Surrey League Revolutions 5-day, August 2009

CCC riders Chris Spence and Adam Wojtkiewicz resumed their UK racing with the Surrey League 5 day Although the field was not full some respected Elite riders were in the line up along with mainly 1st category riders. They were joined by Jerseyman based in the UK, Richard Tanguy, riding for Pendragon-Kalas. It was to be a challenging five days with some long stages.

Fifty riders set off on stage 1 and from the off everyone was keen to gain time. No real splits occurred until three riders gained a gap midway and these were to remain out in front for quite some time. With constant attacks in the bunch the speed of the race never really dropped and towards the end of the race just as the break was caught Spence clipped off in a select group of four who rode well to the finish and established a 1 minute lead on a select split which came in just ahead of the bunch with Adam finishing 15th @ 1min 58 behind and Richard Tanguy 20th @ 2min 01. Day 2 promised to be a tough one with long draggy climbs and somewhat warmer weather. From the gun Richard established himself in a break of four who worked well together and established a two minute lead. The bunch again was moving along quickly with everyone keen to race. Approaching three quarter distance with the break now at 1 minute Spence clipped off from the bunch and set about closing the gap which he did relatively quickly and once there raised the tempo of the break with his fresh legs which still contained fellow Jerseyman Richard Tanguy. A lap later a select group containing the eventual winner crossed to Spence and the group then set about trying to extend their lead from the chasing bunch. At the finish Spence crossed the line 5th @ 5secs which now moved him into 2nd Overall and Richard Tanguy finishing 8th @ 14 secs, a great ride by Rich who had been in front for almost all of the 96miles! The bunch sprinted in losing some 2mins 30 on the break with Adam finishing 22nd @ 2mins 50. Day 3 started with a 2.4 mile TT around the Goodwood Motor Circuit on Road Bikes, there was to be no use of TT bikes or aero bars which was a good thing as we had no aero equipment with us. Spence recorded a 5min 11 to finish 11th and now moved 2nd overall just 1 second off yellow. Rich was 18th in 5mins 15 and Adam 24th in 5min 23. That afternoon the riders headed out for a tough 80 miles with plenty of climbing including an accent of the Cat 1 climb of South Harting Hill. A break eventually escaped with no real threat to GC so it was allowed to get a lead of up to 2 mins. The bunch still together before South Harting exploded on the accent with a select group going over the top in pursuit of the leaders headed for the Goodwood circuit to finish on. With 4 laps to finish on, the group started to attack each other once on the circuit and eventually a group of four obtained a small lead with Rich making the front group, with a lap and a half to go Spence and the yellow jersey along with a couple others escaped the group and set off in pursuit of the leaders but ran out of time to catch them. Rich eventually finished 2nd @ 7secs with Spence 5th @24 secs. Adam came in with the Bunch in 26th who had lost some 3 minutes.

Name Club/Team Cat Time 1 Gareth Hewitt Team Sabbath/Claytan 1 18:31:16 2 Chris Spence Caesarean CC Jersey 1 @2:39 3 Dan Staite Python Racing Team 1 @5:47 4 Richard Tanguy Pendragon-Kalas 1 @6:10 5 Roger Smith Wildside 707 RT 2 @7:20 6 Gareth McCullough Medway Velo 1 @7:51 7 Matt Melville awcycles.co.uk 2 @8:15 8 Ishmael Burdeau agiskoviner.com 1V @8:41 9 Martin Smith Army CU EV @9:50 10 Richard Cartland Team Corley Cervelo E @10:08 11 Stephen Dring Team Echelon 1 @10:15 12 Keiran Frend Team Sabbath/Claytan 1 @11:31 13 Daniel Felstead Dulwich Paragon CC 2 @12:10 14 Dave Coulson Team Sabbath/Claytan E @13:55 15 Adam Wojtkiewicz Caesarean CC Jersey 2 @13:56 16 John Heaton-Armstrong Fit-For 1 @15:05 17 Daniele Santoni Pearson Cycles 1 @15:06 18 Ian Field Hargroves Cycles 2 @15:42 19 Christopher McNamara Team Corley Cervelo E @15:44 20 Steven Saunders Kingston Wheelers 1 @16:21 21 James Stuart Norwood Paragon CC 2 @16:54 22 Niall Brosnan Killorglin CC 1 @17:00 23 Luke Ryan Team Toachim 2 @20:06 24 Lee Tunnicliffe Fit-For 1 @20:43 25 Mark Perry Dulwich Paragon CC 2 @20:58 26 Steve Golla Sigma Sport RT 1 @21:28 27 Alex Camier Private Member 2 @22:08 28 Kevin Knox Dulwich Paragon CC 1V @23:01 29 Douglas Dewey Pendragon-Kalas E @23:59 30 Richard Mason Fit-For E @28:14 31 Matthew Carden Team Quest 1 @28:28 32 Miceal Concannon Killorglin CC 1 @29:05 33 Robert Jackson Team Toachim 1 @33:55 34 Toby Neave Southdown Velo 1 @35:59 35 Alexandre Guimaraes Fit-For E @37:27 36 Phil Anthony Team Toachim 1 @37:51 37 James Beaumont Kingston Wheelers 3 @41:55 38 Mike Cripps Army CU 2 @51:07 39 Ian Legg Owens Cycles E @62:15

Day 4 and the longest day of 101 miles. From the gun a break went and with a lot of riders having tired legs people were unwilling to chase and Spence along with the yellow Jersey were stranded in the bunch who were rapidly losing time on the break which contained a lot of danger men including Richard. Attacks from Spence and the Yellow Jersey made it obvious that no one was willing to do any work but they were all willing to chase them! So the pair set about simply riding tempo on the front to limit their loses with the break now at 2mins. The pair slowly raised the tempo with the odd rider helping them and after an hour of hard chasing the break was caught. Not wanting to get caught on the back foot again Spence and the yellow Jersey immediately attacked and were joined by a handful of riders who quickly rode away from a now tired bunch. At one point the break had gained 1min 30 but on the last lap with Spence attacking the yellow jersey to try and gain time back reduced the lead until Spence crossed the line with the yellow in 5th and 6th unable to shake him and only some 20 secs ahead of the bunch but having lost 50secs to Dan staite who moved into 3rd and starting to look like a new danger man. Adam finished the day in 21st @ 1min 10 having had a better day.

Day 5 and the dreaded Ashdown Forest. This was going to be the make or break day. A break of four who were nowhere on GC were allowed to ride away without any trouble but then the bunch set about riding a steady tempo with the yellow jersey’s team mates doing most of the riding with everyone waiting for the first real big climb. Spence was the first to attack which sent shock waves through the bunch and the yellow jersey’s team mates brought him back. Spence then made another move on the climb between circuits heading for the dreaded accent of the wall and was joined by Tanguy, the pair rode tempo to the top but were again pulled back, a quick recovery before the wall and Spence then realised that he didn’t have the legs that he wanted! With a split in the group over the top and Tanguy and Spence in it the leader sensed that Spence was not on a good day. On the way to the 2nd accent of the wall the yellow Jersey attacked and Spence was on him straight away the pair then quickly rode away from the bunch and were bringing the lead to the break down very quickly. 2nd time up the wall and the two were inseparable but the high pace was beginning to tell on Spence who was paying dearly for his earlier attacks. Approaching the 3rd and final accent and the lead group were now only 30 secs in front and the yellow jersey's pace was just too much on the last climb who was able to get across to the leaders and increase his lead all the way to the finish. Spence rode in on his own for the final seven miles to finish at 2min 49 having conceded to Gareth Hewitt the Yellow Jersey and Race Winner. What was left of the chasers including Richard crossed the line some 4mins 15 down with Adam in the next group at 6mins 05.

Spence’s 2nd place was equal to that of his best performance in the 1999 event some ten years ago! Adam enjoyed his first attempt at what is arguably Britain’s hardest amateur stage race for hilly and long stages. Let’s hope Jersey can send a team of riders to the event next year to try and win Yellow! [report Chris Spence]