51st Archer Grand Prix 2006
9th of April, 2006; Elite/1/2 Premier Calendar, 190km
Report and photographs by Larry Hickmott (larryhickmott@britishcycling.org.uk)
Archer GP Support races (includes photos)
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Above: Polish rider for Team Nippo/KFS, Mariusz Wiesiak, beats Plowman Craven rider Malcolm Elliot to the line to win the Archer Grand Prix 2006.
The warning signs had been there from Mariusz Wiesiak recent victories in Belgium, and although he seemingly suffered over the climbs of Whiteleaf Hill, a 1 in 7 brute of a climb the riders had to race over five times, the 25 year old Polish rider was simply far too quick for the rest in the final gallop to the line.
At the start of the day with the sun shining and a cold chill in the air, a field of over 100 riders lead by an impressive group of police and NEG outriders rode out of the Archer GP headquarters at Hazelmere (above) to start the transition ride to the circuit based around Princess Risborough. During the neutralised section, the service cars were kept busy with a number of riders experiencing problems.
On the way out to the main circuit, a group of 10 riders escaped and with many of the big teams represented including two of the favourites in Wiesiak and David Clarke, the signs were there that the break had the makings of a winning move. Whilst and Dale Appleby lead the break over Whiteleaf for the first time, many in the bunch were struggling with more than one exiting the race there and then with one rider later seen going back for his broken chain, the source of his retirement I assume.
Second time up the climb, we were given the names of the riders in the break from race radio; they were Matt Talbot (Glendene CC), Mariusz Wiesiak (Team Nippo), Craig Butland (Plowmen Craven RT), Danny Axford (Arctic-Shorter-Rochford), Ian Wilkinson (Science in Sport), Dale Appleby, Rob Partridge (both Recycling.co.uk), Matt Stephens (Sigma Sport), Dave Clarke (Team Nioppo) and Stephen Gallagher (Giant Asia RT).
With a healthy lead of three minutes on the bunch which didn't seem that interested, towards the end of lap two, two riders attacked to try and get a chase going, Duncan Urquhuart (Agisko/Dart) and Karl Freeman (Team Milton Keynes). This seemed to help jump start the bunch who were about to make the junction with them near the top of Whiteleaf on the third ascent of the Chiltern climb. There was by now a noticeable change in the way the riders were attacking the climb with some of the favourites such as Malcolm Elliot and Ben Greenwood not far from the front as they crossed the top of the hill.
Arctic rider, Danny Axford leads the winning break that was away all day, up the climb on lap 2 just ahead of KOM winner David Clarke.
The decisive moment number 2 -- Sharman puts the hammer down up the climb and Elliott responds along with Ben Greenwood and Phil Dixon. They broke clear of the bunch and crossed the gap to the break within a lap.
Another 15 mile lap went by in extra quick time now and the gap of over three minutes between break and bunch had been reduced to under two minutes by the bunch which was now starting to splinter under the pressure of four riders who were a few seconds clear near the top of Whiteleaf; , Malcolm Elliott (Plowman Craven), Phil Dixon (Science in Sport), Robin Sharman and Ben Greenwood (both Recycling.co.uk).
With the weather getting colder by the minute, snow had been predicted for the tops of the Chilterns, the race was starting to hot up just nicely and whilst the riders carried on for one more loop, I moved onto the finishing circuit where they would have five laps to do. As I drove to the finishing loop, the small group of riders, Elliot, Sharman, Greenwood, and Dixon joined the leaders who were starting to shed riders whilst behind, the bunch look resigned to never seeing the front again.
Above: Early days on the finishing circuit before the attacks and long started to take affect and the group split over the closing stages of the 120 mile race. Here the bunch is lead by eventual winner Wiesiak and Matt Stephens.
On the finishing circuit, as the rain start to come down again and black clouds were heading our way, what remained of the lead group as they arrived at the finishing circuit remained intact for the first few laps until the non-sprinters like Matt Stephens, Robin Sharman and Ben Greenwood had a dig or two to get away. The increase in pace saw the lead group split with only six of the best remaining: Mariusz Wiesiak, Malcolm Elliot, Robin Sharman, Stephen Gallagher, Phil Dixon and Ben Greenwood who had won the first round of the Premier calendar.
Of those in the group, Elliott (pictured right) and Wiesiak were favourites for the win as they had the speed to in the race from a group like this but the Polish rider wasn't leaving anything to chance and he attacked with a kilometre to go. Only Elliott was able to respond and in the sprint, the British rider went past him with 150 metres to go only for the Polish rider to hit back in the closing metres and take the victory.
Catching up with Malcolm just beyond the line as he caught his breath and had a face wipe to clear the grim that built up over the last five hours, his first reaction was to say "I'm pretty pleased on a day like today in my first long race of the season. I'm more than happy with that to be honest. I don't quite know what happened at the finish there. I didn't haven't bad legs but he was mighty quick. I came past him at 150 to go on the left and he came round the back of me and got me again. I was kind of dying in the last 50 metres but he had some legs to come back at me like that."
Asked did the early break surprise him, Malcolm replied "it's a long race and its hard to know how its going to pan out. Its early season so people haven't got many indicators of form to go on so it was hard to predict. There were some good riders in that break of 10 and so with two big laps to go I got away with Ben Greenwood, Robin Sharman (and Phil Dixon) and they rode really quite hard on the climb. It was at that time too that the break was starting to disintegrate and we came across at the right time."
"By that time I was expecting to have bad legs but with a lap to go, I was off the front on the finishing circuit, and I was starting to feel quite strong which makes me pretty happy overall. It's a shame it wasn't a win but I can quite safely say I was beaten by a faster bloke on the day. I knew he was good but it would have been useful to know how good. It would have been useful to know how he had won the races in Belgium because I might have played it a little different."
"He actually attacked just over a k to go, he went really hard and they all kind of gave up and that's how I came to go roaring after him and I got up to him and as I came up to him, he sat up, and I did start jump him again but he had held a bit back. He had all the bases covered really. He knew what he was doing."
Above: On the right leading the break is Robin Sharman.
Third in the race was Robin Sharman who like me has just returned from Australia which was probably why we were both feeling the cold in temperatures of two or three degrees. Unlike me, Robin wasn't as warmly dressed and as he shivered on the podium I got a quick reaction before letting him go to get a warm. "That was tough" he said of the race. "Having done the Games, I've missed a lot of racing with races being snowed off in the early part of the season so my form is still not brilliant."
"I have done a lot of training and base miles so I'm pleased. Sort of pleased, we could have done with winning it after having had four in the break but everyone's legs were a bit shot by the end.
Talking about the task of getting across to the break, he said "that was tough. Malcolm and Phil did some work with us and that helped us get across. It would have been a slog otherwise."
Robin like many in the Recycling outfit will be now looking to do quite a few races overseas whilst Ben Greenwood heads to Italy with the Under 23 Academy riders to tackle the big races there. For Robin and many of his teammates, their itinerary sounds like a Tour of Europe with races in Scotland, France, Hungary, Dennmark, and Norway to come in the next few months.
Podium: 2nd, Malcolm Elliott, Mariusz Wiesiak (1st) and Robin Sharman (3rd) after winning the group sprint between the two leaders.
Cycling.TV had their cameras their to capture the action away from the other cameras and will be airing the program soon on their website. Here David Clarke is interview before the race by Rebecca.
Result (Official, thanks to Chief Judge Trevor Reade)
1. Mariusz Wiesiak, Nippo - KFS Special Vehicles 120 miles in 4:53.26
2. Malcolm Elliot, Plowmen Craven RT Opera/Leica G same time
3. Robin Sharman, Recycling.co.uk @ 2 secs
4. Stephen Gallagher, Giant Asia RT same time
5. Philip Dixon, Science In Sport.com Science In same time
6. Ben Greenwood, Recycling.co.uk @ 7 secs
7. Robert Partridge, Recycling.co.uk @ 50 secs
8. Dale Appleby, Recycling.co.uk @ 52 secs
9. Matt Stephens, Sigma Sport Sigma Sport same time
10. David Clarke, Nippo - KFS Special Vehicles @ 54 secs
11. Kristian House, Recycling.co.uk @ 3 mins 15 secs
12. Kazuya Okazaki, Nippo - KFS Special Vehicles same time
13. Martin Ford, Lloyds TSB Lloyds TSB/P&O Ferri same time
14. Greg Roche, Nippo - KFS Special Vehicles same time
15. Kazuyuki Manabe, Nippo - KFS Special Vehicles @ 3 mins 18 secs
16. James Williamson, Agisko-Dart-Cycling.tv Agisko/D @ 3 mins 20 secs
17. Kevin Dawson, Agisko-Dart-Cycling.tv Agisko/D @ 4 mins 31 secs
18. Tony Gibb, Plowmen Craven RT Opera/Leica G @ 4 mins 39 secs
19. Andy Lyons, Heroncyclesport Pixel Works/Con same time
20. Ross Adams, Red Kite Cycles/Torq Bar Specia same time
21. Daniel Duguid, Sigma Sport Sigma Sport same time
22. Paul Oldham, Hope Factory Racing same time
23. Mark McKay, Glendene CC/Biketrax Specialise same time
24. Gavin Evans, PM same time
25. Dave Coulson, JE James RT JE James Cycles/Dir same time
26. Gareth Hewitt, JE James RT JE James Cycles/Dir same time
27. Sean Polson, VC Azzuri same time
28. David McCann, Gateway RT Gateway Cycles same time
29. Matthew Higgins, JE James RT JE James Cycles/Dir same time
30. Roy Chamberlain, Team Milton Keynes Phil Corley same time
31. James Dobbin, Shorter Rochford RT same time
32. Danny Axford, Shorter Rochford RT same time
33. Ian Wilkinson, Science In Sport.com Science In same time
34. Daniel Loyd, Giant Asia RT same time
35. Yoshiyuka Shimizu, Nippo - KFS Special Vehicles same time
36. Duncan Urquhart, Agisko-Dart-Cycling.tv Agisko/D @ 5 mins 24 secs
37. Adam Norris, Plowmen Craven RT Opera/Leica G @ 11 mins 9 secs
38. Simon Lawn, Sigma Sport Sigma Sport same time
39. Colin Roshier, Team Quest - The Bike Shop same time
40. Mark Wordsworth, JE James RT JE James Cycles/Dir same time
41. Mike Harrison, Sigma Sport Sigma Sport same time
42. Joel Stewart, www.agiskoviner.com/Liphook Agi same time
43. Neil Coleman, Agisko-Dart-Cycling.tv Agisko/D same time
44. Matthew Charity, Velo Nottingham same time
45. Matt Melville, awcycles.co.uk/Giant same time
46. Henry Furniss, Ride Beyond/Bike & Run same time
47. Alistair Kay, York Cycleworks York Cycleworks same time
48. Gareth Jones, Team Fuji UK Fuji Bikes same time
49. Lee Davis, Pinarello RT DMT/Giordana/Pinar same time
50. Tom Crouch, Team Milton Keynes Phil Corley @ lap
51. Chris Bartlett, Glendene CC/Biketrax Specialise @ lap
52. David McClean, Heroncyclesport Pixel Works/Con @ lap
PRIMES
Whiteleaf Hill - Lap 1
1st Dale Appleby Recycling.co.uk 3 points
2nd Danny Axford Artic - Shorter Rochford RT 2 points
3rd David Clarke Nippo - KFS Special Vehicles 1 point
Whiteleaf Hill - Lap 2
1st Craig Butland Plowmen Craven RT Opera/Leica Geosystems 3 points
2nd David Clarke Nippo - KFS Special Vehicles 2 points
3rd Danny Axford Artic - Shorter Rochford RT 1 point
Whiteleaf Hill - Lap 3
1st Craig Butland Plowmen Craven RT Opera/Leica Geosystems 3 points
2nd David Clarke Nippo - KFS Special Vehicles 2 points
3rd Danny Axford Artic - Shorter Rochford RT 1 point
Whiteleaf Hill - Lap 4
1st David Clarke Nippo - KFS Special Vehicles 3 points
2nd Danny Axford Artic - Shorter Rochford RT 2 points
3rd Dale Appleby Recycling.co.uk 1 point
Whiteleaf Hill - Lap 5
1st David Clarke Nippo - KFS Special Vehicles 3 points
2nd Malcolm Elliott Plowmen Craven RT Opera/Leica Geosystems 2 points
3rd Ben Greenwood Recycling.co.uk 1 point
Overall
1st David Clarke Nippo - KFS Special Vehicles 11 points
2nd Danny Axford Artic - Shorter Rochford RT 6 points
3rd Dale Appleby Recycling.co.uk 4 points
4th Malcolm Elliott Plowmen Craven RT Opera/Leica Geosystems 2 points
5th Ben Greenwood Recycling.co.uk 1 point
Above: King of the Mountains, David Clarke gets his jersey and Viner frame from organiser Stuart Cooke.
100 Starters
52 Finishers
PREMIER CALENDAR TABLE
1. Ben Greenwood ***, Recycling.co.uk Race Team, 151
2. Kristian House, Recycling.co.uk Race Team, 110
3. Matt Stephens, Sigma Sport, 109
4. Mariusz Wiesiak (POL), Team Nippo - KFS Special Vehicles, 100
5. Phil Dixon, Science In Sport.com, 87
6. Malcolm Elliott, Plowman Craven RT, 85
7. Rob Sharman, Recycling.co.uk Race Team, 75
8. James Dobbin, Arctic - Shorter Rochford RT*, 66
Stephen Gallagher, Giant Asia RT, 66
10. James Williamson, Agisko-Dart-Cycling.tv, 61
11. Chris Burrows, Agisko-Dart-Cycling.tv, 58
12. Kevin Dawson, Agisko-Dart-Cycling.tv, 47
13. Alistair Kay, York Cycleworks, 45
Rob Partridge, Recycling.co.uk Race Team, 45
15. Dale Appleby, Recycling.co.uk Race Team, 39
16. Graham Briggs, Agisko-Dart-Cycling.tv, 34
17. David Clarke, Team Nippo - KFS Special Vehicles, 29
18. Henry Furniss, Ride Beyond - Bike & Run Racing Team, 25
19. Greg Roche, Team Nippo - KFS Special Vehicles, 23
20. Jack Woodward, Science In Sport.com, 21
Kazuya Okazaki (JAP), Team Nippo - KFS Special Vehicles, 21
22. Sean Polson, VC Azzurri, 18
Martin Ford, Team Lloyds TSB, 18
24. Ian Wilkinson, Science In Sport.com, 15
Paul Wilkes, De Rosa RT, 12
26. Kazuyuki Manabe (JAP), Team Nippo - KFS Special Vehicles, 12
27. Mark Mckay, Glendene CC / Bike Trax, 10
28. Gary Hand, Agisko-Dart-Cycling.tv, 6
Tony Gibb, Plowman Craven RT , 6
30. Adam Weaver, Doncaster Whls CC, 4
Andy Lyons, Heron Cyclesport, 4
32. Jonathan Copp, Deeside Thistle RT, 2
Ross Adams, Red Kite Cycles/Torq Bar, 2
*** The leading UK Espoir at the end of the Series wins a
Club La Santa Bike Week holiday in February 2007
Remaining Races
15/17, April, Girvan Stage Race, Girvan
07-May, Lincoln Grand Prix, Lincoln
28-May, Rutland to Melton CiCLE Classic, Rutland, Leics.
11-Jun, Five Valleys Road Race, Port Talbot
09-Jul, The Rydale Grand Prix, Duncombe Park, Yorks
14-Aug, Havant Grand Prix, Havant, Hampshire
11-Sep, Tour of the Peak, Buxton
TBC, Tour of the Pendle, Lancashire
RELATED LINKS:
Preview: >Archer GP Preview
Premier Calendar, Round 1: >Tour of the Reservoir
Link to Tour of Reservoir Broadcast: >CyclingTV
Cycling TV News: Premier Calendar on TV
