Tour of Pendle
August 10, 2008; Sponsored by cottages4you
A British Cycling Premier Calendar Event
Report and photos Larry Hickmott
Home Page for Premier Calendar Series
Nelson (Sunday, August 10): Rob Hayles (Halfords Bikehut) has won the Tour of Pendle, the latest round of the Premier Calendar. Hayles won the race along after attacking the break he was in on a downhill section as they came into the Lancashire town to start a finishing loop around the town. Second was Series leader Russell Downing (Pinarello) and third Ben Greenwood (Rapha Condor).
Photo Albums: You will find three photo albums linked to the Gallery buttons at the top of the page. The first one is a series of images that show the race from start to finish -- use the slideshow and see how it all unfolded. In Gallery 2 and 3, more pictures of the race.
The Race Story
When I left home to travel to Pendle, the Women's Olympic Road Race had not even started but I knew I was going to miss it on TV which was a shame as I had high hopes for the Brits after their preparation for the race had gone almost to plan (Sharon's broken ankle was not part of the plan!) What I didn't realise was the race in Beijing and Pendle were going to have two common themes -- they were both great spectacles and secondly saw the riders rained on in a big way.
Arriving at the Thatch & Thistle Public House in Nelson I was greeted by a very tired Rob Hayles, well early for the race by some two hours and cursing the person who told him it would take two hours to get there when 50 minutes was closer to the mark. Little did we know it was not to affect his race!
After the normal pre race activity, the riders lined up for the ride to the start under police escort. At the start in Nelson, the mayoress of Pendle flagged the riders away at 9.30am with British Cycling president Brian Cookson looking on.
The Mayoress off Pendle drops the flag and starts the race in Nelson at 9.30am
It was an easy enough ride out of the town during the neutralised section of the race which included a rather tasty climb that I bet a few riders were glad wasn't part of the race, at least at this stage. When the flag was finally pulled in, there were a few skimishes including the sight of Andy Tinsley (Pearl Izumi) and one of the PedalPower riders started to get active.
It was Halfords Bikehut rider Tom Southam however who made the first real sticky break for freedom on the climb out of the town. After a few miles of freedom, he was joined by local Paul Oldham (Hope RT) and Jon Locke of the Mid Devon CC who lasted only a few miles of the climb before going back to the bunch.
The climb, several miles long but still the riders were using the big ring for it, also saw the rain fall out of the sky and being blown horizontal into the riders as they climbed the hill towards the king of the mountains near the top. Three riders attacked out of the peloton to chase them, Kit Gilham (Kinesis), Graham Briggs (Rapha Condor) and Gray Hand (Pedal Power) and soon joined them to make five leaders.
Halfords Bikehut rider Tom Southam was the main attacker early on, and eventually was joined by Paul Oldham and one other from Mid Devon. Jon Locke.
Despite the weather being appalling, and the distance still to be covered, the bunch was also very active and chase groups were forming and failing all the time including a few digs by overwhelming series leader Russell Downing. This constant pressure in the bunch eventually saw them bring back the leaders and as ever, more attacks followed like one from Ben Greenwood, another from Russell Downing, Matt Stephens, and one of the KFS riders who managed to open a gap.
It says a lot for the fitness of the riders at this level that despite the terrain which was very lumpy, the howling wind and the constant attacks, that still the big group remained intact for most of the race.
It wasn't until Matt Stephens drilled it out of a bend and up a slight drag into the wind that the next real break of the race was formed. With him went Tom Murray (Pinarello) and Ben Greenwood. Chases came and went but the gap to the trio out front soon grew and grew. For what seemed like a long time, over a lap of the course which was to be covered three times, the leaders hammered away at the front while the chase went on behind.
After the Southam attack had been brought back, and a lot of attacks to create a new break, Matt Stephens leads three away during a frenzied period of attacks
Mark Lovatt who made such a name for himself in the Tour of the Peaks used the big ring to good effect and joined Alex Coutts (Giant Asia) to chase them and when that failed, Paul Oldham had another go and was joined by Russell Downing.
Whilst the leaders, and yours truly were drenched in a heavy downpour, the lead to the break did finally start to come down and soon they were in sight as the feed zone came into view. Three riders jumped clear of a large chase group that had split from the peloton, Daniel Patten (PCA/Ciclos UNO), Will Bjerfelt (Felt Racing) and Kit Gilham. A few seconds behind them another chase was going on, Rob Hayles (Halfords Bikehut) and Graham Briggs (Rapha Condor).
These five riders soon joined the leading three and just when the break appeared to be going back to the peloton, the gap opened up as they headed for the final lap of the course. With the strong teams like Rapha represented in the break with a strong sprinter (Briggs) and Sigma Sport too with Stephens, the chase was never really that organised looking as Kevin Dawson and Russell Downing had spells at the front and after a while, a split did happen.
Riders in the front split included Ian Wilkson (Science in Sport), Andrew Roche (Pinarello), Robin Sharman (Sigmasport), Tom Southam (Halfords Bikehut), Kristian House (Rapha Condor), Rob Partridge (Rapha Condor), Russell Downing (Pinarello), Marcin Bialoblocki and Mark Thwaites (Sport Beans), Alex Coutts (Giant Asia), Mark Lovatt (Planet-X) and others.
We were now getting close to Nelson and the final finishing loop and I had to leave the chase group and that enthralling race to see what was going to happen at front. After watching him look strong during the race, I was surprised to see Rob Hayles losing ground with Kit Gilham at one point as they got very close to the finishing circuit, around eight miles from home, and then, a short time later, on a wet descent, Hayles showed his cards.
Rob attacks! Matt Stephens tries to react but the British champ was in no mood for being caught.
He attacked and whilst Matt Stephens knew of the move and later apologised for not being able to go with him, the Sigma rider was unable to follow Hayles as he sprinted down the hill into Nelson.
Now I have seen Rob suffer on climbs and Nelson is far from flat but the British Champion was awesome as he bit by bit opened up the gap between himself and the chasers with his very own police escort. As we watched Rob tackle the big climb on the finishing circuit, not far behind Russell Downing was getting in among the original break. He was not however making much ground on Hayles who had over half a minute at the finish line as he sailed across the line, arms aloft and pleased with his days work.
Next, it was a sprint for second and even though it was uphill, climber Ben Greenwood who had been away all day was not going to beat the series leader and so Downing was second and Greenwood third. Behind Ben were two surprise and great rides of the day coming from Dan Patten and Will Bjerfelt who had their best placings at this level and very deserved they were too. Bjerfelt was especially impressive with his long turns on the front.
The presentation then followed and still the weather could not make its mind up whether it was going to rain or not. Whilst the scenery in Pendle had been fantastic and reminded me of the same around where I live near Rochdale, it was a grim day out in the countryside with the strong wind and at times torrential rain but despite all this the riders shrugged it all off as if that was a normal days work. Which these days it seems to be!
Only one round of the British Cycling Premier Calendar series remains and Russell Downing will be the winner but one thing can be sure, no matter what is happening in the series standings, its the riders who make each round of the series a great bike race and so it has been ever since the start of the series back in March. The Tour of Pendle was no different and well done to all of them for an enthralling race.
Post Race Reactions
Rob Hayles (Halfords Bikehut): “Evil ploy” is how Rob Hayles described the time near the finishing circuit when he was appearing to be dropped. “Saving my legs really. I felt Briggsy (Graham Briggs) was watching me and he was the one to watch for the finish if we were together.”
“It was alright up front” he said to it being an evil day. “There were some horrible bits obviously but I would rather have been where I was than like last week, chasing from behind.” “Asked how he got to the front group, he told us that he went across with Graham Briggs. I waited for a dead spot into the wind and the bunch kind of went across the road. I jumped virtually from a standing start and Briggsy was the only one who could come with me.”
After five miles alone including a rather steep difficult climb, Rob Hayles had enough to hold off the chasers. He was part of a small break that was being caught in the closing stages and he escaped before it was.
On the final finishing circuit where he was hurting which was to be expected on a very lumpy road, he said “I panicked a little bit. I realised we didn’t get a bell and wasn’t sure whether I was going to come round and see the bell or two to go or what because sadly I didn’t read the race manual!”
About the killer climb on that finishing circuit, he said “I am glad I was alone because I was into my rhythm by then. The form is coming just right for the Olympic road race!” On getting a ride in the Tour of Britain he says “I’m really happy with that. To have gone as good as I have gone today even though the form is not there and struggling a bit the last three or four weeks and feeling nearly human, its not very nice.”
Tom Murray (Pinarello), King of the mountains “In the three man break, Matt Stephens was pulling it along pretty hard and I spent the whole race trying to recover from Matt giving me a kicking in that first break. People kept coming up with fresh legs and it was hard work. I knew Russell was coming up and trying to save a bit to help him out but by the time he got to me I was pretty cooked.”
“I wasn’t expecting Rob to go and should have been on his wheel. I’ll get him next time! The wind was harder once you had dropped down the climb onto the main road. The first part of that main road section was block headwind. The climb was okay, a bit of a relief because you could tap up it at your own speed.”
Russell Downing (Pinarello): “When we got a time check on them at 50 seconds, I thought we can get them back but then everyone sat up and it was just me and Andy Roche doing the work. I was dead in the legs and there was some messing around and I let Andy ride off the front with Dan Smith I think and that was the perfect bridge for me on one of the last little drags. So I went and went past them and Andy was gassed because he had done a brilliant job of splitting it on the climb and working hard in the group.”
“I knew then I was going to have to keep going forward if I was going to catch that front group. I caught them, was with them for 100 metres and then attacked over the climb. I knew Rob was away and didn’t feel I was going to catch him. Then Ben and some others came across to me.”
On his quite special looking new Pinarello Prince which was red and yellow and looked the business when he arrived at the start on it, he explained “It was working very well today. I got it on Thursday and have ridden it a few times since. It is a really nice bike which was getting blown around today – I had better put some weight on!”
After catching the break in the closing stages, Russell Downing had the strength to beat them to the line including Ben Greenwood who was a member of a three man break that dominated the race and was strengthened in the final half of the race. Even more remarkable was Ben was suffering from a migraine for most of the race and could only see out of one eye!
Ben Greenwood: Rapha Condor/recycling: “About halfway through, I got a migraine and pretty much could not see out of my right eye. I nearly crashed on the descent at one point. I spoke to John in the car and said I’m going to struggle like this but somehow I managed to ride through it and start to see better.”
“If one of the others had got across, I would have got off but I had no choice but to ride and I got third. Rob was just too strong on the descents and I can’t pedal fast enough. I wanted to attack on the climbs but I was pretty dead. Russ came from no-where – I didn’t expect it. When he did, that spurred me on to chase after him and get on his wheel. There were another two guys with us but I was confident I could outsprint for third.”
“I was so happy to get on the podium because I have had such a tough season. I didn’t race the first half of the year because of my knee injury and didn’t start racing until June and with every race I have got better and better. Sixth last week, third this week, hopefully in the Tour of Ireland and Tour of Britain I can be back to my normal self.”
“The way the climbs are for this race they are not that hard. They just wear you down and it was just such a hard day especially when it was just the three of us. It was unbelievably hard into the headwind after the climbs. I don’t think any of us recovered from that effort. It was good when the rest came across as the three of us were suffering so much.”
Dean Downing (Rapha Condor/Recycling): “"I had a real hard race last Sunday with lots of chest problems and flem coming off my chest, and all this week I have been struggling with sleeping properly after having coughing fits in the middle of the night. Today was a bad day on the bike for me. The second time up the climb I was on the back and I couldn’t breath any harder and I got popped from the bunch, that was it game over for me. I have got to rest now and take some antibiotics and get back on track for the Tour Ireland in 17 days.”
RACE STORY IN PICTURES
As ever, British Cycling was fortunate to have motorcycle pilot John Greatorex to carry our photographer around the race in the rain and wind to capture the action from the moment the flag was dropped to the time the winner crossed the line.
At the race headquarters there were plenty of police motorbikes ready to go out and keep the race safe along with the NEG and volunteer marshalls. The race also had plenty of police in cars and on foot in the towns keeping the race safe.
One of the first pictures of the race after the neutralised section had finished.
Andy Tinsley has a dig for the Pearl Izumi team.
Kit Gilham has a go at going clear to chase the leaders
Matt Stephens (Sigam Sport), Ben Greenwood and Tom Murray lead the race for a long time, and built up a big gap only to be nearly caught before fresh legs arrived to help them out.
Arctic Premier have a go at chasing Stephens and co.
Alex Coutts was very active trying to get a chase going after the break.
Kit Gilham leads the reinforcements for the Stephens lead break. With him are Daniel Patten, (PCA Ciclos Uno)
and Felt racings Will Bjerfelt.
The moment when the Stephens break almost came back with the three chasers about to make contact and Rob Hayles and Graham Briggs not that far behind.
Dan Patten swings over and Kit Gilham takes over at the front for the break that at one point had almost two minutes and looked to be the break to go all the way with many of the teams happy in the bunch to let it go. Russell Downing though kick started the chase and almost got yet another win, denied by the only rider to deny a Downing in a Premier this year, Rod Hayles, winner of the Beamont Trophy as well.
With the pouring rain horizontal, the sun shines through as Matt Stephens drives clear of the break
Will Bjerfelt was certainly strong today and doing long turns at the front. He misjudged the finish however thinking there was three laps to be covered.
The chase group breaks clear of the peloton
The chasers led here by series leader Russell Downing who came back from almost two minutes back 15 miles or so out to catching all but Rob Hayles. Those in the chase group included Mark Lovatt who was very active today, Robin Sharman, and Mark Thwaites.
The break distancing Rob Hayles, or were they! The break at this point was Matt Stephens, Ben Greenwood and Tom Murry (members of the orginal three man break) plus Will Bjerfelt, Daniell Patten, Graham Briggs, and Rob Hayles. Kit Gilham has just been dropped.
On the final climb, alone, Rob was suffering but so was everyone else!
Out flying the flag on a great day for British cycling
More pictures from Peter Booth
RESULT
1. Robert Hayles Team Halfords - Bikehut 03:31:38
2 Russ Downing Pinarello R.T. @ 36"
3 Ben Greenwood Rapha-Condor /Recycling.co.uk @ 37"
4 Daniel Patten PCA / Ciclos UNO s.t.
5 Will Bjerfelt Felt Racing @ 41"
6 Matthew Stephens Sigmasport/Specialized/Sportful @ 51"
7 Tom Murray Pinarello R.T. @ 58"
8 Robin Sharman Sigmasport/Specialized/Sportful @ 1' 09"
9 Mark Lovatt Planet X R.T. s.t.
10 Alex Coutts Giant Asia R.T. @ 1' 11"
11 Graham Briggs Rapha-Condor /Recycling.co.uk @ 1' 31"
12 Marcin Bialoblocki Sport Beans-Wilier @ 1' 33"
13 Rob Partridge Rapha-Condor /Recycling.co.uk @ 1' 40"
14 James Moss MTS cycle Sport / Inkland @ 1' 46"
15 James Sampson Kinesis U.K. s.t.
16 Andy Roche Pinarello R.T. @ 1' 50"
17 Tom Southam Team Halfords - Bikehut @ 1' 52"
18 Martin Ford Private Member @ 2' 12"
19 Daniel Smith Team Lacuna s.t.
20 Kristian House Rapha-Condor /Recycling.co.uk @ 2' 15"
21 Malcolm Elliott Pinarello R.T. @ 2' 31"
22 Simon Holt Rapha-Condor /Recycling.co.uk s.t.
23 Gary Hand Pedalpower.org.uk/Endura R.T. @ 2' 33"
24 Liam Holohan Pearl Izumi/Planet X/high 5 @ 2' 34"
25 Richard Kent Scienceinsport-Trek @ 2' 36"
26 Peter Williams Pinarello R.T. s.t.
27 Mark Thwaites Sport Beans-Wilier s.t.
28 Michael Nicolson Glasgow Wheelers @ 2' 44"
29 Matthew Kipling Pinarello R.T. @ 2' 49"
30 Neil Coleman KFS Special Vehicles / Sunday Bicycles s.t.
31 Richard Sykes-Popham KFS Special Vehicles / Sunday Bicycles s.t.
32 Dan Duguid Sigmasport/Specialized/Sportful s.t.
33 Simon Wilson Arctic Premier R.T. s.t.
34 Lee Davis Pinarello R.T. @ 2' 51"
35 David Clarke Team Lacuna s.t.
36 Jack Adams Pendragon / Loughborough Uni s.t.
37 Andrew Magnier Brooks Cycles s.t.
38 Craig Stevenson Boneshakersbikes.com s.t.
39 David Lines Pedalpower.org.uk/Endura R.T. s.t.
40 James Stewart KFS Special Vehicles / Sunday Bicycles s.t.
41 Callum Sewell Leeds Mercury C.C. s.t.
42 Garreth Hewitt KFS Special Vehicles / Sunday Bicycles s.t.
43 Richard Hepworth Wakefield C.C. s.t.
44 Wouter Sybrandy Sigmasport/Specialized/Sportful @ 2' 56"
45 Kevin Dawson Sportscover / J.E. James s.t.
46 Ashley Finn Lune R.C.C. @ 2' 58"
47 Mark Wordsworth Team Corley Cycles s.t.
48 Jon Mozley Pearl Izumi/Planet X/high 5 s.t.
49 Daniel Drake Lancashire R.C. @ 3' 03"
50 James Williamson Sigmasport/Specialized/Sportful @ 3' 05"
51 Ashley Brown Sportscover / J.E. James @ 3' 20"
52 Matthew Cronshaw Kinesis U.K. @ 3' 23"
53 Richard Cartland Team Corley Cycles @ 3' 33"
54 Ian Wilkinson Scienceinsport-Trek @ 3' 36"
55 Mike Rudling SP Systems / Wightlink @ 4' 03"
56 Callum Wilkinson Bicycleworks.com @ 4' 04"
57 Kit Gilham Kinesis U.K. @ 5' 04"
58 Tom Last Kinesis U.K. @ 5' 10"
59 Ryan Bonser Rapha-Condor /Recycling.co.uk s.t.
60 Jack Pullar Kinesis U.K. @ 5' 34"
61 Paul Oldham Hope Factory Racing s.t.
62 Steve Adams Pearl Izumi/Planet X/high 5 s.t.
63 Matthew Jones Pearl Izumi/Planet X/high 5 s.t.
64 Matthew Higgins Team Corley Cycles s.t.
65 Matthew Clinton KFS Special Vehicles / Sunday Bicycles s.t.