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Report: www.Marvinwatches.com Classic RR

29th August 2010 presented by www.rutrainingtoday.co.uk

The www.marvinwatches.com classic was held on Sunday 29th August in dry and temperate weather around the tough 4.97 mile Brentor circuit. A mix of professional and club racing cyclists took part in the 56 mile slog climbing the Brentor hill a total of ten times. The day started with the Women's race where Ali Holland (Shred Racing) took the win with a late attack during the last of the four laps to finish ahead of Emily McLoughin and Weibke Reitz. In fourth place was Emma Whittlesea of Yogi CC who won the South West Women's Road title. 

Ali Holland looking resplendent in her Pink www.sunwise.co.uk sunglasses smiles just before launching a devastating attack

Rapha Condor Sharp 1-2-3

The Men’s race was a hotly contested affair with a surprisingly strong field probably because of the attractive prize of an £2,000 M107 fine Swiss watch from www.marvinwatches.com. The beautiful M107 was enough to attract the likes of top teams Rapha Condor Sharp and Willier Big Maggys Prendas.

The start sheet had the names of many of the country's top riders in the UK including a Rapha Condor Sharp line up with the likes of Aussie Dean Windsor, Tom Southam, Zak Aussie Dempster and Graham Briggs.  Pendragon Le Col Colnago had also brought out the big guns with local legend Yanto Barker. Finally, Willer Big Maggys Prendas had a strong team with no 1 ranked UK rider, Marcin (the Polish express) Bialoblocki.

Riders from the www.probikekit.com team (pictured above) have been road testing the www.marvinwatches.com M108  over the last three months and this impressive timepiece has faced all the conditions that the British weather can throw at it, even an end-to-end challenge.

Darren Lapthorne and Zak Dempster on the long break which stayed the distance with Dempster winning the sprint against his Australian teammate.

The race started at a frenetic pace with early attacks from Pendragon’s Chris Opie and James Smith (Probikekit.com) although these were quickly nullified before John Locke (Rapha Condor Sharp) put in a strong early move up the Brentor climb. Again, this move was chased down by the Pendragon Le Col Colnago team with Yanto Barker particularly strong and aggressive.

Finally though, the elastic holding the peloton together broke and the two Australians Zak Dempster and Darren Lapthorne (Rapha Condor Sharp) pulled away to form the winning break. These two were never more than 30 seconds to a minute ahead of the bunch so it was by no means an easy race for them as they got in some important training miles for the forthcoming Tour of Britain. It was not until the bell lap that they knew they would stay away.

The favourite for the victory had to be Demspter who has worn the Points jersey in the Tour of Britain and so it was as the two leading riders came over the brow of the hill for the sprint and there were no favours between teammates as Zak Dempster narrowly took the victory from former Australian Road Race champion Darren Lapthorne.

Zak was over the moon about his victory “I really wanted that watch, I can’t believe it, this is the best I have won racing here in the UK”.

Making it a 1-2-3 for the men in black was Jonathon Tiernan-Locke who won a close sprint for the final podium place. It was, says the organiser, a wonderful professional racing atmosphere and he'd like to thank all the Marshalls, timekeepers, commissaries, photographer www.simonkeitch.com and of course the riders.

Results

Women's Road Race

1. Allison Holland
2. Emily McLoughin
3. Weibke Reitz
4. Emma Whittlesea
5. Claire Fraser

Elite/1/2/3

1. Zak Dempster
2. Darren Lapthorne
3. John Locke
4. Yanto Barker
5. Marcin Bialoblocki
6. Chris Opie
7. Richard Wilkinson
8. Grant Bayton
9. Dean Windsor
10. Gary Chambers
11. Junior Heffernan
12. Colin Parry
13. Graham Briggs
14. Ian Rees
15. Jack Adams