Stage 2 Corley Cycles 3-Day Tour of Milton Keynes

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Ashley Cox (CC Luton) out witted the field to win Saturday’s morning’s second stage of the 2014 Tour of Milton Keynes on Saturday, 3 May ‘14

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Stage 2 Corley Cycles 3-Day Tour of Milton Keynes
(from  Gordon Wiseman)

Ashley Cox (CC Luton) out witted the field to win Saturday’s morning’s second stage of the 2014 Tour of Milton Keynes after a 16 man break that dominated the race started forming after 5 of the 25 laps of Cranfield’s “tricky triangle” circuit.

And as it included three riders each from the strong Team Corley and Pedal Heaven squads – as well as a mix from most of the other teams – it was always going to be a difficult job to predict a rider coming from the chasing bunch of over 60 other riders,

With ten laps completed the leading group was 50 seconds clear and that stretched to about 1min 15secs with a further 3 tours completed and although in the closing 10 miles that was pegged back lap by lap, going into the final lap the leaders were still more than 40 seconds clear at the front.

In that leading group the onus was clearly on Team Corley and Pedal Heaven to take the initiative – especially as they had riders with high placings on the overall GC. But it was CC Luton’s Ashley Cox who broke cover first of all just as the crossed the finishing line for the penultimate time.

With three time trial wins already under his belt this season, Ashley’s ability to put his head down and ride strongly on his own should have been anticipated by the bunch – as was admitted by some after the race – but he held his nerve, a slender lead and took the win just two seconds ahead of a furious chasing Lewis Atkins (Pedal Heaven Colbornes RT).

Ashley Cox – “I was in a very lucky position once I’d got into the break because I didn’t have to ride. There were three Pedal Heaven and three Corley riders and other riders higher on the GC than me so it was as simple as that. Tactically they had to do the work so I was lucky enough to be able to sit in, which I did, until a lap to go as I was waiting for the right opportunity to make my move.

“I’m now second overall so we’ll be the best we can in this afternoon’s time trial. We’re a man down” – Doug Coleman fell during stage 1 and broke his collarbone – “so all we can do with four riders is to do the best we can. The time trial isn’t that long so hopefully we won’t lose too much time if any. But today we’ve got a stage win so this afternoon and tomorrow, let’s wait and see”.

Lewis Atkins – “We’re in a good position going into the time trial, we’ve got the jersey and obviously we’d rather have the jersey and the lead than not. We’ve probably got the lead earlier than we’d have expected to have it but no, it’s good, let’s see what we can do. The time trial is only short so I can’t see there being a lot of time gaps opening up between the leading teams but we’re hoping to win it and put a little more time into the others going into tomorrow’s final stage.

“If we do go well and put, say, 6 to 8 seconds into the others, we could be going into the final stage in the top three places. I understand there’s a stretch of rough road surface on tomorrow’s circuit and that itself could be a problem for everyone to overcome. Really at this point, anything can still happen.

“Ashley did all he had to do this morning because we had the numbers so fair play to him. And in all honesty I was sitting back a little as well. He took his chance with a lap to go and held on. Obviously we’re a little disappointed not to have won the stage but we’ve still got the overall lead and that’s the main thing”.

Results
1. Ashley Cox (CC Luton)
2. Lewis Atkins (Pedal Heaven Colbornes RT)
3. Jamie Pine (Pedal Heaven Colbornes RT)
4. Mike Smith (Team Corley Cycles)
5. Tom Bracegirdle (Kuota – Spinergy – GSG)
6. Joseph Metelka (Beeline Bicycles RT)

Overall after stage 2 (after bonus seconds are taken into account)
1. Lewis Atkins (Pedal Heaven Colbornes RT)
2. Ashley Cox (CC Luton) – st
3. Jamie Pine (Pedal Heaven Colbornes RT) – @ 6secs
4. William Goulbourne (Team Corley Cycles) – st
5. Mike Smith (Team Corley Cycles) – @ 8 secs
6. Tom Bracegirdle (Kuota – Spinergy – GSG) – st

 

 

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