Jock Wadley Memorial


Up at 6:30am to prepare for my first British race of the season is something i'm not particularly used to. But with the start time at 10 it was a necessity to give enough time for my breakfast to digest, and to prepare the days race food, kit and myself for the 134km race ahead. The weather forecast was something that I hadn't seen in weeks, even months - Sunny and dry - but the wind was still there which would mean a good race.

Seeing the start list, I knew it would be a tough race with Rapha Condor Sharp (with national champion Kristian House, and Roy Thame winner Darren Lapthorne), the Wilier-Bigmaggys team, and the Orbea-ForGoodnessShakes squad all 6 riders strong. With me on my own, I knew I would have to try my best and have a bit of luck to get a good placing.

Starting from the Alderman Blaxill school, we set off neutralised to the local circuit, escorted by 3 lead cars and 5 accredited motorbike marshals from the NEG (National Escort Group, who have the ability to stop traffic).

As we hit Layer-de-la-Haye, the race, along with the attacks had begun. On the second lap a group of 4 soon got away, with no-one in it from the Rapha Condor team, who soon gave a controlled pace at the front. With every attack that tried to jump across to the breakaway, a rider from Rapha jumped with them and sat in their wheel, doing no work, so soon getting reeled in by the Rapha train.

On lap 4, Jonathan Tiernen-Locke sitting on the wheel of Dan Staite, managed to jump across the 2 minute gap to the lead group of 4, to form a strong group of 6 who soon built upon their lead to make it 3 minutes. With 4 laps to go Rapha put the pressure and increased the speed to create an echelon in the cross wind section just before the finish hill, shattering the race into pieces.

Sitting in about 15th place in the peleton, to my dismay, a gap appeared 2 places ahead of me, which I, or the two riders infront could not close. It split, with the front part getting away with the entire Rapha team without Locke (who was in the first group) and many riders from the Corley team in. They soon took 20 seconds and looked like they were weren't getting caught. Arriving up the hill in Birch a few kilometres later, we could see the Rapha-Corley group had bunched up, which gave a chance for what was the remains of the peleton to get back on, creating a large second group of 40. The 6 riders who were still away only had 2 minutes of there lead remaining.

Soon after, many riders in the peleton continued attacking, including myself, trying to jump the gap and catch the lead group, but did not succeed. Then, in the crosswind section, a group of about 15 managed to peel off the front, and everyone in the remains of the peleton sat up, with myself locked in, not managing to find a gap to get through and catch both groups that were now up the road.

A few attacks started to come from the group I was in, including multiple attacks from myself, but Darren Lapthorne (former australian champion and previous days winner) kept it controlled by chasing them down, with a few other riders, making sure that we didnt close the gap to group 2, which soon had over a minute lead on us. On the hill just before the finish with a lap to go, I saw a opening and tried to do a solo jump to the group ahead, or atleast stay infront of the peleton. I managed to gain a good 30 seconds, but Lapthorne managed to get the group behind me working and with just a few kilometres to go by the second crossing of Abberton reservoir, I was reeled in.

Feeling I still had something in my legs, I stayed at the front of the group to see if I could still get a placing in the bunch sprint, but to no-avail, ending up in the middle of the group. The last lap effort of course had taken its toll on me.

The early break ended up staying away with Jon Tiernen-Locke from Rapha Condor winning, Dan Staite getting 2nd and Orbea rider Andy Lyons in 3rd place.

Riding back to the HQ, I decided I would ride back home aswell for a little loosen up, which was only a short ride from the headquarters but done me a world of good. Ending the day with 150km.

On Tuesday i'm leaving for the Tour of Malta which starts on Thursday. A 3 day stage race which will hopefully bring in some results and some good weather.