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WXCRL Cove Road Race

Sunday 5th September | by Graham Robins

The WXCRL Cove Road Race was a 122.6 kilometre event for Elite/1/2 riders around the Dorset countryside near to Lulworth Cove. There were seven laps of a demanding course which includes the climb from Lulworth towards Wool, the same hill tackled a couple of weeks ago in the Dorset tour but from the other side.

The morning started damp and overcast with a wet road, but with a strong wind and the sun coming out, the course soon dried.

As the race started, there were attacks straight away with the bunch looking edgy as they headed out of Wool on the first lap. First to make a move was James Smith (Probikekit.com) who once he was caught, attacked again. This time he got away on his own but the bunch were never too far behind. At the bottom of the climb on the second lap, Chris Spence (Wilier/Bigmaggys/Prendas) had a small gap over the bunch, but they soon pulled it back.

On the next lap, as the Wilier team were beginning to control things, three riders got away over the climb. With the wind in their faces on the decent, the three got a gap, Marcin Bialobocki (Wilier/Bigmaggys/Prendas), Ross Adams (Redkite Cycles) and Chris Spence. It then went all wrong for the Wilier team as Chris drifted back to the bunch, Mark Perry then punctured and had to take a wheel from Ben Luckwell who then had to retire. Still, they had a rider up the road!

Even a small crash in the tight village of Lulworth didn’t manage to disrupt the speed of the chasers. Now with half the race gone, the two leaders set about putting time into the bunch. On the next lap, the gap was about one minute which went out to over two minutes. The bunch, which was now much reduced in number due to the nature of the hard course, were keeping up the pressure but were not going to pull the leaders back.

Then, with a couple of laps to go, three riders working well got away from the bunch, Gary Chalmers (southforkracing.co.uk), Chris McNamara (Team Corley) and Henry Furniss (Wyndymilla). They soon had a minute over the chasing group but were still over two minutes behind the leading duo. With one lap to go, the leaders were 1 min 56secs over the chasing three who were 1 min 57secs over the remnants of the bunch.

As the leaders approached the finish line, Marcin was clear of a tiring Ross who said at the finish that as a mountain biker, he wasn’t used to races of over three hours and on the last lap he was just hanging in there. We had to wait a further 3 mins and 4secs for the three chasers to cross the line, with Gary Chambers winning the sprint from Chris McNamara with Henry Furniss in fifth. The bunch now all together sprinted for the line over 6mins behind the winners, with Marin Ford beating Mark Perry on the line.

Provisional Result

1. Marcin Bialobocki Wilier/Bigmaggys/Prendas
2. Ross Adams Redkite Cycles @10secs
3. Gary Chambers southforkracing.co.uk @3min4secs
4. Chris McNamara Team Corley Cycles @st
5. Henry Furniss Wyndymilla @st
6. Martin Ford Team Goldiec @6mins8secs
7. Mark Perry Wilier/Bigmaggys/Prendas @st
8. Roland Tilley Ride Team @st
9. Mark Baines Sprint Racing Team @st
10. Dexter Gardias Team Zappis @st