Location: Chobham, Surrey
Event: 18 March 2012
Report: Snowdon Sports

Essex racer Andy Griffiths led IG-Sigma Sport to a one-two in the Peter Young Memorial Road Race in Surrey on Sunday, crossing the line alone at the end of the race based around Chobham.

Andy Griffiths enjoys that winning feeling

SLIDESHOW

The 23-year-old from Hornchurch took the win around 15 seconds clear of his team-mate Wouter Sybrandy, while Node 4-Giordana’s James Moss completed the podium in third place.

Based on seven and a half laps of a large circuit followed by six laps of a smaller finishing circuit, the race – dedicated to stalwart Hounslow and District Wheelers member Peter Young - was 87 miles in length.

Cambridge CC’s Owen Luke was first to show his hand, attacking just after the neutralised section on the first lap. But he was soon pulled back, with the bunch perhaps having one eye on the first prime on lap two which was taken by Griffiths.

At the end of the second lap Griffiths was out in from with Pedal Heaven rider Tim Elverson as they went through Valley End at the back of the circuit, and they had about 15 seconds ahead of a chasing group of five – which included James Moss - while the bunch had dropped about a minute off the pace.

The leading duo were caught by the chasers to make it seven-strong, while the prime of lap four was a dead heat between Griffiths and Moss.

With a lead of around a minute and a half over the bunch, the bunch included Alex King (Loughborough Students), Andrew Hastings (Metaltek-Scott), Andrew Griffiths, Douglas Coleman (CC Luton), James Moss, Tim Elverson and Peter Vincent.

Moss took the third prime on lap six, and as they headed onto the smaller finishing circuit the bunch had closed to less than a minute on the leaders, with Bialoblocki driving the bunch onwards.

Two chasers - Ashley Cox (Team Corley Cycles) and Wouter Sybrandy (IG-Sigma Sport) - managed to cross to the leaders with four laps to go, and the nine-strong leading group managed to stem the decrease in their lead despite the bunch looking lively.

At the bell, Elverson was dropped, while a chasing group of five had clipped off the front of the bunch and were 40 seconds back.

On the final circuit Griffiths and Sybrandy attacked, keen to avoid a sprint finish, and it was the man from Hornchurch who took the win, around 15 seconds ahead of his 28-year-old team-mate Sybrandy.

What they said

“It all went to plan for us today,” said winner Andy Griffiths afterwards. “Our plan all along was for one of us to get in the front break early on and boss the race from there.

“It went to plan throughout, and none of us who made the break can really sprint so we needed to get away.”

Results:

1 Andy Griffiths (IG-Sigma Sport)
2 Wouter Sybrandy (IG-Sigma Sport)
3 James Moss (Node 4-Giordana)
4 Ashley Cox (Team Corley Cycles)
5 Peter Vincent (Mid-Devon CC)
6 Douglas Coleman (CC Luton)
7 Andrew Hastings (Metaltek-Scott)
8 Alex King (Loughborough Students CC)
9 Marcin Bialoblocki (Node 4-Giordana)
10 Simon Gaywood (IG-Sigma Sport)

British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs.