10:30 am on Sunday 27th April saw me and another 79 riders depart out of Uffculme for the start of the Tom Hawkins Classic Road Race. The start was neutralised for the first 15 minutes as we headed over to the race circuit.
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| photo: Ann Owens |
Once underway the pace was fairly leisurely at the start with a few attacks coming to nothing until Scott Gurnett soloed of the front. On the next lap a few riders bridged across and maintained a gap of around a minute and a half to the main group.
I knew it was going to be a fairly long race and with several strong riders amongst the main group I was quite happy to sit tight and see how it unfolded.
Things stayed fairly constant for the next few laps with the breakaway maintaining the gap until I put in a big effort on the second to last time up the main climb to begin to split the bunch and form a select group.
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| photo: Ann Owens |
As a result a strong group of around six riders began working well together and we caught the break just before the final climb. I pushed the pace up with the ride-24-7 rider and we begin shelling the members of the original breakaway out the back door until only one of the riders remained.
We kept working well together and pressed on to keep ahead of the main bunch before the seven of us sprinted out the finish.
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| photo: Ann Owens |
In the end I came in in 6th so pretty happy with that considering the distance of the finish line from the main climb.
Thanks to Exeter Wheelers for hosting a really great race and to Ann Owens for the photos!
