UK time trial/cyclo-cross round-up: Urquhart wins Rudy Project 7

Duncan Urquhart won round 7 of the Rudy Project series in South Wales (Brian Jones/Kimroy Photography)

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Scotsman Duncan Urquhart (Endura Racing) took the top honours in round 7 of the Rudy Project time trial series in Llandeilo, South Wales.

Urquhart, who has represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games and the Tour of Britain, clocked 1:03:06 for the 29 mile senior men's event. He beat Colin Robertson (Equipe Velo Ecosse) by 1:22 with Richard Prebble (Candi TV/Marshalls Pasta) finishing third at 1:33.

Rudy Project Series leader Dean Robson finished fourth but should have no problems winning the overall, provided he finishes next week's eighth and final round in Devizes, Wiltshire.

The women's series is a much closer affair, with paralympic gold medalist Sarah Storey (VC St Raphael) looking like taking the overall honours. Storey convincingly beat Michelle King (Wyre Forest) in South Wales, clocking 40:58 to King's 42:52 over the 18 mile course.

In the veterans event, Ian Cooke (Calder Clarion) beat Ian Dalton (40:33) to win on actual time. The two are separated by just one point on the points table, which means the final round will be crucial.

Simon Richardson (Team Terminator) continued his unbeaten run in the disabled category, recording 41:44 to beat  Richard Davies (High Wycombe) and Tim Challinor (Paramount CRT).

Finally, Jack Green (VC St Raphael) won the juniors event in 40:28 from  Charles Wheatley (Llandovery CC) and Ruby Ellis (Max Gear RT).

Holme Valley Wheelers hillclimb: Clinton defeated

Max Gear RT).Reigning national hill-climb champion Matt Clinton suffered his first defeat in almost two years on Saturday, losing to Daniel Shand, giving his rivals for the 2009 title hope of pipping the Coventry rider to victory

The Mike Vaughan Cycles rider had to settle for second spot in the Holme Valley Wheelers event up the 1.3-mile climb of Holme Moss on the border of West Yorkshire and Derbyshire in the Peak District.

West Pennine Road Club’s Daniel Shand won the event with a time of 6min 58.7sec, 1.5 seconds quicker than his rival.

However, parity was restored later that same day, with Clinton taking victory in the Huddersfield Star Wheelers climb a few miles up the road, clocking 4:09.5 to beat Shand by 5.3 seconds.

On Sunday, Clinton underlined his form with another victory at Shand’s expense in the Lancashire Road Club event up 947-yard climb of The Rake near Ramsbottom.

Meanwhile, there was a shock winner of the Bec CC event at Limpsfield in West Sussex, with 21-year-old Team Milton Keynes rider Michael Leonard-Smith winning the £1,000 first prize for the 700-yard climb at Titsey Lane.

Rain made the course slippery for the later starters while Leonard-Smith, from Newport Pagnell, had been given an early start with little previous form.

The winning time of 1min 46.3sec was 3.8 seconds too good for Chippenham and District Wheelers’ Robert Gough in second spot, who had won the Catford CC’s event earlier in the day to bag a prize of £300.

Arctic Premier RT’s Jody Crawforth was third in the Bec CC event, but led Arctic Premier to the team prize alongside Danny Axford and Matt Holmes. Third in the Catford CC event on Yorks Hill near Sevenoaks in Kent, Crawforth also led the Arctic to the team prize there.

Mike Cuming wins Fibrax-Wrexham Road Club climb

Elsewhere, junior rider Mike Cuming (Raleigh Avanti) scored an impressive win in the Fibrax-Wrexham Road Club climb of the Horseshoe Pass near Llangollen on Sunday covering the distance in 10min 15sec – including a 10 second penalty for a late start.

Cuming won by four seconds from Paramount CRT rival Dave Griffiths over the two-mile, 585-yard climb, but a headwind on the long straight meant James Dobbin’s course record of 9:02 was never under threat.

Carl Saint victorious in Lincoln Wheelers events

Yorkshire Road Club’s Carl Saint scored a weekend double with victory in both the 10 and 25-mile trike and tandem time trials staged by Lincoln Wheelers on Saturday and Sunday.

Saint was a class apart from his rivals, winning the 10-mile event by almost three and a half minutes and going within four seconds of the course record on the C10/17 at Saxilby.

And he followed that up with victory in the 25-mile event the following day by more than ten minutes.

However, the battle for victory in the accompanying tandem events was closer, with RAF CA duo Jon Surtees and Gary Beezer winning the ten-mile event by 54 seconds, while their 25-mile victory was even closer, winning by just 14 seconds.

Cyclo-cross

German visitor Johannes Sickmuller powered to victory over a super-fast second round of the National Trophy Cyclo-Cross Series in Derby on Sunday, holding off current series leader Paul Oldham by 24 seconds.

The Stevens RT rider looked strong as he bounced back from a fall on the second lap to take the win in an eventful race.

Oldham took a tumble on the first lap, leaving Sickmuller to race ahead alongside Belgian rival Jan Van Dael, who was second behind Oldham in the opening round a fortnight ago.

Oldham recovered quickly enough to stay in touch and rode with another Belgian rider, Kris Lapere, but when Sickmuller fell and took Van Dael with him, the Lancashire rider saw his chance and attacked.

Sickmuller was up quickly and rode away aggressively out of trouble, and although Oldham chased hard he couldn’t catch his rival.

Minter takes the spoils in Devon

Pedal On rider Christopher Minter took the spoils in the fourth round of the South West League at Kingsbridge, Devon, on Sunday.

He powered to victory with ease, lapping all but four of his rivals. Shred Racing rider Roy Wyle-Smith had led on the opening lap, but as soon as Minter opened the throttle he pulled away, and crossed the line around two and a half minutes clear of Wyle-Smith.

Belgians dominant in Welwyn

Belgian visitors, warming up for the National Trophy ‘Cross, swept the board at the Welwyn Wheelers event at Stanborough Park, Welwyn.

Kristof Kop (AVB Cycling Team) and Marc Druyts (Cycling Team Kessel) finished with hands linked aloft, Kop getting the judge’s verdict, but Druyts was resplendent in his world championship stripes as reigning world Masters Champion for age group 45-49.

They finished 1:56 clear of Glenn Sluyts (CT Kessel) who had five seconds in hand over Andy Waterman (Dulwich Paragon).

Elite Veteran Gavin Rumbles (CC Luton, 6th) was best Eastern League rider, recovering well from his Dusk-til-Dawn night mountain bike race win last weekend. Best senior was Glenn Stanford (Extreme Sports Therapy) back in seventh place.

In the women and Veterans race last week’s surprise winner Nikki Juniper hit a stump on the first lap and rode the rest of the race with a bent back wheel rubbing the brake blocks. 

Nevertheless she took third place, 38 seconds behind winner and veteran’s league leader David Fraser. In between was Colchester super-veteran Chris Gooch (VC Revolution), just nine seconds adrift of Fraser.

Results

You can follow BikeRadar on Twitter at twitter.com/bikeradar.

• Back to top
• Email to a friend