48th Eddie Soens Memorial Cycle Race
Saturday 7th March 2009; Aintree Racecourse (Liverpool)
Report & Photos Larry Hickmott
Race sponsor -- Silverbeck Rymer Solictors
First report
The winner of the 2009 Eddie Soens is Halfords Bikehut rider, Ed Clancy. The Olympic Gold medallist found himself in the right place when Plowman Craven rider Tom Murray attacked two laps out and along with Matt Kipling, the three rode away from what was left of the break which had been clear of the rest for half the race. In the sprint, Clancy used his track speed to outsprint the others without even having to get out of the saddle. Murray was second and Kipling third.
The race
Arriving at Aintree, the weather was dry, the sky cloudy and already the Plowman Craven team had their truck and team cars in place and riders setting up up for the race with well over an hour to go. This event was the biggest of the year so far with many of the top teams here in strength including Plowman Craven and Halfords.
The course for the Eddie Soens is plan flat and a sprint is generally assured and on paper, the race suited the sprinters such as Rob Hayles, Dean Downing and Tony Gibb. The race started at 9.30 with the first of the four groups flagged away. Riders were divided up into their category groups with the first group including Elite women, Juniors and 4th category riders. The final group flagged away was the Scratch group of the Eite riders with the teams such as Plowman Craven and Halfords well represented.
Adam Yates and Tom Moses on the attack early on
The first group included Olympian Sharon Laws and a host of top GB women riders but it was the young male riders such as one of the Yates brothers, Adam, who started the action and very quickly two riders were off the front of the first group -- Tom Moses (Team Wallis CHH) and Adam yates (Sport City Velo). The pace in the front group eventually saw a small group of young riders form at the front and from that Tim Kennaugh and Simon Yates opened up a gap.
This break lasted until the Elite group were bearing down on them and first Simon Yates yielded and finally, Tim Kennaugh sat up and waited for the Elite group which was now a peloton of 100 or so riders. Prior to that junction having been made, there had been a lot of attacks from the Elite group including riders from Halfords and Plowman Craven.
The beginnings of the race winning break lead here by Tom Murray from Matt Kipling, Matt Brammeier and Evan Oliphant.
The final make up of the break, three Plowman Craven, Two Halfords Bikehut, two Kinesis and Matt Brammeier of An Post.
One lap Ian Wilkinson would attack and then a lap later, Liam Holhan would follow suit. That was the pattern of the race and the middle section of the race was certainly exciting as we waited to see whether a break would stick. Eventually a break did get away and it included three Plowman riders (Jon Mozley, Tom Murray and Evan Oliphant), Ian Wilkinson (Halfords Bikehut), Matt Brammeier (An Post) and Matt Kipling (Kinesis). Two more went across in the form of Ed Clancy and James Stewart to make a very formidable leading group.
The peloton, or at least the major teams in it such as Kinesis, Halfords and Plowman Craven, looked happy and the chase at the back was left to the likes of Rapha Condor, SiS and Sigma Sport with the likes of Matt Stephens. The lead of the break was never huge but they never looked like getting caught either and it was only with five or six laps to go when Matt Brammeier punctured and went back to the chase group which was over a dozen strong, that they started to get close to the leaders.
Ed Clancy leads the leading trip with two laps to go
But not close enough and the race was fought out between the riders in the break. Two laps out, not happy with two fast men Ed Clancy and Ian Wilkinson, Plowman Craven went on the attack and Tom Murray launched from the back of the group, Clancy saw the danger and went with him as did Matt Kipling. These three, all with teammates in the rest of the break behind, went away and stayed clear all the way to the line where without evening getting out of the saddle, Olympic champion Ed Clancy sprinted across the line, arm aloft to win the Eddie Soens ahead of Murray and Kipling.
Wilkinson won the sprint for fourth place to underline the speed of the Halfords riders.
Victory -- his first for Halfords Bikehut, Ed Clancy wins the 2009 Eddie Soens Memorial
Summary and Rider Reaction
The Eddie Soens Memorial race today at Aintree, complete with a special sprint for former organiser and Kirkby CC stalwart Ken Matthews, was interesting for many reasons. A field of 140 plus riders shows how popular the race is and from the moment the flag was dropped, there was no shortage of riders taking up the challenge and it was great to see the Yates brothers (Simon and Adam), Tom Moses and Tim Kennaugh to name but four who really did their best to stay away from the Elites for as long as they could.
The race also showed how powerful the Plowman Craven and Halfords Bikehut teams are but I expect in the Premiers and town centre circuit races to follow, when the others team are up to strength in the races to come, the two aforementioned teams will not have it all their own way. What was especially pleasing was to see Chris at Kinesis yet again put a team on the start line who did him proud and two of them made the break, Matt Kipling and James Stewart. They, and the rest of the team, then rode back to Southport afterwards!
It was also great to see Elite women like Katie Colclough sparing with the professional male riders so well done to all of the girls who had a hard work out. But what did the days winners and losers have to say afterwards.
Ed Clancy (1st): “This race wasn’t on my original planner leading up to the Track Worlds. I have spent two years in Belgium and there were some good guys in the team but this year I’m riding with Rob Hayles, Rob Partridge, Macca (Mark McNally) and a great bunch of lads and I really wanted to get out and race with them.”
“It’s the first season in a few years that I have really looked forward to riding my road bike. I just wanted to do this race and I am glad I did now! I didn’t feel so bad in the wheels in the bunch but then I went away with James Stewart (to chase the break) and he had good legs. We worked well together and we got across but once we did, I was really really struggling and sick all over myself.”
“It took me a good half an hour to come round and on the last few laps, I just happened to be in the right move. I thought I’d get the sprint but was praying the lads wouldn’t attack me because I really was quite dead.”
Matt Kipling (3rd), Ed Clancy (1st) and Tom Murray (2nd)
“Wilko was going better than I was today so we were hoping he could follow the moves and I’d was going to wait for the sprint but as it happened, Tom Murray attacked from the back which just happened to be where I was hanging on for grim death. I hung onto his wheel and that was how the race went and Wilko ended up going for the sprint.”
Saying to him he made the sprint look easy – not even getting out of the saddle, Ed as ever was quick to be modest “I don’t think I had the legs to get out of the saddle! It was a bit of the track style of sprinting by staying in the seat and I held them off by making them come the long way round.”
Tom Murray: “Coming up to the last lap, down the windy section, there were three of us from the team in there so it was up to us to take the race to them. I didn’t want Ed coming out of the last corner leading Ian Wilkinson out because it was always going to be tricky to beat either of them in a straight out sprint. I fancied my chances against Ed a little bit more”.
“I felt pretty strong out there even though I didn’t feel really really on top of it. I was certainly plugging away and fancied my chances at the finish and so am disappointed not to get him but he’s a hard rider to get around, especially in a tailwind.”
“We were keeping Evan (Oliphant) as fresh as we could in case it came down to a sprint and with me probably being the slowest of the three, it was up to me to make the attack to see what the other lads had. I have come to the Plowman team hoping to get a few more opportunities and make a bit more of a name for myself as a rider. So its disappointing not to have the win but its still a good start to the season.”
Matt Kipling, 3rd: “I’m really pleased with the race today and it’s a good start to the season and a confidence boost going into the first Premier Calendar race in Wales. We have a good strong team this year and it’s a new bunch of lads who are still gelling together.”
Matt Brameier: One disappointed rider was local Matt Brammeier. He explained that after a lot of high level pro races in Belgium and France, including Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, Belgium (UCI 1.1) he expected to have good legs and that he did indeed feel good on the roads at Aintree. Matt ended up racing the Eddie Soens after coming back to Liverpool to do a photo shoot for a sponsor.
“This is my local race and it is always good to perform well in them so it’s a shame I punctured” he explained as he got ready to go for a post race ride Matt however has a lot of other big races to look forward, UCI 1.1’s and semi classics before doing stage races in April. He says the An Post team are also probably doing the East Midlands Classic, one of the few events he’ll do in England. The others being the Road Race championships and the Tour of Britain.
Result
1. Ed Clancy Halfords Bikehut E 1:43:03
2. Tom Murray Plowman Craven Madison E st
3. Matthew Kipling KUK Kinesis E st
4. Ian Wilkinson Halfords Bikehut E @ 0:15
5. Evan Oliphant Plowman Craven Madison E st
6. James Stewart KUK Kinesis E st
7. Jon Mozley Plowman Craven Madison E st
8. Steve Lampier KUK Kinesis E @ 0:28
9. Rob Partridge Halfords Bikehut E st
10. Andy Tennant Halfords Bikehut E st
11. Dominic Jelfs Wyre Forest CRC 1 st
12. Dane Percival Wyre Forest CRC 2 st
13. Marc Perry Plowman Craven Madison E st
14. James Millard Plowman Craven Madison E st
15. Stephen Adams Plowman Craven Madison E st
16. Rhys Lloyd Rapha Condor E st
17. Matt Cronshaw Rapha Condor E st
18. Stephen Rudkin FP Mailing 2 st
19. Matthew Stephens Sigmasport E st
20. Kevin Byers Fietsen Tempo 2 st
21. Ben Greenwood Rapha Condor E st
22. Mark McNally Halfords Bikehut E st
23. Matt Brammeier An Post Sean Kelly Team E @ 0:36
24. Simon Yates Sportcity Velo J @ 1:57
25. Matt Bailey Halesowen A&CC J st
26. James Moss KUK Kinesis 1 st
27. Seb Batchelor Halfords Bikehut E st
28. Adam Yates Sportcity Velo J st
29. Giles Pidcock Epic Cycles-Viner RT 2M st
30. Tom Barras Plowman Craven Madison E st
31. Ross Creber Plowman Craven Madison E st
32. Simon Wilson Arctic Premier RT 1 st
33. Dean Downing Rapha Condor E st
34. Rob Hayles Halfords Bikehut E st
35. Richard Hepworth Arctic Premier RT 1 st
36. David Fletcher Halfords Bikehut E st
37. Tony Gibb Plowman Craven Madison E st
38. Jeroen Janssen Plowman Craven Madison E st
39. Matthew Limacher Onimpex Bioracer RT 3 st
40. Thomas Wieckowski Halesowen A&CC J st
41. Ian Bibby Halfords Bikehut E st
42. Stephen Ward BC PM 2 st
43. Joel Davison Glendene CC 2 st
44. Mark Jones Alf Jones Cycles 2 st
45. Graham Martin BC PM 2 st
46. Tom Moses Team Wallis CHH J st
47. David Hitchen New Brighton CC 2 st
48. Steve Davies Bioracer 2 st
49. Lucy Martin 100% Me EW st
50. Mike Cuming Raleigh Avanti 1 st
51. Vincent Veilleux KUK Kinesis 1 st
52. Mark Murgatroyd VC Bradford 2 @ 2:09
53. Jess Wieckowski Halesowen A&CC YA st
54. Chris Edwards Halesowen A&CC 2 st
56. Adam Wood Horwich CC 3 st
57. Daniel Fox BC PM 2 st
58. Lewis Balyckyi Team Wallis CHH J st
59. Alistair Rutherford Team SIS.com 2 st
60. Karl Freeman Team Corley Cycles 1 st
61. Tim Rowson Sportscover-Spuik 3 st
62. Annie Last Halfords EW st
63. Paul Thursfield Tunstall Wheelers 2 st
64. Mike Rowson JD Cycles 3 st
65. Alexandra Greenfield 100% Me EW st
66. Milan Sihelsky Southport CC 3 st
67. Robert Whitfield R Whitfield RT 3M st
68. John Guy R Whitfield RT 3M st
69. Christian Ellis Maxgear RT 2 st
70. David Clarke Pendragon Kalas E st
71. Sam Pedder GS Surosa 2 st
72. Graham Payne Preston CC 2M st
73. Ben Spurrier Team Mule Bar 3 st
74. Katie Colclough 100% Me EW st
75. Mark Lovatt Planet X RT 1 st
76. Nick Shaughnessy Team SIS.com 2 st
77. Andy Tinsley Team SIS.com EM st
78. David Christian Liverpool Century RC 3 st
79. Ashley Finn Herbalife/Wheelbase.co.uk 1 st
80. Christian Price www.agiskoviner.com 1 st
81. Joshua Andjelkovic Team Sabbath 2 st
82. Paul Bridgen BC PM 3 st
83. Peter Hey West Pennine RC 3M st
84. Graeme Norman New Brighton CC 2 st
85. Daniel Shoreman Yorkshire Velo 3 st
86. Iain Armstrong Team Wallis CHH 3 st
87. Martin Freeman Team Corley Cycles 1 st
88. Richard Moore Star Bikes RT 3M st
89. James Williamson Sigmasport 1 st
90. Jon Tiernan-Locke Plowman Craven Madison E st
91. Thomas Gregory Halesowen A&CC J st
92. Tim Kennaugh Manx Road Club J st
93. Dan Whelan Liverpool Century RC YA st
94. Maher Al-Ausi VC St Raphael 3 @ 2:45
95. Jack Pullar KUK Kinesis 1 @ 3:17
96. Lily Matthews 100% Me EW @ 2 laps
97. Sharon Laws Halfords EW st
98. Penny Rowson The Mischief Card.com JW @ 3 laps
99. Jessica Booth Halesowen A&CC JW @ 4 laps
100. Katie Fearnehough GS Surosa JW @ 5 laps
Points Competition
1. James Stewart KUK Kinesis E 5 pts
2. Tom Murray Plowman Craven Madison E 4 pts
3. Ian Wilkinson Halfords Bikehut E 4 pts
Ken Matthews Memorial Sprint
1. Ian Wilkinson Halfords Bikehut E
Category Awards
2nd Cat Dane Percival Wyre Forest CRC 2
3rd Cat Matthew Limacher Onimpex Bioracer RT 3
4th Cat Not Awarded
Junior Simon Yates Sportcity Velo J
Woman Lucy Martin 100% Me EW
Master C+ Giles Pidcock Epic Cycles-Viner RT 2M
Youth A 149 Jess Wieckowski Halesowen A&CC YA
Girls
1. Lucy Martin
2. Annie Last
3. Alexandra Greenfield
OTHER PHOTOS (photo album to come)
End of lap 1 and Plowman Craven take control at the front of the Scratch group.
The large front group was soon in peices as the youngsters in it drove the lead group along
The sun came out, the temperatures were mild and over 100 riders were racing -- a great day out all in all!
Simon Yates and Tim Kennaugh (left) during their early break
The two leaders are cheered on by the crowd watching the race
A Plowman rider makes a move off the front. Even before the leaders had been caught, the riders in the Elite group were well up to attach each other and get a small group going.
Ian Wilkinson makes a move so typical of this very special rider.
A lap later, its Rapha Condor's Liam Holohan's turn
Rob Hayles applying the pressure at the front ahead of Rob Partridge.
The break lead by Matt Brammeier.
The chase group lead here by Dean Downing with Ed Clancy just behind
James Stewart leads Ed Clancy as the duo cross to the break, the last riders to do so.
Andrew Tinsley of Science in Sport leads the chase in the peloton
All category of riders mixing it at the front of the peloton. Centre of picture is Matt Stephens (Sigma Sport) and third from right, is Olympic Academy rider Katie Colclough who is up there competing with the male pros. Its what makes the Eddie Soens so special, to see riders like Katie and the young juniors, racing along the top male riders.
James Stewart takes on Ian Wilkinson for a mid race sprint.
Matt Stephens as ever, giving it everything chasing the break.
What must he have been thinking... Matt Brammeier, one of the strong riders in the break, is stopped in his tracks by a puncture and waits for the wheel to be put in.
And then takes his anger out by dragging the chase group around after the break a lap earlier he was part of.
Ian Wilkinson turns round to Ed Clancy to see how he is.
Ian Wilkinson wins the sprint for fourth -- just!
Simon Yates winning a bunch sprint
Previous Winners 1962-2007
1962 Bruce O'Prey Liverpool Premier
1963 Doug Dailey Kirkby CC
1964 Doug Dailey Kirkby CC
1965 Ken Hill Liverpool Mercury RC
1966 Billy Whiteside Kirkby CC
1967 Pete Matthews Liverpool Mercury RC
1968 Les West Tunstall Wheelers
1969 Billy Whiteside Kirkby CC
1970 Doug Dailey Kirkby CC
1971 John Clewarth Kirkby CC
1972 Andy Whitehead Deeside Olympic
1973 Willi Moore Merseyside Wheelers
1974 Brian Rourke Tunstall Wheelers
1975 Kevin Apter Kirkby CC
1976 Ian Hallam Beeston RC
1977 Doug Dailey Kirkby CC
1978 Terry Dolan Liverpool Mercury RC
1979 Alan Nichols East Bradford CC
1980 Bob Barlow Manchester Police CC
1981 Phil Thomas Liverpool Mercury RC
1982 Gary Sadler GS Strada
1983 Neil Mitchell Kirkby CC
1984 Dennis Lightfoot Manchester Wheelers
1985 Eamonn Rooney VC Slough
1986 Karl Smith Clayton Velo
1987 Eamonn Rooney Alpha CC
1988 Bernie Burns Bradford Wheelers
1989 Pete Maxwell Kirkby CC
1990 Mark Gornall Manchester Wheelers
1991 Julie Hill Liverpool Mercury RC
1992 Matt Illingworth GS Strada
1993 Simon Lillistone North Wirral Velo
1994 Matt Illingworth North Wirral Velo
1995 Dave Williams RT Italia
1996 Dave Williams Team Ambrosia
1997 Glen Holmes Adidas Sci-con
1998 Matt Bottrill North Wirral Velo
1999 Steve Cummings Birkenhead North End CC
2000 Julian Ramsbottom Scunthorpe Poly CC
2001 Tony Gibb Team Quest
2002 Tony Gibb Team PCA - Orbea
2003 Chris Newton Corima RT
2004 Tony Gibb Plowman Craven RT
2005 Rob Hayles Recycling.co.uk
2006 Event cancelled due to snow
2007 Ian Stannard Team 100% Me
2008 Tony Gibb Plowman Craven
RELATED LINKS
Preview of 2009 Event