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Report: Mid Devon CC Springtime Pursuit Round 3

Brennan Townshend, right, receives the Springtime Pursuit overall prize

Weather conditions for the race were dry with very strong crosswinds across the course, presenting challenging conditions for the riders for the third and final Springtime Pursuit event promoted by Mid Devon Cycling Club.

With handicaps being adjusted slightly between the groups to move riders to groups more suited to their abilities, following the second race, the winner of that race, Peter Vincent, found himself moved back to the scratch group, where he was joined by, amongst others, Motorpoint Marshalls Pasta elite rider Marcin Bialablocki. The groups had the same time gaps between each other, however this week there was an extra lap of the circuit to complete

All the riders knew that the race was going to come together at some point so there were a lot of riders not willing to work in their groups knowing that they would need to save a lot for when the elite riders caught them. Peter Vincent and Brennan Townshend were both in contention for the overall series win, Brennan had also been moved up to the last second category group on the road because of his excellent performance in pursuit no. 2.

Because of the lack of riders willing to work, the race had come together by lap three and the elite riders started to make their moves. Chris Opie - Pendragon Le Col went up the road first to be joined by eight other riders into the severe head wind on lap 3. Andy Hitchens Mid Devon CC, saw the moved and put in a monumental effort to get across to the group which was just 20 seconds in front of the bunch

As soon as the break hit the headwind the gap started to increase rapidly. Brennan Townshend had made the break but Peter Vincent the other rider in contention overall missed the move

On the run in to the finish Brennan put in a gutsy attack at the bottom of the climb splitting the break apart. Doug Dewey came through to win the race narrowly from Marcin Bialoblocki. Brennan held on for sixth place which was enough to place him in first position overall in the springtime pursuit series.

Results

1 Doug Dewey GWR Swindon cycles Giant
2 Marcin Bialoblocki Motorpoint Pro Cycling
3 Gary Chambers Wilier Lifecare
4 Junior Heffernan Primal Europe
5 Chris Opie Pendragon Le Col
6 Brennan Townshend Mid Devon CC
7 Jack Plummer Somerset RC
8 Jules Birks VC Londres