STEPHENS SNAPS UP NORTHUMBERLAND TOUR
250km Premier Calendar

Sigma sport's Matt Stephens won the Grainger Trust PLC Northumberland Tour after a tough weekend of racing in the North-East. For Stephens, it was another excellent ride to follow up his ceditable result in last week's national championships, where the full-time policeman embarassed many full-time cyclists with his top ten finish.

Saturday's first stage of 92 miles went to Chris Newton, who was in a small break which got free in the closing miles. As well as Newton, the group included Shaun Snodden (JE James RT), John Tanner (Life Repair) and Keiran Page (GB under-23), and that was the order in which they finished.

Matt Stephens was in the next group which finished 11 seconds down. A feature of the first day was a strong performance by the Under-23 GB team, with Page and Tom White in particular riding well. Sunday's second stage, a flatter 77 miles, also saw a small but significant break, with Stephens being joined in it by Life Repair duo Mark Lovatt and Graham Briggs and Tunstall Wheelers' Mike Harrison.

Despite the efforts of the quality field, including GB track stars Newton, Paul Manning and Bryan Steel, and the fact that they never had much more than a minute lead, this group manged to stay away to the finish and hang on to a sufficient lead to give Stephens the overall win.

Final Overall
1. Matt Stephens Sigma Sport Pro Cycle Shop 6h 18m 33s
2. Chris Newton Corima RT @ 14s
3. John Tanner Life Repair RT @ same time
4. Shaun Snodden JE James Cycles @ same time
5. Keirin Page SP Systems/Wightlink @ same time
6. Kevin Dawson Life Repair RT @ 23s
7. Russell Anderson GB Under 23 @ same time
8. Anthony Malarczyk 4 Bikesonline-Argon-18-Extran @ 25s
9. Paul Manning VC St Raphael/Waite Contracts @ same time
10. Barrie Clarke Giant RT @ same time
11. Adrian Bird Arctic Shorter Rochford @ 3.01
12. Leigh Cowell @ 3.07
13 Ian Wilkinson SIS.com @ 3.08
14 Tim Dunford British Universities RT @ same time
15 Stephen Kenny @ same time
16 Bryan Steel Team Chilwell/Click Agri.com/Jim Steel Garage
17 Mark Lovatt Life Repair RT @ 3.39
18 Malcolm Elliot Pinarello RT @ 4.11
19 Graham Briggs Life Repair RT @ 4.31
20 Tom White GB Under 23 @ 4.59

Stage 1 Results
1. Chris Newton Corima RT 3h 24m 18s
2. Shaun Snodden JE James Cycles @ same time
3. John Tanner Life Repair RT @ same time
4. Keirin Page SP Systems/Wightlink @ same time
5. Russell Anderson GB Under 23 @ 9s
6. Kevin Dawson Life Repair RT @ same time
7. Matt Stephens Sigma Sport Pro Cycle Shop @ 11s
8. Anthony Malarczyk 4 Bikesonline-Argon-18-Extran @ same time
9. Paul Manning VC St Raphael/Waite Contracts @ same time
10. Barrie Clarke Giant RT @ same time

Stage 2 Results
1. Mark Lovatt Life Repair RT 2h 53m 57s
2. Graham Briggs Life Repair RT @ 4s
3. Matt Stephens Sigma Sport Pro Cycle Shop @ 7s
4. Mike Harrison Tunstall Wheelers @ 8s
5. Mike Sewell @ 30s
6. Malcolm Elliot Pinarello RT @ 32s
7. John Tanner Life Repair RT @ same time
8. Chris Newton Corima RT @ same time
9. Ian Wilkinson SIS.com @ same time
10. Greg Roche Team Energy Cycles @ same time