House wins at Lincoln
Courteousy of British Cycling / Larry Hickmott and Gerry McManus / cyclingnews.com

In one of the wettest Lincoln Grand Prix's for many years, the day belonged to Kristian House (Recycling.co.uk) who was the strongest to the top of Michaelgate for the 11th time. He finished well clear of Ireland's Paul Healion (Murphy & Gunn) and surprise of the race, Matt Talbot (Glendene CC).

The day began with 122 riders filing out of the Sport Centre in Lincoln where the race has started from for many years now. With the cobbles soaking wet from constant rain all morning, positioning was going to be important and the first lap saw a lot of jostling for position and at the top of the cobbled climb, a large group was a few seconds clear. Behind them, the gaps were already starting to open with riders going all out to get back to the front of the race where Evan Oliphant was attacking off the front as he came past.

At the top of the cobbled climb on lap two, the once large front group was now very much slimmed down as Kristian House lead Malcolm Elliot and about six others including Chris Newton. They only had a handful of seconds on a group lead by Matt Stephens and they soon all came together. Next time up the cobbled climb through Lincoln, it was Elliott, many people's favourite who was leading the field on one side of the road with Matt Stephens on the other. Eventual winner Kristian House was not far away either as the big crowd cheered them on through the rain.

Still the field was largely all together with only a few small groups having been distanced and the fast laps showed that the shorter distance may well have prompted the riders to be more aggressive early on. Lap 4 and yet another small group was trying its luck as Dale Appleby lead a group of three to the bottom of the climb with the bunch only seconds away from them but alas, the group was chasing everything down today but it didn't stop more riders from trying to get away.

Midway through the race and a small group including Chris Newton, Phil Dixon, Rob English and Duncan Urquhart managed to build a healthy lead and they stayed away for a lap or so before being replaced at the head of affairs as Malcolm Elliott and Robin Sharman attacked off the front. Prior to the race, these two looked to have the form and the event experience to possibly pull off the win but the field again, like everything before, pulled them back as they filed past in single file, teeth clenched as the muddy faces told the story of how this race was being run off at break neck speed.

Two laps to go and it was the sight of a solo Chris Newton that had the crowd going chased by four others including Warwick Spence, Gary Hand and Ian Wilkinson. Newton was still clear with a lap to go but now there were only two chasers including Ian Wilkinson and yet more not that far away.

The formation of the chase group was changing rapidly as riders came up from behind whilst others had to give best as their legs finally said enough after a frantic race. In to the business end of the final lap, and Rob Hayles jumped clear in pursuit of Newton and that spurred the rest on with Kristian House getting a free ride at the back of the chase group who caught Hayles and continued in their pursuit of Newton.

Three kilometres from home and Newton was caught by a small group that eased as they caught him, which was the signal for House to attack and the sprint for the line was now on in earnest. House, a stage winner in Britanny the week before, was not giving in and although Paul Healion got close, House had plenty of time to raise an arm in victory as he crossed the line ahead of Healion and race revelation Matt Talbot of the Glendene Cycling Club in Essex.

Interviews

First I spoke to winner Kristian House who was delighted with the victory. "Unreal" is how he described it. "That is one of the coolest races I have ever done on a really hard course."

Asked to talk us through the last lap, he replied "we were in a real good position with Chris away on his own and as far I was concerned, all I had to do once we got away, was to sit on the back of the chase group. I was a little concerned about the Aussie guy because they had been looking strong all day and the same with the riders in the Murphy & Gunn team. They had all been strong all day."

"Then three of us got away and it was actually a pretty soft move and we caught Chris with about two k to go. It was very close and at one stage I thought Chris had it won. The team rode really well all day and covered every move."

Talking about his current good form which has seem him improve gradually since the first Premier way back in March, Kristian had this to say "I don't know why I have such good form to be honest. I didn't think I would be on form yet. I have actually rested quite a lot and that may be it. I had quite a hard winter over in Oz, then Langkawi and then backed off. I'm coming into these races well rested and I think that's why I'm going so well."

Standing next to Kristian was the rider many had thought was going to win it after a long time over the final laps away on his own. Chris Newton is a guy who likes to race to win and he certainly gave this race a great shake after only one stage race to get his road legs post World Track Championships. "The break I was in, I had to go for it as it was splitting every time. Two laps to go I was on my own and I sat up and waited and then the last time, I thought I just have to go really."

"Kristian then got a good ride as well".

"They caught me on a little drag just before the finish and when they caught me, they all sat up, and Kristian went which was good. They came round me but on the climb, I made my last effort to try and get on the podium and ended up fourth."

He then explained that in the French race last week where he was able to get in some valuable training, the speed was more constant but in the Lincoln it had been stop start. "That affected me today and I got a bit of cramp about four laps out. I managed to come round though. The form's coming back and I'll be alright".

Finally, I spoke to the race revelation, 32 year old Matt Talbot (above), the New Zealander who races for Glendene CC. "It's a little bit dream like" is how he described what it was like to be on the podium of such a big race. "About an hour ago I was sitting on the back of the bunch thinking what I am going to do and I was thinking of just coasting in and would have been happy with that."

"But then things started to fall into place as riders started coming backwards and all of a sudden I was at the front with quite a bit of energy left in my legs. When I saw Kristian House go, he is such a good kicker, I jumped onto his wheel and we had space behind us. Then I thought I can just treat this like any other race and forget its Premier Calendar. And sure enough I was able to hold on to the end."

"This is so far ahead of anything I have done before. I've had fifth's and sixths in Premier calendar's no-one really notices which is quite nice because you can sneak up on people."

On the fact the club has made its mark with a strong Junior squad, and now he's added even more to that with a senior result of note, he replied "That's what I am happy about. Our juniors have been getting so much attention and I knew our senior team had stepped up a bit too."

"I got Mark McKay in, Ben Hallam I talked to out of the blue and he was interested in what we did and all of a sudden with a few younger senior riders as well, we got a really good team. We started the year with no pressure and you are now seeing individual riders start to show in races. Ben Hallam was second in the Points at the Girvan, Mark McKay's legs are coming back and all of sudden we're the third team overall nationally. Look out!"

1. House, Kristian RECYCLING.CO.UK 3:22:38
2. Healion, Paul T MURPHY & GUNN @ :07
3. Talbot, Matt GLENDENE CC @ :09
4. Mcdonald, Peter T FRF COURIERS @ :14
5. Newton, Chris RECYCLING.CO.UK @ :17
6. Hayles, Rob TEAM KRL @ :18
7. Wilkinson, Ian SCIENCEINSPORT @ :19
8. Pochee, Ben RAPHA CONDOR @ :20
9. Herzig, Peter T FRF COURIERS @ :22
10. Rol, Raymond RUITERDAKKEPEL'N @ :24
11. Sharman, Robin RECYCLING.CO.UK @ :30
12. Spence, Warwick LONDON DYNAMO @ :45
13. Stevenson, Cody T FRF COURIERS
14. McDonnell, Joe T FRF COURIERS
15. Hand, Gary SCOTLAND
16. Jones, Neil GATEWAY RT @ 01:11
17. Roche, Greg NIPPO KFS
18. Wilkes, Paul DE ROSA RT
19. Dixon, Phil SCIENCEINSPORT
20. Staurt, Andrew ASHFIELD RC
21. Wolfer, Stephen ZENITH CC
22. Elliott, Malcolm PLOWMAN CRAVEN
23. Wordsworth, Mark JE JAMES RT
24. Barrows, Clayton AGISKO-DART @ 01:23
25. Appleby, Dale RECYCLING.CO.UK
26. Beetham, Geoffre MAGURA
27. Collis, Andy DE ROSA RT
28. Atkins, Alex EVANS CYCLES
29. Ford, Martin TEAM LLOYDS TSB
30. Higgins, Matthew JE JAMES RT
31. Roche, Andrew T MURPHY & GUNN
32. Brown,Ashley FEATHERSTONE RC
33. Williams, Peter KINESIS UK
34. Coleman, Neil AGISKO-DART
35. Oliphant, Evan RECYCLING.CO.UK
36. Woodward, Jack SCIENCEINSPORT
37. McKay, Mark GLENDENE CC
38. Partridge, Rober RECYCLING.CO.UK
39. Evans, Gavin EAST MIDLANDS
40. Stephens, Matthe SIGMASPORT RT
41. Burgan, Jamie RUTLAND RT
42. Bartlett, Chris GLENDENE CC

43. Chris Daddy, JE James
44. Kay, Alastair YORK CYCLEWORKS @ 01:42
45. Hagman, Alex AGISKO-DART
46. Weaver, Adam DONCASTER WHLS
47. Murphy, Conor T MURPHY & GUNN
48. Charity, Matthew VC NOTTINGHAM
49. Dekker, Nan-Simo RUITERDAKKEPEL'N
50. Wilkinson, Richa RAPHA CONDOR
51. Williamson, Jame AGISKO-DART
52. Urquhart, Duncan AGISKO-DART
53. James, Josh STILTON RT @ 03:25
54. Cole, Wesley PLOWMAN CRAVEN @ 09:55
55. Butland, Craaig PLOWMAN CRAVEN @ 11:31
56. Pool, Bryan ANDERSONS RACING
57. Enslin, Rob AGISKO-DART
58. Kenny, Steven KUOTA-BIEMME
59. Dziobon, Mark MK CYCLES
60. Stone, Graeme TEAM LLOYDS TSB
DSQ. Gibb, Tony PLOWMAN CRAVEN
DSQ. Ward, Stephen TEAM SWIFT
DSQ. Burger, Leon RUITERDAKKEPEL'N