Report – Severn Bridge RR

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The Severn Bridge Road Race in Bristol on Sunday was won by Dale Appleby who escaped late in the race with two others, Edward Clemens and Max Stedman (Pedal Heaven).

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Report – Severn Bridge RR

The Severn Bridge Road Race in Bristol on Sunday was won by Dale Appleby who escaped late in the race with two others, Edward Clemens and Max Stedman (Pedal Heaven).

On the downhill finish situated on a bridge over a lake, Appleby, without the use of an 11 sprocket and worried he wasn’t going to get past his rival Clemens, just managed to do so at the line to take the victory with the ever aggressive Max Steadman third.

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Clemens and Appleby fight out the sprint with the latter getting the verdict 

On a tough circuit, testing the legs of many for the first time this season, the riders only had a few miles in their legs after the start before they approached the main climb at Stowey. The pressure was applied and a few riders found wanting but most of the action was at the back as riders tried to hang on.

Another lap and the field was still together at the bottom of Stowey but the cracks soon started to appear in the peloton as Jon Tiernan Locke who admits to being 10 kilos heavier than he should be, Dexter Gardias in the first race for his new team, Pedal Heaven, and Liam Bromiley, a uni student from Bath who has already won this year, escaped.

The three of them held onto that lead for around four laps, fighting out the KoM’s and forcing a selection of around a dozen riders to come up to them. The gap between groups was never big and so many riders chasing always looked a good chance of making it across but crossing the small gaps was harder than many expected.

In the lead group, the slimming down process continued lap after lap as attacks came and went until over the top of the climb last time, three riders escaped, Dale Appleby, Edward Clemens and Max Stedman (Pedal Heaven).

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The line up for the Severn Bridge RR had the numbers but not the stars of the peloton as the UCI teams in Britain leave starting their racing here later.

Jon Tiernan Locke said later he hesitated and then too late realised he was chasing a break with the three main teams represented and so wasn’t going to get any help bringing them back. In the leading three, a handy sprinter on the track, Stedman, threw in a few attacks to try and escape but no-one was getting clear on this mainly downhill run to the finish over the last five miles.

And so came the final sprint between Appleby and Clemens which was ever so close with Stedman in third. The rest of the break came in less than a minute later with Jacob Hennessy winning that sprint for fourth from Rob Partridge.

Dexter Gardias (Pedal Heaven) was next, out front for most of the race and the winner of the KoM award whilst the best local rider was Liam Bromiley, who was part of the original break. Liam, studying a masters in Civil Engineering, was a 4th cat this time last year and from what his fellow escapees said, was very strong until he blew his doors off.

Interviews to come later.

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Second time on the climb of Stowey and a rider from London Phoneix leads

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Jon Tiernan Locke leads a three up break past Stowey church on lap three.

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New signing for Pedal Heaven, Dexter Gardias racking up the KoM points ahead of a new rider hurting a lot of legs, Liam Bromiley, of Bath Uni

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A chase group led by Zach May (Metaltek Kuota), Ben Stockdale and Rob Partridge.

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A lined out peloton led by the Bioracer kitted out  Envelopemaster team.

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The chasing peloton with second in line,  Jake Alderman, an ‘academy’ rider in a new venture set up by Jon Tiernan Locke and others to hep talented riders in the South West.

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The lead group that formed at the front led by Max Stedman (Pedal Heaven) from Conor Swift. 

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Dale Appleby, who was late to the party at the front of the race, got across in the end and then made it into the three that got away in the closing stages of the race.

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Sprint for fourth won by Jacob Hennessy from Rob Partridge with one of the original break, Dexter Gardias (Pedal Heaven) next across the line.

1 Dale Appleby NFTO
2 Edward Clemens Spirit Bikes Racing Team
3 Max Stedman Pedal Heaven
4 Jacob Hennessy Spirit Bikes Racing Team
5 Robert Partridge NFTO
6 Dexter Gardias Pedal Heaven
7 Connor Swift Envelopemaster Giant Sheffield
8 Ben Stockdale Cotswold Cycles RT
9 Liam Bromiley University of Bath Cycling Club
10 Jonathan Tiernan-Locke Saint Piran
11 Alexandar Richardson Pedal Heaven Excel Academy
12 Barnabas Purbrook London Dynamo
13 Joseph Clark Envelopemaster Giant Sheffield
14 Jake Tanner Envelopemaster Giant Sheffield
15 Jake Alderman Saint Piran
16 Benjamin Marks Cycleworks.co.uk
17 James Phillips Dream Cycling Race Team
18 Andrew Williams Cwmcarn Paragon Cycle Club
19 Michael Smith Team Corley Cycles
20 Etienne Georgi Giant Cycling Club – Halo Films

KOM
1. Dexter Gardias, Pedal Heaven
2. Liam Bromiley, Bath Uni
3. Jon Tiernan Locke, Saint Piran

First junior: Etienne Georgi

 

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