Report-Results-Photos: Roy Thame Cup

2012_April_Twenty3C_Bannerad_Dec

Top teams from around Britain converge on Buckinghamshire for the 2013 Edition of this long running race on Saturday, March 9. VeloUK is there …

RST Cycle Clothing & Trigon Bikes

Photo report

Hemel Hempstead CC held the Spring Chicken (3/4) and Roy Thame Cup (E/1/2) on a large different circuit based around the Claydon villages in Buckinghamshire. On a wearing down sort of course, littered with pot holes which resulted in over 50 spares being needed for riders and that’s just for the Neutral Service car, it was the Olympic Gold medallist Ed Clancy who showed yet again he’s head and shoulders above his rivals in a bunch gallop.

2013_RoyThameCup009

No big victory salute for Ed Clancy as he for the second week in a row gives his team a victory.

2013_RoyThameCup001

Riders and managers listen up for the commissaires briefing in Winslow.

2013_RoyThameCup003

 Not long after the flag had dropped, the racing got underway with many breaks. This one sees Tour of Britain King of the Mountains Kristian House, Andy Tennant and Tom Scully (Raleigh-GAC) and one other try and get clear.

2013_RoyThameCup004

Another break this time featuring Felix English, Russell Hampton (Raleigh-GAC) and Ben Stockdale.

2013_RoyThameCup005

Kristian House in his first race on British soil for 2013, has yet another dig

2013_RoyThameCup006

Four riders go clear, Mike Cuming, Robert Smail, Peter Williams and former winner of the event, Tom Moses (Raleigh – GAC).

2013_RoyThameCup007

And when that break failed, a new one looked promising until Raleigh – GAC shut it down. Mike Cuming, Russell Hampton (raleigh-GAC), Dexter Gardias and Matt Jones.  

2013_RoyThameCup008

Ed Clancy in full battle cry puts lengths into the rest with Oli Rossi (3rd) and Richard Lang (2nd) finishing in the minor places.

LIVE PHOTO ALBUM

Post race Reactions

Ed Clancy: The twice Olympic champion made the win look easy again for the second week in a row as he won the first of the two big races to be held this weekend in the south of the country. “That was quite a hard race” he said afterwards. “I felt a bit rubbish early on and had two punctures both at pretty bad times.”

“It was never a real struggle to get on but I had to take a few deep breathes and pace myself and take my time to get back to the bunch. The last two laps felt the easiest. As soon as Raleigh started riding, then our team started riding on the lap, I was just sat in pole position waiting to go.”

2013_Roy_Thame_Cup_Gordon

Photo: Gordon Wiseman.

“Come the sprint I felt alright but I didn’t really know where the finish was and I saw the 500 metre board flash by and I thought, lets give it a go, so I went pretty early and I knew Felix (English) was pretty close behind so I thought he might roll me before the line”.

About the course which had a lot of pot holes, he explained “The race was like an endless stream of riders coming back with punctures. It wasn’t catastrophic but you had to hang on to your bars and fairplay to everyone. They had their sensible head on today and everyone was pointing out holes and cars and stuff. In general it felt pretty safe. I only saw one little crash…”

Oli Rossi (Twenty3c.co.uk/Focus): “It was brilliant coming third. I looked after myself today in my first road race this year and I just wanted to get a decent result. I saw the Rapha boys go, Ed and Felix, but got caught behind a rider before managing to make up enough to get third.”

“I never had a problem with the distance today despite not getting a huge amount of miles in during the winter. It was dodgy out there though and I felt lucky getting through it without any punctures. The Focus bike was lovely, first time I have raced it properly and it did the trick. The new team is great. I have known Andy (Lyons) for years so knew I was going to get on with everyone.”

“I have taken it a lot easier this winter because I did a lot last winter and that cracked me a bit. I feel much less pressure with this team. I want to enjoy my racing this year and I felt my more relaxed on the bike and hopefully I can keep improving.”

Richard Lang (Raleigh-GAC): “My sprint was really quick which surprised me. Scully and me were talking about who should sprint for it on the last lap and he gave me some confidence by saying we’ll look after you but unfortunately he punctured with 700 metres to go and then Tom Moses did a good job for me.”
“But a few riders closed the door on me and they dropped the wheel so by the time I opened up my sprint, Clancy had four lengths and I think I got that down to two at the line.”

“So overall I am quite pleased even though it took me a 100 k to ride into it as I felt terrible early on. The course felt quite grippy and I think if we’d done another two laps, it would have been a different race.”
“The race was alright if you were at the front but the bunch today was sensible with the cars and everyone had a really good approach out there.”

Matt Cronshaw: A lone attacker on the final lap, Matt Cronshaw held out for a long time, opening up a gap of 30 seconds at one point before the bunch shut him down. Talking afterwards, he said “I felt alright today even though it took me a while to ride into it.”
“I was hoping some one was going to come with me but as it was no-one did so I just pressed on. I thought I might hold on for a while but the drags on the back of the course get to your legs when you’re on your own.”

“The race was good though. It was pretty fast but there were a lot of pot holes on the road which made it a bit of a lottery at times. You could see today that riders were giving each other a lot more respect and were shouting out when there were cars etc and when anyone did take a bit of a risk, people grouped together to give them a bollocking so it was good to see everyone looking after each other.”
“I think the briefing did the job today and if the commissaires follow through with the warnings if they are going to DQ those riding dangerously, you can clear the problem up in a couple weekends of racing when riders realise you can’t do it”.

“The team did what they could today to take the race to the Raleigh and Rapha who have Ed who’s a real weapon if it comes down to a bunch kick so we tried our best. We were working for Pete (Wlliams) in the finale and he punctured with 300 metres to go and Wouter had already punctured out of the race but with four riders we did pretty good.”

Results

The Roy Thame Cup
1 Ed Clancy Rapha Condor JLT
2 Richard Lang Team Raleigh
3 Oliver Rossi Twenty3c.co.uk-Focus
4 Felix English Rapha Condor JLT
5 Tom Moses Team Raleigh
6 Richard Hepworth Node4 Giordana Racing
7 William Bjergfelt MG-Maxifuel Pro Cycling
8 Robert Smail Metaltek – Knights of Old Racing Team
9 Aaron Buggle Rapha Condor JLT
10 Steven Lampier Node4 Giordana Racing
11 Pete Wager Felt-Colbornes-Hargroves RT
12 Edward Clemens Spirit Bikes Racing Team
13 Matt Clarke Halesowen A & CC
14 George Harper Felt-Colbornes-Hargroves RT
15 Lee Smith Felt-Colbornes-Hargroves RT
16 Jack Waller Spirit Bikes Racing Team
17 Matt Cronshaw Team IG – Sigma Sport
18 Grant Bayton Ride 24/7
19 Dexter Gardias Metaltek – Knights of Old Racing Team
20 Michael Ward Ride 24/7
21 Ashley Cox CC Luton
22 Douglas Coleman CC Luton
23 Edward Laverack Rapha Condor JLT
24 Joshua Maynard Welwyn Whls CC
25 Nathan Edmundson Node4 Giordana Racing
26 Michael Smith Team Corley Cycles
27 Jason Lazard www.twenty3c.co.uk
28 Richard Wood Arbis – Colbert Cycles RT
29 Mark Munns Ride 24/7
30 Jamie Caldwell MG-Maxifuel Pro Cycling
31 Roy Chamberlain Team Corley Cycles
32 James Fox CC Luton
33 Nick Baker Felt-Colbornes-Hargroves RT
34 Peter Williams Team IG – Sigma Sport
35 Matthew Jones Team IG – Sigma Sport
36 Simon Henley Team Corley Cycles
37 Christopher Dredge Spirit Bikes Racing Team
38 Will Stephenson Rapha Condor JLT
39 Russell Hampton Team Raleigh
40 Alexander King GPM10 Cycling
41 Dean Shannon Twenty3c.co.uk-Focus
42 Kristian House Rapha Condor JLT
43 Andrew Magnier Node4 Giordana Racing
44 Rob Yeatman Dream Cycling
45 Ben Luckwell Wilier
46 Michael Cuming Rapha Condor JLT
47 Conor Ryan Equipe CMI
48 Thomas Scully Team Raleigh
49 Mark O’Brien Team Raleigh
50 Andrew Hargroves Felt-Colbornes-Hargroves RT
51 Jake Martin Kingsnorth International Whlrs
52 Declan Byrne MG-Maxifuel Pro Cycling
53 Matt Higgins Felt-Colbornes-Hargroves RT
54 Tom Stockdale Spin Rotor Primal C-Originals RT
55 Ben Stockdale Metaltek – Knights of Old Racing Team

The Spring Chicken RR
1 James Locker V- Sprint
2 Jordan Bason MG-Maxifuel Pro Cycling
3 Hamish Floyd G.S. Henley
4 James Archibald G.S. Henley
5 Edward Palfreeman Arbis – Colbert Cycles RT
6 Harry Walton Cheltenham & County CC
7 Andrew Daniels Zappi’s Cycling Club
8 Henry Farrell Welwyn Whls CC
9 Joe Fox MG-Maxifuel Pro Cycling
10 Richard Jerome Willesden Cycling Club
11 Trevor Ormes Velo Schils – Interbike RT
12 Shaun Culpin Witham Wheelers Cycling Club
13 Stephen Shellard
14 Ryan Whitchell Welwyn Whls CC
15 Karla Boddy High Wycombe Cycling Club
16 Neil Heffernan Inverse/ Cycling Components RT
17 Chris Grange LBRCC-Solgar
18 James Milligan G.S. Henley
19 Ian Baynes LBRCC-Solgar
20 John Lacey TMG Horizon Cycling Team
21 David Emms Didcot Phoenix CC
22 Paul Dring Team Echelon – Rotor
23 Matthew Exley www.twenty3c.co.uk
24 Sam Williamson Hemel Hempstead CC
25 Desmond Gayler Kenton RC
26 Richard John Spirit Bikes Racing Team
27 Jeff Roberts High Wycombe Cycling Club
28 Fraser Houston Team Quest – The Bike Shop
29 Campbell Noon Virgin Active
30 Ellis Dudley Cycle Club Ashwell (CCA)
31 Justin Garon Arbis – Colbert Cycles RT
32 Ben Howard Tri Harder
33 Lindz Barral www.twenty3c.co.uk
34 Luke Souter Banbury Star CC
35 Michael Miach Pretorius Bikes
36 Kenneth Ross Willesden Cycling Club
37 Ben Crone Halesowen A & CC
38 Matthew Coulter Cowley Road Condors
39 Jason Pitt AW Cycles
40 Ben Smith Welwyn Whls CC
41 Thomas McLaren East London Vélo
42 Tristan Grigalis Southampton University RC
43 Tim Clark Personal Best Cycling Services
44 Stephen Shellard
45 David Weir Bio Cadenza RT
46 Colin Roshier Team Quest – The Bike Shop
47 Andrew Bower High Wycombe Cycling Club
48 Neil Harris University of York CC

LIVE TEXT UPDATES

RELATED LINK: Race Preview and start sheet

 

RST Cycle Clothing & Trigon Bikes

Other Results on VeloUK (including reports containing results)

Other News on VeloUK

Tags: , , ,