WXCRL Cove Road Race 05/09/2010

“I Like Very Much.”

On a day best described as ‘changeable’ and on a distinctly lumpy course, Marcin Bialoblocki took a win for the Wilier/Big Maggys/Prendas team, breaking away with a team mate and Ross Adams of Red Kite and pulling out well over three minutes over the rest of the bunch. This was one of the Wessex League’s two National B events, open to Elite level riders and catering for those elite and first cat riders that fancied something in between airfield circuit crit racing and getting a pasting in the Premier Calendar. The course included two short, sharp climbs, one out of Winfrith to Durdle Door and the other out of Lulworth Cove and both into a strong headwind.

Wilier/Big Maggys/Prendas had turned out in force, while most of their elite level competition were riding for themselves, while further town the grid a fair smattering of lambs to the slaughter local riders looking to test their mettle against the big boys filled out the field. All rolled out later than scheduled, the start having been delayed by the removal of a large amount of grit on one of the corners. Washed down by the recent rains, it took a full 45 minutes of shoveling and then sweeping by course marshals to get the road cleared but the race got under way only 10 minutes late. Happily, by this time an early rain shower had stopped and the roads had dried by the end of the first lap.

It was a nervous first few laps, with plenty of attacks but no one willing to commit themselves this early on.

“It was all stop start.” Said Ross Adams of Red Kite. “I’m used to mountain biking, which is start, go hard and then finish but with this I tried to get something going but nothing was really working.”

This went on until the fourth lap, an hour and a half into the race, when Bialoblocki decided to make his move. The Bristol-based Polish Premier Calendar rider attacked down the hill into Lulworth Cove, taking team mate Chris Spence and Ross Adams with him and “going steady for a few laps”. In actual fact they had pulled a full minutes and twenty seconds out of the bunch on the climb to Lulworth Camp and continued so until they were three minutes clear a lap later. By this time, Chris Spence (Wilier/Big Maggys/Prendas) had blown up on the climb out of Lulworth Cove, going straight on to the HQ for an early bath, days work done. The remaining pair’s epic lead now had a substantial amount of traffic, including a double decker bus, between it and the rest of the field.

Back in the bunch, there were more problems for Wilier/Big Maggys/Prendas. They had been doing a good job of controlling the race but Mark Perry had a flat. Team mate Ben Lapthorne gave up his wheel and, with both temporarily out of the equation, several riders saw their chance. Harry Furniss (Wyndymilla Maxifuel), Gary Chambers (Southforkracing.co.uk) and Chris McNamara (Team Corley Cycles) put in a successful attack. In fact Harry Furniss tried to go it alone but suffered a problem in the style of an Andy Schlek.
“I was planning an attack out of Lulworth.” He said. “But as I changed to the little ring, the chain came off. The other riders waited for me and, after that, I couldn’t really attack, could I?” Contador would have but that’s another story.

By the sixth lap, three hours into the race, the rain had started again. A short, heavy shower, actually coming as more of a relief to the riders on what was still a quite hot day. The pace had settled down, with the two leaders two and a half minutes ahead of the three rider breakaway, which was another two minutes ahead of the bunch. Up front, Ross Adams (Red Kite Cycles) was suffering a little.

“He was a little tired.” Explained his co-escapee Marcin Bialoblocki. “He does mountain biking and his longest race is two hours. I could see his in face he was tired.”

“I’m not used to racing for three and a half hours.” Ross Adams agreed. “He’s a lot stronger than me and, by the end there wasn’t a hope in hell that my legs would do anything. I just stood up and pppffft, nope.”

So, Marcin Bialoblocki took the win with Ross Adams of Red Kite Cycles ten seconds back in second place. There was a three minute, four second gap back to the next group, who would rue their act of charity to Gary Chambers (Southforkracing.co.uk) as he outsprinted them up the hill to take third. Chris McNamara of Team Corley Cycles got fourth with Henry Furniss of Wyndymilla Maxifuel a lucky fifth after riding most of the final lap in one gear after his derailleur broke. This was as well as arriving for the race 15 minutes before the start. And riding in pink kit.

The final group came in six minutes and eight seconds behind the leaders but still racing hard. Martin Ford of Team Goldtec lead them in for sixth place, with Marc Perry of Wilier/Big Maggys/Prendas in seventh and Roland Tilley of Ride Team eighth. Mark Baines of Spirit Racing Team got ninth while Dexter Gardias of Team Zappis finished off the top 10. Full results are here.

Next week, the Wessex League returns to its staple diet of 2nd cat road racing, with Bournemouth Jubilee Wheeler’s Autumn Road Race on Sunday September 12th, based out of Holt football club. Enter here. Course map here. For this one we guarantee you won’t have any premier calendar regulars rip your legs off. Promise.

Photos Graham Robins.