British Racing Thread

[Reverend_T_Preedy]

Results from the Lincoln GP:
1) Russell Downing
2) Marcin Biabolocki
3) Kristian House
4) Simon Richardson
5) Russell Hampton

House won the trophy for the best placings up the climb. Thwaites won the U23 award.

The race was full on from the start largely thanks to Endura, Kristian House, Team Raleigh and IG Sigma sport. With 3 or so laps to go a group of 5 went clear and despite the best efforts of Uk Youth and 100%ME they were the ones who were to contest the victory.

On the last lap Russ Downing flew up Michaelgate to break clear and was eventually joined by Biabolocki. Downing attacked again the last time up and won comfortably (official gap 15 seconds). House in 3rd came home about a minute behind.

It was another great edition of the race. 10,000 people were there to watch proving again it's the biggest and best 1 day race in the UK.

JTL crashed early on and it looked bad. Thankfully it seems he is just badly bruised. Unfortunately he broke the leg of the race Marshall he hit!

Mike Cumming and Luke Grivell Mellow of Rapha also crashed and I gather they both have broken elbows.

Special mention should go to Team Raleigh, Team IG Sigma Sport and Kristian House who contributed to making it a very hard and selective race (and one of the fastest ever). They took it to Endura and in the end were just beaten by a very in form Russ Downing in a race he loves.

Downing has now won the race 4 times now and equals the record.

I'll try to post some photos later.

 

[Reverend_T_Preedy]

Race coverage of the Lincoln GP is now on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTNI0nJHlGo

Tonight sees the start of the Tour Series criteriums. The first race tonight is in Kirckaldy. Info is at http://www.tourseries.co.uk/RoundInfo.asp?Round=KIRKCALDY&Id=263

The teams involved in the series are:
Team Hope Factory Racing
Node4 - Giordana Racing
Endura Racing
Team Raleigh - GAC
Metaltek Scott
Team IG - Sigma Sport
Herbalife Leisure Lakes Bikes
Cycle Premier - Kovert
Rapha Condor Sharp
Team UK Youth

There will be guest teams at each round as well. For Kirckaldy, the teams are Pedal Power–Endura–Forme Racing and VanillaBikes.com.

1 hour highlights will once again be on ITV4 the following night.

The other rounds are:
Durham
Oxford
Redditch
Aberystwyth
Peterborough
Canary Wharf
Torquay
Colchester
Woking
Stoke-On-Trent

The Stoke round will also include a team time trial using the same circuit.

 

[Bumeington]

Race coverage of the Lincoln GP is now on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTNI0nJHlGo

Tonight sees the start of the Tour Series criteriums. The first race tonight is in Kirckaldy. Info is at http://www.tourseries.co.uk/RoundInfo.asp?Round=KIRKCALDY&Id=263

The teams involved in the series are:
Team Hope Factory Racing
Node4 - Giordana Racing
Endura Racing
Team Raleigh - GAC
Metaltek Scott
Team IG - Sigma Sport
Herbalife Leisure Lakes Bikes
Cycle Premier - Kovert
Rapha Condor Sharp
Team UK Youth

There will be guest teams at each round as well. For Kirckaldy, the teams are Pedal Power–Endura–Forme Racing and VanillaBikes.com.

1 hour highlights will once again be on ITV4 the following night.

The other rounds are:
Durham
Oxford
Redditch
Aberystwyth
Peterborough
Canary Wharf
Torquay
Colchester
Woking
Stoke-On-Trent

The Stoke round will also include a team time trial using the same circuit.

Oxford round on 22nd may is preceeded by Oxford university versus Cambridge university race. 24km, 30 riders.

 

[hatcher]

Only saw the highlights but good win for Russ. That was a very strong final 5.

For domestic racing I don't think you could design a more perfect course for Downing than the Lincoln GP course.

 

[Reverend_T_Preedy]

Only saw the highlights but good win for Russ. That was a very strong final 5.

For domestic racing I don't think you could design a more perfect course for Downing than the Lincoln GP course.

Agreed. The best thing about the Lincoln though is it almost always puts the strings and riders in contention. You don't win that race with luck.

Not surprised to see 4 of the leading 5 in that group. If you had to pick the strongest riders in Endura, Sigma, Rapha and Node4 on the day you'd pick them. It was a great ride by Russ Hampton. He really fount hard all day. He got dropped on Michaelgate regularly but fought back brilliantly to get back on.

Another great thing about the race was the crowds. You'll be hard pushed to find a better supported race in Britain. Provisional estimates of the crowd numbers were in the region of 10,000 (although I'd say 5,000 was more realistic).

 

[Reverend_T_Preedy]

Thwaites (Endura) wins first round of Tour Series.

Marcel Six (Metaltec-Scott) takes the sprint jersey.

Waiting on the the full team results....

 

[Ragerod]

Went to watch the cycle tour series in Redditch today. Fairly tough 1.4km circuit containing a 200m climb between 6-7% 300 metres from the finish line.

The main story going into the race was Endura's domination. Scott Thwaites has won two of first three events as Endura looked to extend their perfect start to the series.

The course was raced hard from the start and soon several guys were struggling. Everything stayed together in the first half of the race before a break of five riders managed was established just after half distance. The gap was allowed to open fairly quickly as all the big teams except IG Sigma Sport had a man in it.

The group contained Niklas Gustavsson (UK Youth), Dean Windsor (Endura), Bernard Sulzberger (Raleigh), Kristian House (Rapha) and Mike Northey (Node 4).

Gustavsson attacked with about 250m to go with Sulzberger in his wheel but managed to hold him off to win for UK Youth and a rather happy Magnus Backstedt. Sulzberger was pipped to the line by the fast finishing Dean Windsor. House finishing fourth was a big surprise because he had looked the strongest all evening. The peloton led by UK Youth and Endura Racing was a fair way behind.

Endura won the team competition again continuing their domination of the series. Sulzberger won the sprint competition to extend his lead over Marcel Six and Kristian House.

Overall Team Standings, post-Round Four
1) Endura Racing, 40pts
2) Team UK Youth, 31pts
3) Rapha Condor Sharp, 30pts
4) Node4 - Giordana Racing, 29pts
5) Team Raleigh - GAC, 28pts
6) Cycle Premier - Kovert, 16pts
7) Team IG - Sigma Sport, 15pts
8) Metaltek Scott, 12pts
9) Herbalife LeisureLakesBikes, 9pts
10) Team Hope Factory Racing, 9pts

Boardman Bikes Sprints standings, post-Round Four
1) Bernard Sulzberger, Team Raleigh - GAC, 44pts
2) Marcel Six, Metaltek Scott, 32pts
3) Kristian House, 30pts

The official results have Thwaites as finishing fifth which I think is a mistake because Endura definitely didn't have two men in the breakaway. The only explanation is Northey had a problem on the last lap and stopped and I didn't notice.

The event was a definite success and I expect they'll be back next year.

 

[Red Ace]

Yes No doubt that the Halfords Tour Series is one of the world great criterium Series... and thanks to those that created this topic clearly there is some great domestic racing in the UK at the moment.
What I find surprising is that coverage of these events is mostly limited to this tread on the CN FORUM rather than the cyclingnews.com main site. Tell me if I am wrong but - for instance - if the Halford Tour series was in Australia or USA (eg Bay Crits) it would get more coverage on Cyclingnews.com Main Site ???

 

[Red Ace]

Seemed my comments about Cyclingnews.com not supporting the Halfords tour series & National Level British racing has killed off this topic.... Maybe there is a reason for not covering the series.... ie an arrangement with britishcycling.org.uk not to cover their domestic racing or maybe a different cyclingnews website content in different world locations??.

Anyway.. great to see Aussie Zak Dempster and his super strong Endura Racing Team get the win over a very under rated NewZealander Mike Northey in an impressive Halfords Tour Series promotion in the heart of one of the world’s busiest financial centres at Canary Wharf. Honestly the fact that a promoter can secure an annual event in such a high profile location I reckon is news enough to get some kind of recognition by http://www.cyclingnews.com .. Good luck to former Aussie Champ Bernie Sulzberger leading the sprint jersey..

 

[Red Ace]

Although not covered by the main stream cycling media another huge cycling promotion in London on the weekend – The event is called the Smithfield Nocturne and features some of the world fastest riders (including Aussie grand tour stage winners Matt Goss, Brett Lancaster & Chris Sutton) and a program packed with cycling action that really takes cycling to the masses. Sky’s Ian Stannard was the star on the night defeating former British champ Kristian House, while UK Champ Hannah Barnes defeated an excellent field in the womens event. Congratulations to organisers who added an elimination event and a lap time score board to this year’s event… Honestly it is worth looking around the net to check out the grea action at this event.. Sometimes maybe tradition can get in the way of the sports development, again it is sad at the lack of acceptance by the cycling media of these great British cycling promotions.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

These are small events (.NE?). The Aussie ones would probably be similarly ignored by the main site if they weren't on during the offseason (and with a few of the pros showing up for offseason km in the legs). The US ones, well, all manner of small US races get covered, but I don't know if crit series are among them. They don't really cover kermesse racing on the main site either, nor the myriad small events in places like Portugal either; if CN's main site gave full coverage to all .NE type events the site would swiftly become unreadable, plus it would stretch their resources because they still need to have the people covering the bigger races.

Hence I only ever see criterium reviews on the main site when they're part of relatively major races, either unofficially (eg Cancer Council Classic) or officially (which is a joke in and of itself) or when they're part of the post-Tour series - events that CN will no doubt have access to.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Although not covered by the main stream cycling media another huge cycling promotion in London on the weekend – The event is called the Smithfield Nocturne and features some of the world fastest riders (including Aussie grand tour stage winners Matt Goss, Brett Lancaster & Chris Sutton) and a program packed with cycling action that really takes cycling to the masses. Sky’s Ian Stannard was the star on the night defeating former British champ Kristian House, while UK Champ Hannah Barnes defeated an excellent field in the womens event. Congratulations to organisers who added an elimination event and a lap time score board to this year’s event… Honestly it is worth looking around the net to check out the grea action at this event.. Sometimes maybe tradition can get in the way of the sports development, again it is sad at the lack of acceptance by the cycling media of these great British cycling promotions.

Flatmate texted me about this one, having spotted it traipsing home from a Eurotrash party.

Shame I didn't realise it was on, living 2 minutes away.

 

[Red Ace]

Might have been worth scanning through the current Cyclingnews.com Main Site to check out the number of NE crits before post this Libertine Seguros.. There has to be another reason..

 

[ultimobici]

Might have been worth scanning through the current Cyclingnews.com Main Site to check out the number of NE crits before post this Libertine Seguros.. There has to be another reason..

All manner of US NE races reported on, with lots of Billy No Name riders never heard of outside the US. I wonder why? Poor showing for a site that is British owned, IMO.