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Report: Circuit of Ramsey
Promoted by: Anglia Cycling Development Co-Operative
Event HQ: One Leisure Ramsey
Report and images: Dave Hayward
Event Details
Circuit of Ramsey was two years in the making for organiser Colin Coe. With the support of the local Ramsey Council the circuit stretched out from the village though the open lanes around the fens and back to Ramsey to complete a 7.5 mile loop from a distance 90 mile. Probably the flattest race circuit around - reports were coming back to the race HQ that the first four miles were the worst tarmac covered road they'd been over for a while.
The Mayor of Ramsey wished the riders well and waved them on there way, Sigma Sport took control - with strong cross winds on the first part of the course the Sigma Sport to hit the front! Seeing the move by Sigma Sport, Team Twenty3c got involved followed by Team Raleigh causing the bunch to line out in the gutter and start splitting. Sigma played the right tactic by riding hard on the front, it forced everyone else into the gutter, the center of the road was horrendous; "we were switching from left to right gutters not really forming any echelons" commented Jason White of Premier Cycles.
By lap two, 14 miles in to the race, there were three groups. Up front, a break of ten riders followed by those who had just lost contact, then the remnants of the bunch. The lead group of 10 had three Sigma Riders, three Twenty3c and two Raleigh riders - the winning move had been set, but who out of these ten would outfox the rest?
All ten riders worked well together building there lead. With two laps to go the jumping around started as riders tried their luck. Just out of Ramsey a big move came from Joe Perrett (Twenty3C) followed by Tom Murray (Sigma Sport) and Phil Mooney (Team Raleigh). They quickly built their lead over the chasing seven.
Joe Perrett and Tom Murray were alone on the last lap, losing Mooney who dropped back to the chasing group. After a punishing 90 miles of cross winds with horrible road surfaces, both riders were still locked together, Tom managed to manoeuvre Joe to the front when at the last moment Tom kicked for the line to win the become the first Circuit of Ramsey winner.
Post Race Comments
"That was a tough one, the wind really played its part, We came with a plan and it worked. Myself and Joe were really tired on the last lap, which seemed to take forever. Hope this ends my spell of bad luck from the Tour of DoonHame." Tom Murray. Sigma Sport Specialized
"I saw what Sigma were up to so I told the boys to get up there and go with it. With this type of race it's important to be near the front as they always split. Really pleased with Joe's result, he's not been able to do much recently so this will be good for him and the team with the coming Premier Calendar races and the Tour Series." Marcel Six, Team Manager, Twenty3c Orbea.
British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs.
