Cycling Reports |
Surrey League 5 DayReport By Gerry McManusEmail: gerry@londonirish.freeserve.co.uk
IRISH FIND NO ANSWER TO BRITISH CYCLING TEAMIrish riders found it impossible to compete against the twelve-man British Cycling team in the Evans Cycles sponsored Surrey League Revolutions 5-day stage race August 16th to 20th. The GB senior team was denied a race in Spain and doubled its entry from 6 to 12. Even more competition arrived in the shape of Bradley Wiggins (FDJ.com) who as a late entry replaced Kieran Page for the elite squad. Stephen O’Sullivan had unexpectedly pulled out of the london Irish team with less than 24 hours notice. Stage 1Last year’s winner Paddy Moriarty (London Irish- JBC/veterinarycentre.com) was a marked man on stage one and having missed the early break, found himself at the front of a long line of riders unwilling to help in the chase to the leaders. Team mate Rory Wyley faired better by being in the break on the stage and eventually finishing 6th. Munster's Vinnie Gleeson and Martin O’Loughlin finished 10th and 12th respectively over six minutes behind Chris Newton (GB ‘A’). The bunch finished including Timmy Barry (Munster) finished over 24 minutes down when they were pulled up and given additional time in lieu of the distance. Barry was unlucky to break his frame whilst crossing over to an early break and subsequently punctured later in the stage. Stage 2Timmy Barry was in the action from the start of the stage won by Kristian House (GB ‘B’). Whilst the jersey holders and top three watched each other, House won the stage and took the yellow jersey. Barry was in contention for the stage win until the very last climb and finished last of the leading group of six. Wyley finished 14th but gained time on some rivals and stayed sixth on G.C. Bad news for Paddy Moriarty who retired with a torn muscle half-way through the stage. Stage 3a ITTChris Newton flew around the 2.4-mile Goodwood circuit in 4:31. Wyley was the closest Irish rider finishing 19th at 40”. With the overall out of reach to most at this stage, most riders kept a little behind for the afternoon stage. Wiggins finished 39th and nearly a minute behind the winner. Stage 3bBradley Wiggins burst through to take the 84-mile stage. 20 riders eventually joined forces to keep a great distance from the remainder of the field. Martin 0’Loughlin finished 10th in the same time as Rory Wyley who moved up to 4th on G.C when Rob Hurd (Peleton RT) and Rowan Horner (VC St Raphael) missed the cut. Stage 4The longest stage gave the greatest heartbreak for the Munster team. With four riders in a break over six minutes up the road, the GB team time-trialled their way back into contention, even with one of their own in the leading group. Another stage win for GB when Steve Cummings left his breakaway compatriots. Mark Kiernan (London Irish- JBC/Veterinarycentre.com) had stayed in contention and finished 9th. Wyley slipped up a little finishing 26th and moved one place back to 5th overall. Stage 5The severest stage of the race. Primes on each of the four circuits and one on the main linking road to give a total of 14 major ascents. The final circuit featured three climbs of the 1.6-mile ‘Wall’ at Ashdown Forest. The Munster team were in evidence at the front in the early stages. Martin O’Loughlin fpought back with three others chasing down 14 escapees but was absorbed by one of the many ‘ability groups’ that appeared on road for the day. The race blew apart after Newton and House jumped away from the bunch to cross to the leaders one and a half minutes away in less than 5-miles. Danny Axford (Parrot Print Stilton RT) kept the speed high on the climbs to whittle the break down to himself plus three GB riders. Tom Southam attacked on the ‘wall’ and the rest is history. However, Axford's final effort saw him drop Newton first and then House had let the wheel go with 100m to go. Wyley came in 10-minutes down in 16th, O’Loughlin 24th, Gleeson 25th, Kiernan 29th and John Dempsey (Munster) 40th. GB took all the stage wins, top four on G.C and mountains and points jerseys too for Tom Southam. Final overall G.C.
Munster Team less O'Loughlin
London Irish
The Pictures Above are by Gerry McManus
Leading Group 1st Lap
John Horgan Leads Chase
Rory Wiley
The 5 Pictures above are by Ben Shorten PREVIEW: Anglo – Irish battle continues in Surrey five-day The
counties of Surrey and Sussex (UK) are again hosts to the Surrey League
Revolutions 5-Day stage race August 16th to 20th. 65
Elite and First category riders line up for the 459-mile event, which, in the
absence of any key national tours of the UK, is officially Britain’s longest
stage race. Carrick
Cidona rider and Team Ireland regular Martin O’Loughlin heads up a team
representing Munster. O’Loughlin has recently returned from a spell at the
Team Ireland house in Belgium and was second to Stephen O’Sullivan
(unattached) in the prestigious Gene Moriarty memorial road race. He is joined
by Paul Lonergan, Mick Twomey, last year’s third placed Timmy Barry and French
based Sean Lacey and John Dempsey fly in direct for the event. Last
year’s winner Paddy Moriarty returns to leads a team of guest riders for the London
Irish CC. He is supported by Rory Wyley, John Horgan, Mark Kiernan and
on-form Stephen O’Sullivan. Tour of the Border winner Rory Wyley will also be
able to make a strong contribution to the race and is anxious to do well having
missed the Manx Week due to illness. Moriarty
is not expected to get it all his own way this year with two strong GB teams
entered. Chris Newton, Paul Manning, Tim Buckle, Steve Cummings, Kieran Page and
Bryan Steel make up the ‘B’ team. Newton and Manning are well known in
Ireland for their strong riding in the FBD Milk Rás. Kristian House, Tony Gibb
and Phil West are the more recognisable riders from the ‘A’ team. Gibb won
the bronze medal on the track in the scratch race in the Commonwealth games but
the hilly final stage is not expected to suit the 26-year old who is currently
in Beijing for the next round of the track World cup. The
race includes a 2.4-mile time-trial around the Goodwood motor-racing circuit on
Sunday morning and the race moves out to the roads that once hosted the World
Race championships in the eighties in the afternoon. Tuesday’s
final stage is the most challenging around the Ashdown Forest with steep climbs
and fast descents. It was here that Moriarty launched his race-winning attack
last year as the slightly built Dubliner showed his true climbing capabilities. Stage
1
Herstmonceux
100.3 mls. Stage
2
Handcross
94.5 mls. Stage
3a
Goodwood ITT
2.4 mls. Stage
3b
Goodwood
84.3 mls Stage
4
Alfold Crossways
105.4 mls. Stage
5
Ashdown Forest
72.4 mls
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