Ystwyth CC Shine at Wales’ premier stage race
9th July 2010
Ystwyth CC entered a team in the 5 day ‘RAS DE CYMRU’, a multi day road race consisting of 6 arduous stages to determine the overall winner.
Only three Welsh teams were entered for the race as demand to ride in this race is high from all over the UK. The Isle of Man were even in on the act. Thanks largely to some of Ystwyth’s contacts in the sport, they were granted a starting birth and it was Gruff Lewis, Jade Wilmot, Danny Thorogood and Murdo Jamieson who were selected to ride.
With Gruff coming second in the bunch sprint on the opening road stage after all four Ystwyth riders had finished inside the top half of the field in the prologue time trial, they knew that they would be competitive. Jade Wilmot showed tremendous guts to twice come from behind with mechanical issues in the opening stages to chase a rapid peleton alone and regain his place in the pack. The only downside was a mass crash on stage one which left Danny Thorogood with a broken wrist and despite contemplating riding the following days team time trial for the sake of the team, the pain on the morning of the TTT was too much and he called it a day, leaving the three Ystwyth lads to soldier on.
With the time stopping on the third man, Ystwyth could not afford any mishaps in the TTT. They rode a near perfect race and ended up in third place on the day, ahead even of Cwmcarn Paragon who boasted some strong time triallists in their ranks.
In the individual General Classification, Gruff and Jade were both in the top ten for much of the race, only falling away in the latter stages to the top twenties due to some successful breakaways on stages four and six, however it was Murdo Jamieson who edged himself into one of these breaks to move himself up to 13th overall in the final standings. Both Gruff and Jade’s consistent riding meant that Ystwyth comfortably came second in the team rankings, beaten only by winner Mike Smith’s Team Corley-Cervelo team from Milton Keynes.
The performance of the three and also Danny’s early part in this was truly astounding and hats go off to the lads who have represented Ystwyth CC and indeed Aberystwyth so well in this national event. Gruff and Murdo are firmly into their second category licenses now whilst Jade is also on his way to a second cat license. Danny seems to have the road race bug also and so don’t be surprised if they enter again next year and try for the win!
Results
http://www.cadencecycleracing.co.uk/ras_info/ras_stage6_team.pdf
Overall
1. Mike Smith Team Corley Cycles 9:27:12
2. Basil Moss Cambridge CC @ 1:01
3. James Cartridge Team Isle of Man A @1:08
4. Tavis Walker Moonglu RT @1:14
5. Marcus Brueton Norwood Paragon @2:15
6. Tim Carter Virgin Active @2:31
7. Ben Simmons Wiggle Ltd @2:48
8. Adam Cairns Chevin Bang & Olufsen RRT 2 @4:29
9. Matthew Pilkington Sprackled 3 @4:53
10. Jake Hales Team Corley Cycles @5:08
11. Mike Auger VC Norwich @5:13
12. Richard Harris Cwmcarn Paragon RC @6:00
13. Colum O’Shea Team Isle of Man A @6:28
14. Murdo Jamieson Ystwyth CC @6:30
15. Luke Wallis Kingston Wheelers @6:36
16. Gruffudd Lewis Ystwyth CC @6:41
17. Jamie Caldwell St Ives CC @6:48
18. Tim Rose Abergavenny RC @6:53
19. Ryan Bevis Bad Ass Bikes – Kenda @7:06
20. Matthew Theobolds Sprackled @7:34
KOM
1. Mike Smith
2. Matthew Pilkington (Sprackled)
3. Tavis Walker (Moonglu RT)
SPRINT
1. Colum O’Shea (Team Isle of Man)
2. John Russell (Bad-Tri/Fred Baker Cycles
3. Tavis Walker
TEAM
1. Team Corley Cycles
2. Ystwyth CC
3. Bad Ass Bikes – Kenda)
http://www.cadencecycleracing.co.uk/ras_info/ras_stage6_team.pdf
