Saturday
Saturday's racing kicked off at 1pm from South Brent with a 60 mile road race stage around a 10 mile rolling circuit. High winds and very heavy rain meant a gnarly race from the off. As expected, it all kicked off quite early with a strong NFTO team continually attacking the bunch until one rider got up the road.
He managed to build over a 2 minute lead with no one really working hard in the bunch to pull it back. The harsh condition began taking their toll with riders getting dropped from around 20 miles in, as well as a couple of big crashes.
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| photo: Falco Racing |
Sunday
Sunday morning began with slightly better weather (although still heavy showers and strong winds) and a 4 mile time trial climbing out of Kingsbridge. I was one of the last to go and departed at 10:12 and rode a solid stage to try and stay in the GC.
12:30 and the final 75 mile road race stage departed under neutralised conditions from Kingsbridge High Street and climbed up to the race circuit where NFTO immediately controlled the race tempo to protect their leader. Very early on an opptimistic junior rider made a lone break for it and pulled a gap of around 40 seconds to the bunch. Knowing this was never likely to succeed, considering the fire power within the bunch, I stayed calm and conserved energy.
A rider from BH-Solidor then bridged over to the breakaway rider and they maintained their gap to the bunch until the BH-Solidor rider attacked and began pulling out a lead. Ultimately this was doomed as both riders were caught by the bunch.
I knew the NFTO race leader was starting to struggle on the climbs so on the forth lap I decided to attack on the second climb and was joined by a group of around 8 riders. We worked pretty well together but never quite got enough distance to commit so the move failed.
Another lone breakaway followed with Scott Gurnett quickly getting clear by around 40 seconds. Going up the second climb for the last time a group of six of us pressed on to try and split the bunch catching the breakaway rider half way up the hill.
This was the final selection which stayed together to sprint it out for the finish where I came home in 5th place - pretty stoked with that!
All in all a very tough weekend of excellent racing in adverse weather conditions against some pro riders from top UK teams. Thanks to all concerned at Mid Devon CC for laying on a great event.