The Honda Racing family was out in force yesterday as a selection of its elite riders from various disciplines took part in an Assessment Day at the English Institute of Sport – the organisation behind much of Team GB’s outstanding success at the London 2012 Olympics.

The roll call included: Pata Honda World Superbike star Leon Haslam and World Supersport riders Lorenzo Zanetti and Michael van der Mark; Honda’s 2014 road racing squad of 20-time Isle of Man TT winner John McGuinness and his new team-mate Conor Cummins; the new World Endurance Championship line-up of Freddy Foray, Julien Da Costa and Sebastien Gimbert; Honda Motocross World Championship riders Evgeny Bobryshev and Max Nagl; Gariboldi Honda MX2 star Tim Gajser and last-but-not-least, 2013 Enduro World Champion Alex Salvini. 

The riders – who have eight world championship titles between them – took part in physio and isometric testing, strength and conditioning assessments and a fitness analysis, as well as a seminar on sleep patterns and jet lag in relation to sporting performance. The data collected from each rider will be collated and used to form the basis of their training and fitness programmes for the 2014 racing season.

“It’s great for us to welcome the Honda riders to the English Institute of Sport,” said EIS Director of Operations Richard Parker. “Everything we do here is about maximising the performance of athletes and today provides an opportunity for us to assess the riders and see how we can give them some programmes to improve their performance on the bike in the coming year.”

As the riders departed at the end of the day, they were in high spirits. “It has been great today as it’s always a pleasure to work with riders from other disciplines,” explains Honda’s new World Endurance signing Freddy Foray. “I am really looking forward to getting the results because I think it’s going to be really useful in training and racing next year. I know I have a few problems with my shoulder for example, and this will help me find out some more information about that and how I can deal with it going forward.”

“To be honest I lost a bit of sleep about coming here as it’s to be fair it’s not my kind of thing, but it’s actually been good fun,” said road racer John McGuinness. “I’ve learned quite a lot and in the end I’m happy that I’ve done it. I’m buzzing to have spent the day with all these top riders from MX, Enduro and SBK and to do a bit of bonding with my new team-mate Conor. I’ve got some areas that I can tidy up, as I’m sure we all have, and hopefully next time I’ll be a bit stronger and we can put it all to the test.”

For more information on the English Institute of Sport visit www.eis2win.co.uk