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Girvin EasterRoad Stage Race |
Girvin Scotland - 19th to 21st April '03
This is the traditional Easter tough road race. It is part of the Premier Calendar Series so all the serious road races normally race here. I had chosen to go in the hope of gaining some good racing mile and sharpen up my fitness. The stages were ideal for a mountain biker as they are around the 75 mile mark. This might not sound so far but over some of the bleak open hills of South Ayrshire it was far enough.
Each day was either out and back or place to place. I like this type of racing as you don't know what is around the next corner. It often makes for better racing too. Every day the racing was aggressive, attacks going all the time.
Saturday we started and straight away went up a good climb, it was a "King of the Mountains" sprint so I had a go, with one rider infront I crossed the line in third. Later on a small group had slipped away and I got in a small group of chasers including World Champion Chris Newton. We caught the leaders but with 20 miles to go we were joined by another group. Then attack after attack followed which ended in a group 9 getting away. I was in the next group, we chased but could not catch them and finished 28 seconds behind the winner.
In the evening we did a 45 minute circuit race. As I was a guest rider of Science in Sport team our plan was to try and help Ian Wilkinson in this stage. I did a couple of hard laps at the front then Ian attacked, I was still at the front of the bunch and rode a little slower around the corners and the few that knew what was going on sprinted up to Ian. This group gain more than one and a half minutes and Ian took third place on the stage.
Sunday was again aggressive racing, I was again in a small group, this was partly planned as there were all the hill primes close together before 35 miles were completed. Mark Lovett joined us and the pace was high, Mark saw that Chris Newton was trying to bridge the gap so he went exceptionally hard at the from to make it hard for him! From the KOM primes I got two first and a second. Soon after the third prime we were caught and the race really took off. Lots of attacking, I just did not have it to go with the leaders and was relegated to a chasing group which was later caught by what was left of the bunch. I had scored enough points to take the poker dot jersey as mountains leader.
Monday, this was the day if real mountains and bleakness - it was great. After only a few mile Chris Newton attacked, I went with him as well as John Tanner and Andy Collis. I was going with the aim of the mountains competition but Chris Newton and John Tanner were trying to win the race. I did not have much competition in the sprints as there aim was to gain time. After 50 miles and some big hills I was beginning to tire. John Tanner made some little attacks but I was unable to respond. John & Chris rode off and managed to stay away to the finish. Chris won the stage but John Tanner took the overall win.
I won the King of the Mountains competition and finished 13th overall - so quite a good weekend.
Stage 4 Results and Overall Standings
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(written 22/04/03)