Rider Report: Junior RR Championships

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Elliot Redfern, 4th in the Junior Road Race Championship, and his report on a determined ride to try and be the British champion

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Rider Report: Junior RR Championships

The British Road Championships – possibly the biggest race of the Junior British Cycling calendar, with only one main prize on offer! It was definitely not going to be an easy race to ride, but it was the one I had been waiting for, and I had every intention of aiming for a top result.

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The race was set to take place just over the Severn Bridge in Chepstow, an interesting course of 106 km, comprising of four 26 km laps ending with a long 5km drag to the finish line. Exciting!

After a night of heavy rain and a pretty damp start, the race rolled out and it soon became noticeable that nerves were high amongst a number of riders. I kept calm and tried to stay unnoticed in the first half of the race, while maintaining a good position. It was important I preserved my energy and made sure I did not indicate any sign of strength early on.

The pace was unusually fast from the start, unlike most British races, which tend to roll out slowly and take a while to pick up. Again a clear indication of the competition for the overall prize! I was sat comfortably in the bunch, analysing which areas of the course the riders were struggling with most.

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After seeing lots of early breakaways which didn’t stick, I noticed the peloton was letting riders slip away individually. I knew from experience that I was capable of holding good power for long periods of time, and after training with my SRM PC8 power meter, I knew my form was right up, so after realising that it was becoming obvious the majority of riders were expecting a break to go on the last lap, or even expecting it to finish with a bunch sprint, I decided to take a chance and grab the opportunity to give it a crack!

With just under three laps to go, I attacked, and although I was also just testing the field, the bunch did not even jump on me. Luckily I was joined by another strong rider, Peter Kibble, and we soon established a gap of around 20 seconds. As we pressed on, there was no sign of a chase, and having held it off for one lap, it was beginning to look promising.

However, just before the halfway mark of the third lap, we were caught by a lone chaser, Charlie Meredith and the extra set of legs were useful in our break. Within 2km though, we lost Peter out of a corner, so halfway through the third lap, we were in a two man break again!

We knew a massive amount of desire and determination was needed to hold this off to the finish. We shared the work, managing to open up an even bigger gap, and by the time we heard the bell for the fourth and final lap, we had opened up a 45 second gap, increasing to 1 minute 6 seconds as we approached the final 12km.

National champs me and chaz

Elliott and Chaz

I knew we were pushing hard because the numbers on my SRM PC8 were pretty impressive and we gave it everything in that last lap, knowing we only had to suffer for a few more kilometres and it would soon be over.

However, with 5km to go we were told there were three riders bridging and with fresher legs, they caught us fairly easily. The gap to the peloton was closing slightly, and was down to 40 seconds, but we were fairly certain we would be the top 5.

As we approached the finish line with 1km to go, one of the new riders in the break made an attack. I jumped to it as no one else did, and launched my sprint, in what I believed would be a sprint for 1st and 2nd place, however, it was too early to hold the other riders off my wheel, and I was devastated to see them pass by me, pushing me off the podium.

However, as always, I raced to win, giving everything I had, and considering I had held the break for almost 65km the result was not too bad!

All in all it was a fantastic race, challenging too, but one where I feel I showed my true strength, and finishing 4th was done with huge sigh of relief! The Junior British National Road Race Championships is definitely one that I will remember for a long time.

Also, a huge thank you to HMT Cycling with JLT Condor and trainSharp for their support this season, together with all my sponsors, HMT Hospitals, Condor Cycles, and High 5 Nutrition.

Thanks for reading. Elliot

1 Jacob Vaughan VC Londres FJ2 2:35:50
2 Ryan Coulton Pro Vision SJ Academy J2 2:35:50 2:35:50
3 Charlie Meredith Giant Cycling Club – Halo Films J2 2:35:50 2:35:50
4 Elliot Redfern HMT with JLT Condor J2 2:35:52 2:35:52 0:02
5 Ben Hardy Windmill Wheels Cycling Club J2 2:35:57 2:35:57 0:07
6 Thomas Pidcock VCUK PH-MAS Cycling Team FJ2 2:36:01 2:36:01 0:11
7 Adam Hartley VCUK PH-MAS Cycling Team J2 2:36:02 2:36:02 0:12
8 Fergus Robinson Allen Valley Velo J2 2:36:12 2:36:12 0:22
9 Anthony Anderson Team Corley Cycles FJ2 2:36:17 2:36:17 0:27
10 Marcus Burnett DFL In-Gear Development J1 2:36:17 2:36:17
11 Chris Fallon Kuota – Spinergy – GSG J1 2:36:20 2:36:20 0:30
12 Daniel Coombe Planet X – Northside Cycling FJ3Wal 2:36:20 2:36:20
13 Ethan Hayter VC Londres J1 2:36:24 2:36:24 0:34
14 Matthew Cox Giant Cycling Club – Halo Films FJ2 2:36:26 2:36:26 0:36
15 Lewis Bulley HMT with JLT Condor J1 2:36:27 2:36:27 0:37
16 Tim James Catford CC Equipe/Banks J2 2:36:27 2:36:27
17 Joseph Nally www.Hardie-Bikes.com FJ2 2:36:27 2:36:27
18 Georg Mew Jensen VC Londres FJ2 2:36:27 2:36:27
19 Etienne Georgi Giant Cycling Club – Halo Films J1 2:36:27 2:36:27
20 Jake Stewart Swinnerton Cycles FJ2 2:36:27 2:36:27
21 Fred Wright VC Londres FJ1 2:36:27 2:36:27
22 Ewan Grivell-Mellor Mid Shropshire Wheelers J2 2:36:27 2:36:27
23 Harry Yates Hargroves Cycles – Ridley RT FJ2 2:36:27 2:36:27
24 Robert Scott VCUK PH-MAS Cycling Team J1 2:36:27 2:36:27
25 Patrick Christopher Zappi’s Cycling Club J2 2:36:27 2:36:27
26 James Mitri Team Tor 2000 Kalas Sportswear FJ3 2:36:27 2:36:27
27 Tomos Owens Pro Vision SJ Academy FJ2Wal 2:36:27 2:36:27
28 Peter Kibble Velocity Globalbike J2Wal 2:36:27 2:36:27
29 Harry Hardcastle VCUK PH-MAS Cycling Team FJ2 2:36:27 2:36:27
30 Conor Davies Speedflex Race Team FJ2 2:36:27 2:36:27
31 Kieran Hotson Catford CC Equipe/Banks FJ3 2:36:27 2:36:27
32 Matthias Barnet Spokes Racing Team J2 2:36:27 2:36:27
33 Alex Littlewood DFL In-Gear Development J2 2:36:27 2:36:27
34 Jordan Reed Bike Box Alan FJ2 2:36:27 2:36:27
35 Morgan Hughes Pro Vision SJ Academy J2Wal 2:36:27 2:36:27
36 William Lewis RP Vision Racing Team FJ3 2:36:27 2:36:27
37 James Jenkins Southend Wheelers J1 2:36:27 2:36:27
38 Carl Jolly Team Corley Cycles FJ2 2:36:27 2:36:27
39 Tom Easley Team ASL360 FJ2 2:36:27 2:36:27
40 Jacques Sauvagnargues Zappi’s Racing Team FJ2 2:36:27 2:36:27
41 Joe Swinnerton Swinnerton Cycles FJ3 2:36:27 2:36:27
42 Jack Freeman VC Meudon J2 2:36:27 2:36:27
43 James Tillett Giant Cycling Club – Halo Films FJ2Wal 2:36:27 2:36:27
44 Owen Line Pro Vision SJ Academy J2Wal 2:36:27 2:36:27
45 Tom Chandler VCUK PH-MAS Cycling Team J1 2:36:27 2:36:27
46 Buauna Ball Catford CC Equipe/Banks J2 2:36:27 2:36:27
47 John MacLeod Spokes Racing Team J2 2:36:27 2:36:27
48 Craig Gow Tyneside Vagabonds CC J2 2:36:27 2:36:27
49 Rhys Britton Bush Healthcare CRT FJ2Wal 2:36:27 2:36:27
50 Calum Johnston Edinburgh RC J2 2:36:27 2:36:27
51 Matthew Walls Velocity Globalbike J2 2:36:27 2:36:27
52 Jake Wright Identity Race Team FJ3 2:36:27 2:36:27
53 William Corbett Manilla Cycling FJ2 2:36:27 2:36:27
54 Hayden Burton Bath Cycling Club J2 2:36:27 2:36:27
55 William Roberts County Cycles Racing Team J2Wal 2:36:27 2:36:27
56 Reece Wood Velocity Globalbike J1 2:36:27 2:36:27
57 Robert Gray HMT with JLT Condor J2 2:36:27 2:36:27
58 Oliver Hedger Personal Bikefit.com J2 2:36:27 2:36:27
59 Stephen Dent Spokes Racing Team FJ2 2:36:27 2:36:27
60 Alfie Moses HMT with JLT Condor J2 2:36:27 2:36:27
61 Harry Paine VCUK PH-MAS Cycling Team J2 2:36:27 2:36:27
62 Charlie Quarterman Zappi’s Racing Team J1 2:36:36 2:36:36 0:46
63 Billy Robinson Squadra RT J2 2:36:45 2:36:45 0:55
64 Jake Beach Speedflex Race Team J2 2:37:04 2:37:04 1:14
65 Robert Ward Bourne Whls CC J2 2:37:12 2:37:12 1:22
66 Owen Dudley Manx Viking Whls CC J2 2:37:34 2:37:34 1:44
67 Samuel Tillett Giant Cycling Club – Halo Films FJ3Wal 2:37:41 2:37:41 1:51
68 Joseph Clark I-Team Cyclists’ Club J3 2:38:03 2:38:03 2:13
69 Frank Longstaff Team Corley Cycles J1 2:38:23 2:38:23 2:33
70 Ben Foames TBW Bottecchia Wigmore RT J2 2:38:42 2:38:42 2:52
71 Max McMurdo SSLL Racing Team J2 2:38:42 2:38:42
72 Ben McKie VC Londres J2 2:38:42 2:38:42
73 Oliver Peckover HMT with JLT Condor J1 2:38:42 2:38:42
74 Grant Martin Spokes Racing Team J2 2:40:30 2:40:30 4:40
75 Oliver Robinson Thanet RC Race Team FJ2 2:48:59 2:48:59 13:09
76 Matthew Shepherd Lee Valley Youth Cycling Club FJ2 2:49:54 2:49:54 14:04
77 James Farrington Avenista Racing FJ2 2:53:00 2:53:00 17:10
78 Callum Mackie Lee Valley Youth Cycling Club J3 2:56:01 2:56:01 20:11
79 James Ambrose-Parish Lee Valley Youth Cycling Club J2 3:03:06 3:03:06 27:16
80 Louis Rose-Davies Team Corley Cycles FJ2 3:03:06 3:03:06
81 Liam Gilpin Bike Box Alan J2 3:03:06 3:03:06
82 Ewan Mathieson Glasgow Cycle Team J3 3:03:06 3:03:06

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