The new-look Motorpoint-Marshall’s Pasta Team is celebrating winning its first National title of 2010 after new-signing Ian Bibby stormed to victory in a thrilling National Cyclo-Cross Championships at SuttonPark in Birmingham on Sunday.
Bibby held off defending champion and pre-race favourite Jody Crawforth (Arctic Premier RT) to win by just two seconds in the event, which was cancelled last month because of the heavy snow and ice.
A perfectly timed attack on the final lap gave Bibby victory, but he had tried to break up the leaders several times before his ultimately successful surge.
Always to the fore, Bibby was one of six riders who broke away early in the fast-paced senior race which proved a fitting and thrilling finale to a successful weekend of racing.
As the leaders broke out of the wooded section and down to the tarmac finish, Crawforth surged on with his lightning sprint, but Bibby had done just enough and took a popular victory, while National Trophy Series winner Paul Oldham (Hope Factory Racing) was third, another seven seconds off the pace.
“It’s great to get a win for the team so early in the season,” said Bibby afterwards. “I wasn’t sure if Jody was struggling or whether he was saving himself for the finish, so when I did attack on the last lap I tried not to look behind me and just kept it going.
“Hopefully I can carry on my form into the road season!”
Meanwhile, Kona FSA rider Helen Wyman secured a record-equalling fifth victory in a row in the women’s event with a confident performance.
She was more than a minute and a half ahead of her nearest rival - AVB Cycling Team’s Nikki Harris, while Cyclefit RT’s Gabby Day was third, another 14 seconds further back, but having battled back well after an early puncture.
The Harris family had good reason to celebrate a successful weekend, with Nikki’s brother Jamie being crowned Under-23 winner. The Cult Racing rider was more than a minute quicker than Stephen Adams (Langdale Lightweights).
After battling through the World Championship course in the CzechRepublic last weekend, Great Britain team-mates Tom Moses and Luke Gray lined up in rival colours in the junior event, and it proved to be another entertaining race on Saturday.
Gray took the win after the pair had crashed, and although Moses was first to his feet he appeared more shaken than Gray. The Hargroves Cycles rider pushed hard and opened up a gap, and although Moses dug deep he could not haul him back and held on for second, 16 seconds ahead of Scottish MTB rider Kenta Gallagher (Scott UK), who had briefly overtaken Moses following the crash.
Wouter Sybrandy takes Stella sporting time trials win
Wouter Sybrandy proved a worthy winner of the GS Stella sporting time trials last weekend, winning both comfortably in a quality field and breaking the course records for both the 18 and 34-kilometre events in West Sussex.
In Saturday’s shorter event at Storrington the Sigma Sport RT rider sliced 32 seconds from the old course record, which was held by In Gear-Quickvit RT’s Pete Tadros, who had to settle for second spot by 1:08.
And to prove his victory was no fluke, the 24-year-old Dutch rider who now lives in Uxbridge was almost two minutes quicker than Tadros in Sunday’s 34-kilometre event.
His ride of 47min 20sec broke Chris Birch’s two-year-old record of 49:52 by around a minute and a half, and gave him a big boost ahead of a season which will see Sigma Sport RT build on a successful 2009 with rides in several UCI events on the continent as well as Premier Calendar races and the Tour Series.
The Sigma Sport team have just returned from a training camp in North Wales, and while Sybrandy knew he was going well he was not sure how he would match up against others in his first time trial of the year.
“It’s always good to get your first indication of how well you’re going,” he said afterwards. “We’ve had a good camp, but you’re never sure so early in the season although I knew I was going quite well.”
He now aims to mix his road programme with time trials throughout the season, and is targeting the Dutch National Championships and perhaps the English National 25-Mile Championship later in the year.
The GS Stella event at Storrington featured a good set of results from riders with the new Southdowns Bikes, who placed three riders in the top ten on Saturday and four on Sunday to secure the team prize, while Emma Craddock was fastest woman on both days.
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