Shugborough Kermesse
Event: 11 August 2013
Following on from teammate Tom Scully's win the previous night in the Stafford Grand Prix, Raleigh continued its winning streak in all things Stafford with another victory through Tom Moses in the inaugural Shugborough Kermesse, part of the Leadout Cycling Ltd's Staffordshire Cycling Festival Weekend.
The pace was rapid from the start of a race run over 13 laps of a 3.8mile circuit incorporating the grounds of Shugborough Hall and a short section of the A513 closed specially to accommodate the event with each lap taking around seven and a half minutes to complete.
In the early laps there were plenty of attacks and plenty of pressure with the bunch thinned out in one long line each time they came into view in the grounds of the hall, but despite the relentless pace, nobody was able to create a gap for themselves over the main field.
At half distance it was last year’s Stafford GP winner and runner up on Friday night Graham Briggs who was first to break the elastic, taking a solo lead that grew over the next two laps to a maximum of 30 seconds and proving to be the catalyst for the race winning move of the night.
The subsequent laps saw riders bridging across to Team Raleigh's Briggs and by the time the race got to five to go, there were 11 leaders with Raleigh enjoying the numerical advantage placing five of their team in the lead move.
Despite pressure from other teams in the chase the gap to the leaders remained steady and it was from that lead group that Tom Moses made the decisive move on the last lap.
Taking the initiative on the final climb, Moses held a lead all the way to the line where he took the cheers of an appreciative crowd several hundred strong. He was followed just a few seconds later by Team Raleigh teammate Briggs, who held off Williamson of Giordana Node4 in the gallop to the line.
Speaking after the event, Moses summed up a strong individual and team performance from Team Raleigh:
“I knew I had good legs on the climb, so I took a break and sat in for a couple of laps as the rest of the lads followed any moves, and then I went on my own from the bottom of the last lap and managed to stay away.
“There were groups going away every lap and then coming back before it hit the climb again. It was going to go at some point, and it was a case of making sure we were there – it was a great ride from the team and it was nice that I could finish it off.”
The event brought to a close the first Staffordshire Cycling Festival that saw thousands on the streets of Stafford for the Friday night circuit races before sold out sportives set the stage for the Saturday night Kermesse, something organiser Paul Rowlands of Leadout Cycling Ltd declared himself more than pleased with.
"We've been organising the Stafford GP for four years now and the addition of the sportives and the Kermesse to form the Cycling Festival have really taken the event forward and shown what's possible.
“We've brought the best teams in the country to Staffordshire and I want to thank them, our sponsors, Stafford Borough and Staffordshire County Councils for their support on making this happen. As an event I think this really shows the potential of this part of the world as a home for the sport of cycling, Shugborough is a beautiful setting in a county that's one of our countries hidden gems."
Result
| Pos | Name | Team | Time |
| 1 | Tom Moses | Team Raleigh | 01:32:24 |
| 2 | Graham Briggs | Team Raleigh | at 2 secs |
| 3 | James Williamson | Giordana - Node 4 | " |
| 4 | Sam Lowe | 100% ME | " |
| 5 | Ed Clancy | Rapha Condor JLT | at 3 secs |
| 6 | Tom Stewart | Team Raleigh | " |
| 7 | Rob Britton | Team Raleigh | " |
| 8 | Nathan Edmondson | Node 4 Procycling | at 8 secs |
| 9 | Kristian House | Rapha Condor JLT | at 15 secs |
| 10 | Mike Northey | Node 4 Procycling | at 16 secs |
| 11 | Tom Scully | Team Raleigh | at 17 secs |
| 12 | Lacklan Norris | Team Raleigh | at 18 secs |
| 13 | Ryan Mullen | Team IG - Sigma Sport | at 22 secs |
| 14 | Felix English | Rapha Condor JLT U23 | at 43 secs |
| 15 | Steve Lampier | Node 4 Procycling | at 45 secs |
| 16 | Dan Barry | Giordana - Node 4 | at 50 secs |
| 17 | Jon Dibben | 100% ME | " |
| 18 | Alistair Slater | 100% ME | " |
| 19 | Ben Ives | Team Sportscover | " |
| 20 | Liam Holohan | Madison Genesis | " |
