The Alba Series was back yesterday (Sunday 18th April) with round 2, the Drummond Trophy, run by Glasgow Glenmarnock Wheelers.
Team Raleigh GAC made it two wins on the trot as Richard Hepworth took the honours on a brutally tough day for the field.
Strong winds and heavy showers made racing hard in what is considered to be one of Scotland’s toughest races on a seven lap circuit around Strathaven. Only 36 of the 74 starters completed the 90 miles, with most riders defeated by a day which even tested the mettle of the spectators.
After the flag drop on the A71, the pace was immediately high with the bunch strung out by the turn at Drumclog. A short sharp climb up to the turn back to Strathaven saw the field break apart before the first lap had completed, as 12 riders drove the pace on the front. It was clear from this point that winner was going to come from this group as they worked together to build a strong lead.
By the second lap, the rain had started and the conditions really took their toll, as the list of abandons grew. The lead dozen saw their lead stretch to almost two minutes, before two were jettisoned to make 10 pushing on at the front.
As the race turned back onto the A71 into a headwind, four riders tried to bridge but they faced a huge task to close more than two minutes on a group who were going full gas. The four were eventually absorbed by what remained of the peloton, as attacks split the leaders still further.
By lap five, four riders had escaped off the front, and the race was now spread across a number of miles of the circuit, with more than 15 minutes from front to back. By the penultimate lap four had been reduced to three – Richard Hepworth of Team Raleigh GAC, Peter Anderson of Nab Racing and John Archibald of Pro Vision Cycle Clothing.
Rather than risking an attack, the three worked together before contesting the sprint into Strathaven. Hepworth led from the front and proved to be too powerful for the others as he took the line with a couple of bike lengths to spare in a winning time of 3 hours, 42 minutes. Category 1 rider Anderson was second with Archibald – in a great result for a category rider - a close third to complete the podium places.
Hepworth joins the likes of Robert Millar and Brian Smith as winners of Scotland’s toughest race. The 29-year-old is fresh from riding the Tour de Normandie in France in his first season with Raleigh GAC.
The pro outfit also took the win last year, when Pole Karol Domagalski soloed to victory in slightly easier conditions.
The race first took place in 1955 and has been a major draw for some big names in cycling over its six decades.
The Drummond Trophy is known as one of Scotland’s ‘monument’ events, as it was first conceived to mimic the north European classics like the Tour of Flanders and Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Like its famous counterparts, it is held each April over rolling terrain with the weather often playing a key role in deciding the outcome.
The event is sponsored by Drummond Racing, a bookmaker from Strathaven whose owner, Norrie Drummond, took part in the early editions of the race in the 1950s. The Drummond family have sponsored every edition of the race and their support has made the event one of the standouts in the Scottish cycling year.
Full results can be found here.
