Location: Grangemouth, Stirlingshire
Event: 4 September 2011
Report: Snowdon Sports
Granite City Racing Team came out on top after the Falkirk Bicycle Club ‘For The Shirt' Team Road Race at Grangemouth in Scotland on Sunday.
The team event saw Granite City come out on top by a narrow margin. They were level on 60 points with GJS Racing after the tough 55-mile race, but Granite City took the win thanks to their better individual placings.
A rolling course included hardly any flat areas and covered six laps of a nine-mile course.
The bunch broke up in the early stages with a group of 11 establishing an early lead followed by a chase group and numerous individuals trying to bridge the gap.
GJS Racing and Team Velo Ecosse were well represented, both teams having three riders in the lead group but as the group swelled as it was joined by the chasers, GJS lost a rider to a badly timed puncture which left several teams in contention.
In the latter stages the hills took their toll on the riders further down the field with several teams struggling to keep the minimum four riders in the race in order to receive a team placing.
From the lead group Dooleys' Stuart McGregor took the sprint with Gordon Murdoch of East Kilbride Cyclelane following him over the line. However, it was third and fourth places which were eventually to prove crucial in deciding the overall standings.
With Granite City and GJS Racing tying on points, the team win went to Granite City due to their first place rider Veli-Matti Raikkonen edging out GJS Racing's Craig Adams to take third place.
Results:
1 Granite City RT-Fitnut 60 points (2:21:31)
2 GJS Racing 60
3 The Bicycle Works 62
4 Velo Ecosse 68
5 Dooleys Cycles RT 82
6 Glasgow Couriers 86
7 Falkirk Bicycle Club 100
8 Dunfermline CC 122
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.
