Location: Halwill Junction, Devon
Event: April 28 and April 29 2012
Report: Snowdon Sports
Victory in the first road stage proved enough to give Tom Bustard (Herbalife-Leisure Lakes Bikes.com) the overall honours in the Totnes-Vire Two-Day as the weather forced Sunday’s finale to be cancelled.
Promoting Mid-Devon CC took the decision to call off the 70-mile Spreyton stage in the interests of safety with standing water all round the circuit, debris from the overnight storms, and no indication that conditions would improve.
“The three National Escort Group riders and the commissaries went round the circuit and there were puddles out beyond the centre lines on both sides of the road, and one 400-metre section, at Sticklepath, which was completely flooded and nigh-on impassable,” said organiser Ken Robertson.
“With the forecast that the rain would not stop before Monday morning, we had to take this decision and, to their credit, the riders accepted that it was all we could do.”
The promoting club’s Peter Vincent laid down a marker in the opening 3.5-mile time trial, finishing six seconds clear of Tavis Walker (Wilier-Live To Ride), but the eventual outcome of the race was largely shaped by the lap primes for time bonuses in the following six-lap, 66-mile leg.
Vincent, Simon Baxter (Herbalife) and Adam Bright (Primal Europe) broke away for the second-lap prime and were joined by another eight riders in what proved to be the decisive move.
Bright mopped up the majority of the primes, but paid for his efforts and slipped back to the bunch as he cramped up on the last lap to lose all his previous gains as Bustard broke off the front with Tom Stockdale (Primal Europe).
Bustard, 23, proved strongest at the finish, opening up a three-second gap over his rival which was just enough to snatch overall victory by a single second with Ben Stockdale (Metaltek-Scott) leading in the rest at 47 seconds to claim third place overall.
Bright was awarded the George Drewell Memorial Trophy as the most combative rider.
Results:
3.5-mile time trial
1 Peter Vincent (Mid-Devon CC) 7-06
2 Tavis Walker (Wilier-Live to Ride) 7-12
3 James Cartridge (Cadence Cannondale RT) 7-15
4 Ben Stockdale (Metaltek-Scott) 7-17
5 Hugh Wilson (Wilier-Live to Ride) 7-18
6 Rob Wilcox (Primal Europe) 7-1
Stage 1
1 Tom Bustard (Herbalife-Leisure Lakes Bikes.com) 2-39-27
2 Tom Stockdale (Primal Europe)at 3 sec
3 Ben Stockdale at 47 sec
4 Simon Baxter (Herbalife-Leisure Lakes Bikes.com) at 49 sec
5 Roy Chamberlain (Team Corley Cycles) at 55 sec
6 Richard Harris (Wales)
7 Peter Vincent
8 George Harper (Felt-Colbornes RT)
9 Colin Parry (Wilier-Live to Ride)
10 Dean Shannon (Twenty3c-Orbea) all same time
Overall
1 Tom Bustard
2 Tom Stockdale
3 Peter Vincent
4 Ben Stockdale
5 Simon Baxter
6 George Harper
7 Colin Parry
8 Dean Chamberlain
9 Richard Harris
10 Tavis Walker
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.
