island across the season, he’ll be the one decked-out completely top to toe in Total Velo kit.