Report/Result: Ipswich Road Race

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In the clash of the top British teams pre Tour of Britain, it’s a 1-3 for UK Youth as Yanto Barker wins the Ipswich Road Race from Mike Northey and Rob Partridge

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2013_YantoBarkerSoloBilled as a warm up to the Tour of Britain, the race in Ipswich saw just 69 riders take to the start, way short of many of the big races this year but what it lacked in quantity, it made up for in quality. All the top teams had some or all of their Tour of Britain squad in the race after weeks of preparation which varied from training rides on the course to kermesses in Belgium.

The event was 200 kilometres long and Hugo Robinson and Chris Bartlett (Metaltek-KOO) were the first to make a move off the front. As Robinson came back into the peloton, Bartlett pressed on alone while Rapha Condor JLT put no less than nine riders on the front to ride tempo for 100k. Other teams like UK Youth and Raleigh put riders up there as well.

Winner Yanto Barker explains: “There were so many of the Tour of Britain riders on the start line that we all needed to get a good quality 200k and Rapha made it clear they didn’t care about the result and so they put nine up there and we added a couple and other teams too and it was perfect.”

“200k is a long way and if you attack from the gun, you eliminate a lot of guys quite soon so we waited until we’d done 100k and started the attacking racing and it was properly hard!” Yanto said the race was on roads similar to the Ipswich stage of the Tour of Britain in 2012, “kind of grippy roads and not pan flat. It wasn’t easy and we really did tank round it and it felt like it was a quick race”.

“There was a lot of attacking before the race split” the winner explained. “A lot of groups were going off and coming back before the 20 went away and Chris and I got into that break purely on being able to see the group was dangerous and then ride across to it and we did that a few times.”

“Once it was established, we were working pretty well together and on the last lap with 30k to go, we were going through the feed when there was an attack. Because there were like four of us (UK Youth), four Raleigh, four Node 4, two or three Rapha, three of four IG Sigma Sport in that big group, as soon as that attack went, and all of those teams had riders in it, the split went.”

In the front group there were two UK Youth, two Raleigh, two Node 4, and two Sigma etc and whilst two riders were dropped, the race did come down to a sprint which Yanto talks us though. “I left it late because I got a bit burnt last week against Matt Cronshaw and I was a bit annoyed about coming second!”

“Kristian (House) was kind of leading it out with Rob (Partridge) on his wheel and Evan (Oliphant) and then me. I could see Simon (Yates) coming up on the left hand side so I took his wheel straight away but he seemed to cramp or park up as he got near the front and as he stopped, it kind of opened up perfectly for me. I only ended up doing fourty or fifty metres in the wind. ”

To top off a great race for his team, Rob Partridge was 3rd and then Chris Opie attacked off the front of the next group, the remains of the original break, and almost caught the leading break coming into the finish to give UK Youth three in the top 10.

Looking ahead to next week, UK Youth did a recce of four stages of the Tour of Britain recently and it was worthwhile said Yanto. “I was very pleased to have seen them because they were stages you want to know about.”

Asked how he feels as a rider, ten years on from his first Tour of Britain, Yanto replied, “I am riding on the crest of a great team, great teammates, great coach, structure, organisation and I have nothing to worry about other than getting on my bike and enjoying racing.”

“There are so many little things I don’t have to do anymore which means it’s easy. There is so much less pressure I’m able to enjoy what we are doing.”

Result

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

 

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