Report: Thames Velo Spring Road Race

Right royal rides from Will Fox and Llewelyn Kinch see them winners at the Thames Velo Spring Road Race on Sunday (May 6) near Windsor

Report: Thames Velo Spring Road Race

The sun shone hot and bright for the 2018 edition of the Thames Velo Spring Road taking place on Sunday 6th May 2018 on the Drift Road circuit just outside Windsor.

The Elite/1/2/3 race welcomed last year’s winner Dan Bigham, back to defend his title, as well as a host of notable riders and teams.

The race featured a few early attempts for breakaways to form only for them to be reeled in, until at 32kms a group of six pulled out a gap of twenty five seconds on the peloton until the break began to fracture prompting Michael Mottram from Morvello Basso to push on alone. As the race turned onto the Drift Road, James Bowman from Hoops Velo bridged the gap to work well with Mottram to pull out a gap of forty seconds.
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As the race passed through Cranbourne, the two were reeled in by the peloton only for another attack on the Drift Road to take a group, including Mottram and Bowman from the original break, to stretch a quick lead out on the bunch.

With 25kms left to race, a lead of two minutes was established by the eleven man group and proved to be the winning break. As the breakaway turned onto the Drift Road for the last time, a few attempts to get away were made, but come the final kilometre the sprint that beckoned saw Steven Bradbury of Morvello Basso take 3rd, and Will Fox of Team KTM outsprint last year’s winner Dan Bigham of Ribble Pro Cycling to take the win with Bigham 2nd.

Huge thanks to all involved and well done to Pete Chapman from Thames Velo on organising his first races.

E/1/2/3 Top 10.

1. Will Fox – Team KTM
2. Dan Bigham – Ribble Pro Cycling
3. Steven Bradbury – Morvello Brasso
4. James Jenkins – Richardsons Trek
5. Luke Ryan – Richardson Trek
6. Matthew Webster – Flamme Rouge
7. Gary Freeman – Fast Test Race Team
8. James Boyman – Hoops Velo
9. Lawrence Carpenter – Ribble Pro Cycling
10. Rees Howell – Rapha CC
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The earlier 3/4/J/W race mostly stayed together throughout the race, however a crash to the front of the peloton saw many riders come down with one requiring hospitalisation with a believed discolated shoulder. Best wishes to all injured riders.

1. Llewelyn Kinch
2. Darren Milligan
3. Matthew Elder
4. Lynton Van Sky
5. Ben Watts
6. Sean Nearer
7. James Street
8. Evan Clemens
9. Hugo To very
10. Joseph Bennet