Lee Smith 2nd at Roy Thame
Lee Smith 2nd at Roy Thame
Roy Thame Cup Road Race
With many of the top British Elite riders taking part in the ill fated Bikeline Two Day Stage Race, the field was somewhat reduced to only 72 riders taking the start. Nether the less the lack of the top Elite Riders did not affect the quality of the field that took part nor did it affect the enthusiasm of those that forced the pace in this year’s event.
The sunny morning had subsided into a grey overcast afternoon, but this did not deter the riders as the attacks started as soon as the neutralised flag had been lowered and continued throughout the race. During the first climb of the day, Lee Smith (Agiskoviner) John Wager (Felt Racing) Peter Kench and Sam Redding both of (GWR Team) had managed to pull 10 seconds away from the main field but this early break didn’t last long and they were soon sucked back into the peloton.
At the Charndon turn, two break away groups formed -- one large leading bunch of 11 riders which included Aaron McCaffrey (AW Cycles.co.uk-Giant) and Macies Weremko (Bedfordshire CC) and maintained a 25 second lead over the main field with three chasers trying hard to bridge the gap. But after an hour of racing, the race started to crumble with the leading break splintering, the 11 leaders had now become nine with a 30 second and growing gap, were now being chased down by five riders.
With only two laps to go, Richard Prebble (CandiTV/Pinarello RT) and two others tried to escape off the front of the leaders which caused indecision amongst the remaining riders, but it didn’t last as Richard Prebble finally sat up after realising he was just towing the other riders along and the leading group reformed and the gap to the main field dropped to 20 seconds.
With the bell ringing for the last lap, the leading group turned up the pace even more and once again regained control of the race and started to pull away but the main field was having none of it and six riders launched another attack chasing down the leaders 25 second lead. The main field made sure they kept them in their sights and didn’t allow the gap to increase too far and before they reached the climb at Botolph Claydon, they had come together but this didn’t stop Richard Prebble launching another attack and being caught quickly.
As the race entered the homeward stretch, a small group of riders came into view from the finish line but were being hotly pursued by further riders and as they hit the 1 Kilometre to go mark, a large bunch of 19 riders were sprinting up the final climb towards the finish line. Justin Hoy seemed to effortlessly ease his way through to front to take the win quite convincingly.
Winner Roy Thame Cup Justin Hoy (Felt Racing – Felt/Castelli/Zipp/SRAM) said: “It was quite a slow and civilised race to start, one of my team mates went off in a break, which I didn’t mind as I was quite happy just to sit there, but a couple of miles further down the road, he was sitting at the side of the road with two cracked both rims, the race had split and I decided I needed to get across."
"So six of us managed to get across and then a few more joined us but it started to split up again so me and my team mate John Wager pulled it back. It was good to come into the finish with quite a few guys and John, and we really closed it down at the end. I did so much work pulling back a guy with 40 or 50 metres to go. I came flying into the finish and came off Tom Smith's wheel and I hit the front and then there was no turning back.”
Justin later thanked everyone involve with organising the event and thanked his rivals for making it such a good race.
Roy Thame Cup Results
1 Justin Hoy Felt Racing - Felt/Castelli/Zipp/SRAM
2 Lee Smith agiskoviner - Agisko natr'l prod's/Viner bikes/For Goodness Shakes!/bottlestore.co.uk/Miche
3 David Sinclair GWR Team - 3Vi/Swindon Cycles/Spiuk/High 5/Giant/ cyclepowermetres.com/Joy
4 Tom Smith AWCycles.co.uk - Giant/Fulcrum/OneFishTwoFish
5 Nic Tilling GWR Team - 3Vi/Swindon Cycles/Spiuk/High 5/Giant/ cyclepowermetres.com/Joy Riders/Continental
6 Andy Hastings Finchley RT
7 Danny Axford Arctic-Premier RT - Arctic Air Con/Premier Cycles
8 Edward Griffin Qoroz - Novatec
9 Alex Peterson AWCycles.co.uk - Giant/Fulcrum/OneFishTwoFish
10 Mike Wragg Team Milton Keynes-Trek/Abbeygate Dev/Personal Assurance/Corley Cycles/Body Limits
11 Maciej Weremko Bedfordshire Road CC
12 Richard Prebble CandiTV Pinarello RT- CandiTV/Pinarello/Rudy Project/Corima/SiS/Stafford Audi
13 Sam Redding GWR Team - 3Vi/Swindon Cycles/Spiuk/High 5/Giant/ cyclepowermetres.com/Joy
14 Jake Hales Lotto Olympia team Interbike
15 Joel Stewart agiskoviner - Agisko natr'l prod's/Viner bikes/For Goodness Shakes!/bottlestore.co.uk/Miche
16 Martin Smith AWCycles.co.uk - Giant/Fulcrum/OneFishTwoFish
17 John Veness Pendragon Kales
18 Mike Jackson CC Luton - Eddingtons/Bandon Cleaning
19 Ben Price UKCycleshops.com/Fat Spanner
20 Ian Alexander Cheltenham & County CC
21 Phil Starr Python RT - SmartestEnergy/IXIA/Real 451/Push Print
22 Nigel Williams Python RT - SmartestEnergy/IXIA/Real 451/Push Print
23 Aaron McCaffrey AWCycles.co.uk - Giant/Fulcrum/OneFishTwoFish
24 Simon Ernest AWCycles.co.uk - Giant/Fulcrum/OneFishTwoFish
25 John Wager Felt Racing - Felt/Castelli/Zipp/SRAM
26 Peter Kench GWR Team - 3Vi/Swindon Cycles/Spiuk/High 5/Giant/ cyclepowermetres.com/Joy
27 Sam Allen AWCycles.co.uk - Giant/Fulcrum/OneFishTwoFish
28 Conor Dunne Hemel Hempstead CC
29 Simon Lawn Sigma Sport RT - Specialized/Sportful
30 Martin Dawkins Team Quest - The Bike Shop
31 Tom Kirk Team Corley Cycles/Alpha RC-Phil Corley Cycles/Cervélo/Madison
32 Jack Salt Pedal Power Loghborough
33 Boyd Roberts Planet X
34 Roger Browne Beeline Bicycles RT
35 James Holland-Leader agiskoviner - Agisko natr'l prod's/Viner bikes/For Goodness
36 Richard Prince Planet X
37 Trevor Burke Finchley RT - Paul Simon/Magic Homes/Leader
38 Robert Stimpson Python RT - SmartestEnergy/IXIA/Real 451/Push Print
39 Vince Divine Finchley RT - Paul Simon/Magic Homes/Leader
40 Colin Roshier Team Quest - The Bike Shop
41 Simon Henley Team Corley Cycles/Alpha RC-Phil Corley Cycles/Cervélo/Madison
42 Oliver Davies Dinnington RC - Universal Cycle Centre/Auditoria Serves Ltd
43 Jack Waller Lotto Olympia team Interbike
44 Jerry Rayner Somer Valley
45 Jonathan Griffin Team Endura - Thule/24/7 /MI Racing/Double Dutch Pancake Bar/Spiuk/Lister Timber/
46 Jim Moffatt Spirit Racing Team - Perfect Pipework/Pirton/BSS
47 Mark Jervis Python RT - SmartestEnergy/IXIA/Real 451/Push Print
48 Alec Leslie John's Bikes RT-John's Bikes
49 Russell Rowles Spirit Racing Team - Perfect Pipework/Pirton/BSS
50 Matthew Melville AWCycles.co.uk - Giant/Fulcrum/OneFishTwoFish
51 Ben Wilson Solihull CC
52 Pete Wager VC Meudon - Excel/Tiger/Cycle Kingdom
53 Chris Smith Python RT - SmartestEnergy/IXIA/Real 451/Push Print
