Courteousy of British Cycling and Larry Hickmott
The
winner of the 2nd Rutland to Melton classic road race, part of British
Cycling's Premier Calendar series was Team Recycling.co.uk's Robin Sharman.
The Premier Calendar winner last year, helped create the final break and
despite being distanced in the final few kilometres, he managed to claw
his way back to the leaders, surprise them with a late attack and hold
to win the event. Behind, one of the strongest riders in the race, Isle
of Man's Andrew Roche, crashed on the run to the finish when chasing down
Sharman whilst Chris Newton made it a 1-2 for Recycling by out sprinting
Jonathon Dayus (Arctic Shorter Rochford).
The
morning started with light rain but that soon cleared for the start in
Oakham which was preceded by a presentation by Commonwealth Games champion
Chris Newton to the local council. Then Alan Duncan MP and the mayor of
Oakham let the riders go on their way to doing two laps of Rutland Water.
First sighting of them and Matt Stephens, who was to later have a heavy
fall, was away with one of the Australian riders. It didn't last and half
a lap later, Peter Williams (Kinesis) was away with James Williamson of
Agisko-Dart. Again, the bunch were not giving them a lot of room.
Standing
at Cold Overton, we heard over race radio of a break of around nine riders
getting a handful of seconds but that too was doomed to failure as many
early breaks often are whilst the riders have relatively fresh legs. Looking
fresh too was Malcolm Elliott (PCA) who was first across the line at the
KOM sprint at Cold Overton on is way to winning that competition. Before
the start, Malcolm had explained that he had been round the course on
the Wednesday, and the first sector he rode, sector 1 (the final one),
he punctured which gives an indication of how there was going to be a
strong element of luck in the race as many will no doubt testify after
the race.
Into the feeding zone, and one of Colin Clew's special sectors, and the
field was largely together but not for long as when they returned half
an hour or so later and Mark Lovatt was leading a break of three across
the names painted on the road including that of Lovatts'. This break though
didn't last although the increase in pace did see the field start to splinter
and with the race well into the second half, Evan Oliphant of Recycling.co.uk
was away on his own, chased by Lovatt and around fourteen other riders.
Riders
in this group included Mark Lovatt, Kristain House, Rob Hayles, Phil Dixon,
Ian Wilkinson, Dan Booth, Jonathon Dayus, Robin Sharman, Euan Adams, and
Dale Appleby. The final time round the Owston circuit, the group was still
away and as they came into the village, there was little urgency, much
like there is when riders sit up after an attack has been nullified.
Attacks though continued right up until the final run in into Melton.
It was here that Robin Sharman won the race by not giving up even after
being dropped and his last minute attack after rejoining the leaders was
a classic piece of text book riding from the Recycling rider. Talking
to British Cycling later he was pleased and surprised with the victory.
"We had Evan away which was a real good move for us because we could
afford to sit back and let the others race for a bit which put us into
a good position. When Evan came back, I put in an attack and got away
with Phil Dixon just before the Somerberg section which was tough. I wasn't
feeling too good at all but we stayed away and then a few riders came
across, Kristain (House), Jon Dayus, Andrew Roche, Dale Appleby and Chris
Newton, so the team was in a really good position."
"Then
with 10 k to go, we started to put in some attacks to try and soften up
the other riders but Jon Dayus and Andrew Roche were really strong. My
legs were completely gone and I was trying to set it up for the other
guys who put in some really strong attacks in the last few k. I was just
swinging, getting dropped and then just getting back on. Then with 500
metres to go, I managed to get back on and put one in straight away and
I think they hesitated and that's all you need."
Asked how the race went and whether he had any mishaps like those that
befell many including Rob Hayles (broken bars), Matt Stephens (heavy fall)
and countless punctures to many of the riders. "We had a good choice
of tyres, Michelin Carbon and they were really good."
Giving his perspective on this type of race, he replied laughing "it's
a mans race! Seriously though, it's really exciting, different and well
run. If everyone is sensible on the sectors as most were, its fine. It
was kind of a strange race because everyone was only racing the sectors
hard but it was good still. The team worked so well together too, with
everyone supporting each other -- there are no egos".
Congratulations to Robin and all the riders on making it an exciting
race for the many spectators.
1. Robin Sharman, Recycling.co.uk
2. Chris Newton, Recycling.co.uk
3. Jonathon Dayus, Arctic Shorter Rochford
4. Phil Dixon, Science in Sport
5. Kristain House, Recycling.co.uk
6. Dale Appley, Recycling.co.uk
7. Daniel Booth,Magura
8. Peter McDonald, Team FRF
9. Joshua Marden, Team FRF
10. Mark McKay, Glendene CC
11. Mark Lovatt, Planet-X
12. David Clarke, Team Nippo
13. Ian Wilkinson, Science in Sport
14. Rob Partidge, Recycling.co.uk
15. Malcolm Elliott, PCA
16. Evan Oliphant, Recycling.co.uk
17. Mark Wordsworth, JE James
18. Ross Adams, Red Kite Cycles
19. Peter Herzig, Team FRF
20. Roy Chamberlain, Team Milton Keynes
21. Greg Roche, Team Nippo
22. Rob Hayles, Team KLR
23. Cody Stevenson, Team FRF
24. Nick Craig, Scott UK
25. Matt Talbot, Glendene CC
26. Rob Enslin, Agisko Dart
27. Michael Brodwith, Arctic Shorter Rochford
28. Dave Collins, Scott UK
29. Joe McDonnell, Team FRF
30. Erik Van Lakerveld, LWV Swift
31. Sean Polson, VC Azzuri
32. Chris Bartlett, Glendene CC
33. Thomas Gardner, Heron Cyclesport
34. Graeme Hatcher, Isle of Man
35. Adam Broyad, Climb on Bikes
36. Gary Hand, Agisko-Dart
37. Steven Kenny, Kuota
38. James Dobbin, Arctic Shorter Rochford
39. Ian Legg, Red Kite Cycles
40. Richard Cartland, Team Milton Keynes
41. Ryan Henry, PM
42. Jack Woodward, SIS
43. Tim Bayley, Arctic
44. Karl Freeman, Team Milton Keynes
45. Henry Furniss, Ride Beyond
46. Guy Andrews, Rapha Condor
47. Jonathon Pain, Leisure Lakes
48. Sam Humpherson, London Dynamo
49. Steve Gibson, VC Briganti
50. Neil Beasley, Ashfield RC
51. Allister Tulett, Arctic Shorter
52. Matt Jennings, Websters Cycles
53. Andy Profitt, Arctic Shorter
54. Andrew Stuart, Ashfield RC
55. Daniel Burt, Team LLoyds
56. James Meurig, Citihub
57. Chris Parlett, Wildside RT
58. James Sampson, Stilton RT
59. Peter Williams, Kinesis
60. Adam Weaver, Doncaster Wheelers
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