Location: Ipswich, Suffolk
Event: 8 September 2013
Report: Andrew Kennedy/Snowdon Sports
Photos: SW Pix
Yanto Barker (Team UK Youth) took victory in the UCS Ipswich and Coastal Grand Prix on Sunday, out-sprinting seven breakaway rivals to secure a win in his final race before the Tour of Britain.
Second in the previous week’s Jef Schils Memorial Road Race, 33-year-old London-based rider Barker edged ahead of Mike Northey (Node 4-Giordana) at the end of the 200-kilometre race, while his team mate at UK Youth Rob Partridge took third.
Thousands of people lined the course to watch the riders who were taking part in their final domestic race before the Tour of Britain. The new event in Ipswich, venue for the start of the Tour of Britain 2012 was the latest promotion coordinated by British Cycling and came about as a result of collaboration between British Cycling and Ipswich Borough Council
The race started off with 69 elite riders with all the main teams represented including Rapha Condor JLT, IG-Sigma, UK Youth, Madison Genesis, Raleigh and Node 4 Giordana.
The circuit for the race in Ipswich was undulating but provided no severe climbs to test the riders. However some narrow country lanes made for a fast and technically demanding race providing plenty of opportunity for the strongest riders to come to the fore.
From the gun as the race passed Kesgrave there was what looked like a suicidal break by Metaltek Knights of Old rider Chris Bartlett.
He was soon joined by local rider Hugo Robinson of Ipswich BC and they worked well for five or six miles. But the pace was too much for Robinson and he dropped back to the safety of the main peloton.
Bartlett continued on his own and for the next 35 miles he carried out a solo attack. The main field behind was being controlled by Rapha Condor JLT and they were bringing the race back up to lone leader only for him to stretch out his lead again. Bartlett was benefitting from the narrow twisty lanes where he was out of sight of the chasers.
Around the halfway point after a discussion with his team car Bartlett eased off the gas, he was brought back after a series of attacks split the field increasing the pace.
The race continued with a series of attacks for three of the five laps of the circuit near Hollesley Bay until the main decisive group of the day formed with about 20km to go.
In that group was Tom Moses (Team Raleigh), Nathan Edmondson (Node 4-Giordana), George Harper (IG-Sigma Sport), Simon Yates (100%ME), Matt Cronshaw IG- Sigma Sport), Mike Northey (Node 4-Giordana), Rob Partridge (UK Youth), Kristian House (Rapha Condor JLT), Yanto Barker (UK Youth) and Evan Oliphant (Team Raleigh).
It was a very workman like group and the gap on the main peloton soon opened up to 1:20 and this then increased up to a maximum of 1:45.
The race left the circuit onto the final run-in back into Ipswich and Simon Yates, fresh from his French success last week at the Tour de L'Avenir, was attacking up all the small climbs to try and whittle the 10-man group down.
The only effect it had was to dislodge Edmondson and Cronshaw and so on the final 8km run-in, Yates was up against the might of UK Youth and Node 4-Giordana, all continually attacking each other.
Yates’ final attack was on the climb into the village of Little Bealings before the group settled down thinking about the possible sprint finish in Ipswich. The peloton was now closing in fast, the gap only 60 seconds and quickly reducing in the final 4km.
Coming into the finish, the final 2km was made up of roundabouts and narrow roads with lots of street furniture. Big crowds had come out in the late summer sunshine to enjoy the racing.
The final stages of the race were very twisting, technical and dangerous. Team UK Youth and Raleigh had the numerical advantage in the group both with two riders. UK Youth rider Rob Partridge launched several attacks in the closing 1km, countered by Raleigh and Node 4 Giordana rider Mike Northey.
Into the final 200 metres and Yanto Barker had positioned himself well for the sprint. He judged his effort to perfection and was able to edge out Mike Northey to get another big win for Team UK Youth. Rob Partridge snatched the final podium position to make it a good day for the team.
“It’s a brilliant preparation for the Tour of Britain for the whole team,” said Barker. “This is our final race before the Tour, and our whole team rode really well today.
“We were well represented in all the breaks, and for us to take the win shows where we are. Hopefully we can carry this form into the Tour of Britain next week, although we know it’s a completely different type of racing to here in Ipswich.”
From Ipswich, the British UCI Continental teams next stop is Peebles in Scotland for the start of the Tour of Britain where they will line up alongside the likes of Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish and Alex Dowsett for a race in which domestic based British riders took home 3 out of the 4 jersey competitions.
Results
1 Yanto Barker Team UK Youth
2 Mike Northey Node4 - Giordana Racing
3 Rob Partridge Team UK Youth
4 Tom Moses Team Raleigh
5 George Harper Team IG - Sigma Sport
6 Kristian House Rapha Condor JLT
7 Evan Oliphant Team Raleigh
8 Simon Yates 100% ME - GB U23
9 Chris Opie Team UK Youth
10 Peter Williams Team IG - Sigma Sport
11 Dean Downing Madison Genesis RT
12 Alex Blain Team Raleigh
13 Richard Handley Rapha Condor JLT
14 Steve Lampier Node4 - Giordana Racing
15 Dan Barry Node4 - Giordana Racing
16 Wouter Sybrandy Team IG - Sigma Sport
17 Lachlan Norris Team Raleigh
18 Matt Cronshaw Team IG - Sigma Sport
19 Tom Stewart Team Raleigh
20 George Atkins 100% ME - GB U23
21 Dominic Schils To Win - Josan Cycling Team
22 Alex Camier Pedal heaven RT
23 Luke Ryan Twenty3c.co.uk-Focus
24 Niklas Gustavson Team UK Youth
25 Samuel Lowe 100% ME - GB U23
26 Will Fox Metaltek - Knights of Old RT
27 Billy Whenman Zannata CT
28 Owen Lake Twenty3c.co.uk-Focus
29 James Moss Team IG - Sigma Sport
30 Robert Smail Metaltek - Knights of Old RT
31 Roman Van Uden Node4 - Giordana Racing
32 Rhys Lloyd Metaltek - Knights of Old RT
33 Mark Christian Team Raleigh
34 Will Stephenson Rapha Condor JLT
35 Elliott Porter Rapha Condor JLT
36 Marcin Bialblocki Team UK Youth
37 Shem Rodger Node4 - Giordana Racing
38 Dominic Jelfs Madison Genesis RT
39 Tom Scully Team Raleigh
40 James Williamson Node4 - Giordana Racing
41 Felix English Rapha Condor JLT
42 Ian Wilkinson Team UK Youth
43 Ben Greenwood Team IG - Sigma Sport
44 Peter Hawkins Team IG - Sigma Sport
45 Tobyn Horton Team UK Youth
46 Jon Mould Team UK Youth
47 Nathan Edmondson Node4 - Giordana Racing
48 Hugh Carthy Rapha Condor JLT
49 Michael Cuming Rapha Condor JLT
Please credit www.britishcycling.org.uk and link back if you use any of our race results.
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.
