With last week’s stage race a complete wash out, most of the
UK’s stage race enthusiast were all looking forward to making up for the
cancellation of the 2nd day of the Totnes 2 Day by racing the Nigel
Meason 2 Day over in Leicestershire. Again RPC were there with the same riders
as last week which included me (Dan Bill), Tony Kiss, Mike Kiss and Adrian
Bird. Joe Page is still out of action due to his thumb but he will be back on
the bike very soon by the looks of things.
As the race wasn’t too far away, we all decided it would be
cheaper and easier to just drive down in the morning. Unfortunately the drive
to the HQ wasn’t quite as simple as usual due to the Postcode being wrong on
the start sheet! After much faffing around we all got to the HQ safe and sound
and ready for action. The race was categorised a regional A with E/1/2/3
Licences holders eligible to race. The start sheet looked packed with some
pretty handy riders including herbal life and there GC rider, Tom Bustard who
was fresh from his overall win in last week’s Totnes 2 day, “cough” one day “cough”!!
Planer X were also out in force with a big squat, NFTO were riding with a full team
as were Spin Rotor with various other well
drill teams and some very handy individual riders. The format of the race was a typical British 2
day stage race; A Morning Prologue of 2.7 and an afternoon Road Race of 63.2
miles on the Saturday and then a 73 mile Road Race on the Sunday. The weather forecast
was looking descent so everyone was up for a good weekend of racing.
Prologue.
I have to say, Prologues really aren’t my thing. I’m full of
slow twitch muscle fibres and don’t have any short distance punch so I always
suffer big time in very short TT’s like this one. However, if we’re going to be targeting
stages races then I need to get used to them. I was first off at 35 minutes
past 10, then Adrian at 36 minutes, Tony at 37 and finally Mike at 78. Mike was
so far back because the organiser messed up and didn’t have him on the start
sheet so he ended up as reserve. My plan for the Prologue was to pace it from
my Power meter so as not to repeat last week’s episode where I blew up after
about 45 seconds. I know that I can hold around 315 watts for 6-7 minutes so
aimed for this figure. After holding the power well and gritting my teeth I
soon came round the final bend where I spotted the finish flag, I was pretty bummed
because I thought it was further than it was and if I had known then I would
have begun winding up sooner but as it was I had to put in a quick final spurt
and finished in a respectable 7.17 and put out 20 watts more than last week.
Adrian did another great ride and put in a 7.01, Tony proved
he is the best at this sort of thing and pulled out a 6.54 finishing in 11th with his taped up
helmet and 100mm deep rear wheel even though he had been suffering all week
with a cold and not feeling to great, Mike who was off much later managed a
7.12 which meant that we were all in the same ball park as most of the others.
The winner of the Prorogue, Jamie Shirlaw of Herballife-Leisure Lakes Bikes managed a blistering
time of 6.30 to take the stage and the overall on GC.
Stage 2
After a few hours of chilling in HQ after the prologue the
road stage was soon up on us as was the rain!! Black clouds had been rolling in
as we were waiting for 2 o clock and just as we had started getting ready the
heavens opened. Every one dashed to get there jackets and take to the start.
The winds were howling which made for some grovelling cross wind sections over
the open plains. The race was 9 laps of a 7.2 mile flat circuit with not too
much technical stuff to worry about. The race went off fast as expected with
riders trying to break away ASAP. On the 3rd lap a break went away initiated
by the breakaway master, David Starkey of Fred Williams Cycles who is always up
for suffering away in an early long break in order to make everyone suffer even
more. This break went clear and it wasn’t until about 5 to go where the bunch
split and a big break of around 15 got away, Adrian managed to get in this move
so after realising that it was pointless trying to shut it down we decided to
not chase and hop Adrian could do something on his own. Back in the bunch I
tried to make a solo break with about 2 laps to go, I was out on my own for a
few miles but was brought back and as I was I attached again with a Derby
Mercury Rider and managed to get a gap. We drilled it with through and off
before being joined by 5 other including Mike who had made it out of the bunch
too. After a few miles of disorganisation we finally managed to get in to a
smooth rhythm and began to put big time in to the bunch.
Up ahead, the 15 man break had caught most of the original
break apart from a couple who stayed clear and ultimately went on to contest
the win. Adrian came in with his bunch just over a minute down on the leaders
and me and Mike came in around 2 minutes later with the bunch coming a few more
minutes after us. I personally found the race hard work due to being battered
by the winds and having to make a break after being out solo on my own for a
while, my feet were cramping up as I came across the line. With day one over,
Adrian was our man on GC lying in 28th overall, Mike was sitting in
32nd, me in 38th and tony a few places further back.
Looks like we would be riding for Adrian on the following day’s road stage. The winner of the road stage was another Herablife-Leisure Lakes rider, Tom Bustard who was clearly still in good form from the previous weekend.
Day 2
Stage 2
A new day and a new HQ only this time we had the right
postcode! The weather was looking glorious which was a good job because we had
a hard 73 miles of racing on tired legs ahead of us. The stage was again 9 laps
of a circuit only this time it was more up and down with nasty looking exposed
drags which I knew would begin to hurt as the race went on. The race went out
pretty fast like yesterday race with a few riders trying to make an early
break, the big surprise was that the yellow jersey was making most of the
moves. At one point he was out on his own just dangling out on his lonesome and
then when he got brought back he would attack again and then try to go with
other moves. Not what you would typically see form the leader of a stage race.
With 5 laps to go we got the word from Adrian that he would
be looking to attached in around a lap or two, this is where the race got fun
and we really felt like a team for the first time this year. With the order
given from our captain, we rallied round our leader in order to protect him
from the wind and aid him to safely move up through the bunch towards the
front. As there was still a break out front, we thought I best that we wait
until it was brought back before the rocket was launched. With 2 laps to go and
the bunch approaching the slow uphill drag, Adrian seized his opportunity and
attacked taking one rider with him, they soon formed a gap and were away.
Myself, Tony and Mike then set about slowing the bunch and disrupting any
chase, I was beginning to feel drained as I had been with each successive lap
and at one point after chasing down an attack on a sharp rise, my legs just
gave up and I began to go backwards pretty quick, thankfully a helping hand
from David Starkey helped me back up to speed which was much appreciated. This
is why it’s good to have friends not foe in the bunch!
Adrian was gaining time all the time as they came up to one
lap to go, soon however, as the bunch slowed up, a Planet X rider went hard off the front
taking 5 strong riders with him. No one had the legs to go with it and soon
this was also up the road and gone. The Herbal Life boys took up the chase in
order to protect the yellow jersey lead but they were just as tires as everyone
else. We could see the break up the road and we could also see that Adrian had
been caught by the other 5 which now made the lead group 7 as the came in to
the final bend. The however had kicked up the pace in the run up to the finish
and were closing the gap on the break but didn’t catch them before the line.
Adrian managed 7th and took some more time out of the riders ahead
of him on GC. the stage was won by Steve Golla of High-Wycombe Cycling Club.
Myself and Tony were up for a good sprint and we both found
good positions on the narrow roads. I was just behind tony as the sprint went
and we both went cruising through other riders as we came to the line, I was
carrying so much speed that I had to break before the line to stop myself
ramming tony in front of me who was also blocked by the front line of riders. Just
a shame that the roads weren’t slightly wider otherwise Tony might have won the
bunch sprint! In the end he he just scraped top 15 finishing in 4th with me 2 places further back
One thing I can confirm is that this weekend proved a real
stepping stone for our team, this is the best we have ridden as a squad and the
team’s best placing in a stage race which bodes well as we continue our preparations
for the every looming Ras de Cumru which is due to take place in the last week
of June.
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