WXCRL Dorset Tour 2009 Stage Two

With a few hours rest after the time trial, stage two got under way at 1.30 in the after noon, by which time the day, though still overcast and very humid, had got considerably hotter. Rain that had threatened early on was long gone as the field rolled out onto Stokeford circuit for the first, 106km road stage. The course took the shape of an isosceles triangle, running six times around Worgret Heath on straight and gently rolling roads with the finish after over a kilometer of gentle climbing.

This was where numerous breakaways were attempted, with riders giving it a go on each lap. The first few were unsuccessful, being brought back within the same lap but, by lap 3, five riders had got a thirty second gap on the bunch: Mike Smith of Lotto Olympia Team Interbike, Dave Barnes of East London Velo, Jamie Howard of Exeter Wheelers and Shane Pope and Crispin Doyle of Swindon Road Club worked well together to increase their lead.

A lap later, the same group had pulled out 1 minute 28 seconds, with the chasing bunch lacking cohesion. “Only few of us seemed to be chasing.” Said Simon Mears of Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers. “We had them in sight at one point but then just let them go again.” It seemed that, with many eyeing their position on general classification, it was all too tempting to sit in and save their strength for tomorrow’s, much hillier, stage.

Others had different ideas, notably Deacon Cutterham of the Army Cycle Union: “The bunch were a bit jumpy and, when the break went away I thought I’d be a lot better off out there than in here so I thought I’d better get after them.” In the course of a lap, he bridged the, still over one minute, gap to leading group to five riders. “I hadn’t done that well in the time trial.” He explained. “So I thought I’d better make the time back up.”

Come the last lap, Cutterham attacked along with Crispin Doyle, dropping the remaining three riders. They crossed the line together, though with a two minute difference on GC, 36 seconds ahead of David Barnes of East London Velo. Shane Pope came in with Mike Smith and Jamie Howard of Exeter Wheelers in fourth, fifth and sixth and with the bunch closing in fast.

In the overall standings , Crispin Doyle has done very well for himself, with third in the morning time trial followed by a stage win. Similarly, Jamie Howard can allow himself a pat on the back for good work. Full results (should be) here, more photos here and with tomorrow’s 123km route climbing eight times up the hill between Wool and Lulworth Camp, the race is only just beginning.

WXCRL Dorset Tour 2009 Stage One

The first stage of this year’s Dorset Tour kicked off on the stroke of 9am on a humid and overcast Saturday morning, with the first of 68 riders tackling the daunting opening time trial. Run over 8.8km, it began and continued relatively flat for the first few kilometers, before taking a sharp left turn and heading up the notorious Whiteways hill, with 200 meters ascent through an army firing range.

They’d stopped the shooting for us but the stage as a whole offered quite a challenge to riders, not least on what sort of bike to use. With long sections of the course flat, the dilemma was over whether to go with a TT bike and suffer the weight and the riding position up the worst of the kick up or to stick with a leightweight race bike. Most chose the latter, with clip-on tri-bars but then had to judge whether to go ‘into the red’ on the flat sections or on the climb, with it’s false flat and downhill finish.

 Tom Stockdale of MJS Racing seemed to judge it best, winning with a time of 13 minutes and 22 seconds, 12 seconds ahead of the next man, Daniel Arblaster of Guernsey Velo Development team. His team mate Matthew Osbourne came in fourth with Crispin Doyle of Swindon Road Club between them in third. With this, the only time trial, likely to be decisive in the coming days the pace was hard and there were many aching legs back at the race HQ where the top three riders were given their race-leaders jersey. These came curtosey of Prendas Cyclismo, sponsors of the event along with Bike Food, Fitness First, Performance cycles and Yves Bertelin.

Full results here (hopefully). More photos here. Stage two results coming up soon.