Courtesy of British Cycling. Report & Images:
Andrew Kennedy | NEG Moto Pilot: John Greatorex
Russell
Downing (CandiTV-Marshalls Pasta) regained his cast iron grip on the Premier
Calendar series with a fine solo win in Lancashire on Sunday afternoon.
In the final 3km of the 140 km race Downing attacked his breakaway companions
Chris Newton (Rapha Condor) and Rob Partridge (Halfords) riding into Nelson
Town centre alone to take the applause from the large crowd. Riding the
Tour of Ireland, Russell Downing will miss the final round at Richmond,
but has sufficient points to keep his lead and win for the second year
in a row the British Cycling Premier Calendar Series.
Post Race Reactions:
Winner Russell Downing (CandiTV Marshalls Pasta): "Great race, thanks
to Rob Partridge for launching that attack on the final climb, it was
perfect for me! Our team had two riders in the early break and we told
them to sit on. It wasn't up to us to chase it down and SportsBeans and
Endura did a great job of getting the peloton back to a reasonable distance.
We then heard that Graham Briggs and Peter Williams were out of the break
so we could then chase."
"I was fresh when we caught the break and went with Tom Southam
at first, then Chris Newton went and I went with him. You can tell when
Newton is up for it because he crouches down low. Myself and Rob Partridge
got up to him with a few others who weren't too strong. Newton was concerned
about the others not being strong enough to help in a break so I let him
go away on a drag, then jumped across to him with Partridge. That was
it, we had a good little group and we worked well together, nobody missed
a beat."
"In
the run in, I was confident about winning the sprint from that three man
break, but anything can happen, you can get boxed into the barriers and
it's not 100% certain. I wanted to hit them hard on the climb, Rob softened
it up nicely for me, I thought cheers when he attacked, Chris had gassed
and looked around at me. I think he knew what I was planning. I went straight
past them both, I knew on the corner leading to that last descent that
I had it. Very pleased it's good to finish my Premier Calendar season
with a win."
2nd place Chris Newton (Rapha Condor) "I was a bit miffed that I
missed the first move but we had Kristian House and a few others in it
representing Rapha. SportBeans started chasing it down and when the Pinarello's
lost their guys out of the break they took up the chase. I knew Russell
would be the one on this circuit as it's perfect for him. When the break
got caught, I went with a few guys including Roy Chamberlain. Russ got
across with some others and then it split again."
"It was down to three of us, me, Russ and Rob Partridge. On the
final climb of the finish circuit Rob was the first to go on the attack,
I went with him and at first I thought we'd gapped Russ, but he was just
using that to launch his own attack. I countered but never got anywhere
near him and over the last part of the climb my legs folded a bit."
"I eased off and started thinking about making sure I got second.
I waited for Rob and recouped. The bunch was so close behind us that we
had no chance of any discussion, it was just a matter of racing to the
finish and trying to get a good position. I'm happy with 2nd, but 1st
would have been better, I've struggled a bit this summer, my programme
with the track and road is the whole year round, but I'm on the up and
my preparation for the Tour of Britain is coming on nicely, that leads
into the winter track season,.I'm happy with my form and how it's developing."
3rd place Rob Partridge (Halfords) "With three Halfords riders in
that early move it was perfect for me, I could sit back and keep my powder
dry. I could see that Russ Downing and some of the other big names were
still in the main group so I knew it was a good place to be. If the break
had stayed away that would have been OK because we had three riders in
it. When it came back together, I was waiting for it to kick off, and
that's exactly what happened."
"Chris Newton and Russ got in a little move, I had to give it 100%
to get across by myself. As soon as I got on they went again. It was a
difficult time for me and I was swinging a bit. On the final circuit I
thought there's no point in taking Russ Downing to the finish, I had to
gamble and I didn't think Chris Newton was going to attack him so it was
down to me."
"I thought I had Russ on the ropes, but he came straight over the
top, it was pretty impressive. On the final circuit I knew I was guaranteed
third, I thought what's the point of just sitting in and getting third
in the sprint when I can attack and who knows what might happen. But looking
back when you are with Downing and Newton you've got to be happy with
a place on the podium."
Tour
of Pendle: Sport Beans-Wilier Report
Sunshine interspersed with a little cloud and a light breeze greeted the
riders for this year's Tour of Pendle. Three big loops with an ascent
of the infamous Blacko climb each time awaited them, followed by a short
finish circuit round Nelson to give the crowds a taster before the finale.
Sport Beans - Wilier fielded a team of 6 for today's race, Marcin, Jon,
Will, Richard, Grant and Mark.
Early moves came to nought, the only one of note going on Blacko and gaining
18 seconds, containing 8 riders, most notably Andy Tennant (Halfords-Bikehut),
Matt Cronshaw, Ben Greenwood and Rhys Lloyd (Rapha-Condor). This came
back though and after what seemed only a brief respite, the main move
of the day forged away after an hour's racing as the peloton stretched
out on a sidewind drag - this was the one that might stay away: Andy Tennant
(again), Mark McNally and Ian Wilkinson (Halfords-Bikehut), National Road
Champ Kristian House, Liam Holohan and Dan Craven (Rapha-Condor), Peter
Williams and Dale Appleby (CandiTV-MarshallsPasta), Ashley Finn (Herbalife),
Steve Lampier (KUK-Kinesis), Kit Gilham (Sigmasport), Mike Cuming (Raleigh
Avanti) and John Tanner (Sportscover).
An interesting move for a few reasons: Rapha-Condor and Halfords-Bikehut
had three each of their big names in here - the six of them would drive
hard to stay away. But what would CandiTV do? Two riders in the break
isn't bad but could Williams and Appleby cut it in the finale against
them? And no Russ Downing of course, let alone Malcolm Elliott. What we
were likely to see was both of them being passengers, an insurance policy
for later in the day when Downing would certainly make his move to get
to the head of affairs. Good to see the evergreen John Tanner up there
too, he and Kevin Dawson of Sportscover ruffling a few feathers over the
previous few weeks.
Sure enough, the break rode hard, with Rapha and Halfords doing the damage
- up and up the time gap went, hitting 1.16 after just 15 minutes up the
road. On they surged, topping out at a time gap of 1.50 after 40 mins,
1.40 into the race. Alarm bells went off in the bunch and Sport Beans
- Wilier, having missed the move, set about dealing with the matter. Our
Marcin and Jon were looking for a result today so the other four set to
work organising the chase. Endura joined us and steadily the gap came
down, almost as quickly as it had risen.
After nearly two hours of racing, CandiTV's insurance policy evaporated
as Williams and Appleby fell out the back of the break as they tried in
vain to deal with the bunch bearing down on them - they too now joined
the chase and it was now only a matter of time before the junction was
made. The peloton split under the pressure of the chase with all the Sport
Beans riders in the right place, chasing at the front of the bunch. Finally
the race came back together after 1 hour 50 minutes of racing and an uneasy
calm descended. The bunch was much depleted now, all the dead wood gone
and just the serious contenders remaining.
Almost inevitably, after around 5 minutes, the truce went bang and Tom
Southam (Rapha-Condor) attacked, Russ Downing marking him and in turn,
Chris Newton (Rapha-Condor) on his wheel, some leg-testing going on to
see what everyone had left. Newton got the gap, Downing jumped on him
and Rob Partridge (Halfords-Bikehut), Roy Chamberlain (PhilCorley) and
Liam Holohan (Rapha-Condor) latched on. The pace was tough though and
Holohan and Chamberlain fell away leaving Downing, Newton and Partridge
to put their heads down for home.
With 4km to the finish and Rob Partridge attacked on the climb near Brierfield,
not relishing the thought of a sprint against Newton and Downing. Newton
held him and in a classic move, Downing jumped them both to gap them decisively
by the top - he was gone and they wouldn't see him again. He rode like
a demon, putting 40 seconds into them to take a fine solo win, with the
pair just holding off the bunch for 2nd and 3rd.
Grant and Richard blew their lights out in the big chase earlier, leaving
Marcin to take a solid 8th place in this hotly contested and tactical
race. We learnt the hard way that you don't let so many big names get
away in an early break - but had it not been for our chasing early on,
things might have been different and the break might have gained an unsurpassable
advantage. We helped shape the race and we took 8th place - not bad! With
just one more Premier remaining, we are looking to go out with a bang
at Richmond.
1 Russell Downing Candi TV - Marshalls Pasta R.T. 3hr 20 49s
2 Chris Newton Rapha Condor @40s
3 Rob Partridge Halfords Bike Hut st
4 Ian Wilkinson Halfords Bike Hut @51
5 Malcolm Elliott Candi TV - Marshalls Pasta R.T. st
6 Mark McNally Halfords Bike Hut st
7 Matt Kipling KUK Kinesis st
8 Marcin Bialoblocki Sport Beans / Wilier st
9 James Moss KUK Kinesis st
10 John Tanner Team Sportscover st
11 Matthew Cronshaw Rapha Condor st
12 Tom Barras Private Member st
13 Steven Lampier KUK Kinesis st
14 David Clarke Pendragon Kalas st
15 Russell Hampton Team Magnus Maximus Coffee st
16 Alex Coutts Heraklion Nessebar Kastro st
17 Andrew Roche Candi TV - Marshalls Pasta R.T. st
18 Wouter Sybrandy Sigmasport/Specialized/Sportful st
19 Paul Oldham Hope Factory Racing st
20 Raphael Deinhart Cyclingbargains.com st
21 Andy Tennant Halfords Bike Hut st
22 Dale Appleby Candi TV - Marshalls Pasta R.T. st
23 Roy Chamberlain Team Corley Cycles st
24 Richard Cartland Team Corley Cycles st
25 Yanto Barker LeCol - Colnago st
26 Gareth Hewitt Sabbath Clayton st
27 Callum Wilkinson Endura Racing st
28 Evan Oliphant Endura Racing st
29 Gareth Montgomerie Sigmasport/Specialized/Sportful st
30 Jonathan Ternan-Locke Sport Beans / Wilier st
31 Richard Handley KUK Kinesis st
32 Daniel Drake Lancashire R.C. @58
33 Ben Stockdale Qoroz - Novatec @59s
34 Tom Southam Rapha Condor @1.02
35 Jack Pullar KUK Kinesis @1.14
36 James Sampson Candi TV - Marshalls Pasta R.T. @1.16
37 Andrew Hastings Finchley R.T. @1.19
38 Graham Briggs Candi TV - Marshalls Pasta R.T. @1.20
39 Mark Lovatt Planet X R.T. st
40 Joe Skipper BMC UK R.T. st
41 Liam Holohan Rapha Condor st
42 Mark Thwaites Team Assos st
43 Kevin Dawson Team Sportscover @1.24
44 Daniel Kogan BMC UK R.T. @1.27
45 Christopher McNamara Team Corley Cycles st
46 Kieran Frend Sabbath Clayton st
47 Will Bjergfelt Sport Beans / Wilier @1.29
48 Mike Cuming Raleigh Avanti @1.30
49 Peter Williams Candi TV - Marshalls Pasta R.T. @1.33
50 James Dobbin Arctic Premier R.T @1.34
51 James Williamson Sigmasport/Specialized/Sportful @1.39
52 Simon Richardson Rapha Condor st
53 Kristian House Rapha Condor st
54 Tom Last Sigmasport/Specialized/Sportful st
55 Ashley Cox Beds Road C.C. @1.48
56 Matt Ullmer Qoroz - Novatec @1.51
57 Daniel Craven Rapha Condor @2.02
58 Ashley Finn Herbalife / Wheelbase @2.34
59 Mark Perry Sport Beans / Wilier @2.57
60 Dean Downing Rapha Condor @3.04
61 Simon Holt Candi TV - Marshalls Pasta R.T. st
62 Scott Macrae Endura Racing @3.24
63 Andy Tinsley Science in Sport st
64 Freddy Johansson Team Magnus Maximus Coffee st
65 Andrew Magnier Planet X R.T. @3.34
66 Collin Humphrey Team Sportscover @3.38
67 Colin Parry V.C. St. Raphael @3.40
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