Location: Gilmorton, Lutterworth, Leicestershire
Event: 22 September 2012
Report: Snowdon Sports
Photos: Ash Brown
Local rider Carl Dyson (Clay Cross RT) proved strongest on the finishing climb as Leicester Forest CC’s 56-mile road race came down to a five-mile sprint.
Dyson, from Syston, was part of the leading break which had just formed on the last of the five when the race was disrupted by a tractor negotiating its way through parked traffic in one of the villages on the rural Gilmorton circuit.
A halt was called, and after a delay of several minutes the race was restarted with the leaders given an advantage of 15 seconds over the rest of the field who were unable to close the gap on a high-speed dash to the finish.
“There were about ten of us and we hit it so hard on the restart that I think it demoralised the bunch,” said 27-year-old Dyson. “I looked round after a few miles and couldn’t see anyone.
“Everybody got a bit of a breather, but the break had just started to stretch when I saw the black flag and I think it would have gone away anyway.”
The leaders were down to six coming out of the tight turns in Ashby Magna towards the uphill finish, and Dyson crossed the line two lengths clear of Rob Orr (Velo29-OTR-Vankru) with a similar gap to Will Hayter (London Dynamo) in third.
“Rob took it out right from the bottom, but Carl Sturgeon took up the chase and I followed him,” said the winner. “I saw Mark Lovatt was on my wheel, so I just attacked as hard as I could with 50 metres to go and that was it.”
A field of close to 80 riders took the start of the race through the undulating and occasionally narrow lanes of south Leicestershire, and Jonathan Shubert (High Wycombe CC) attacked from the off.
His move was marked by Dyson and the attack was joined by two more riders before the race came back together and, with an average speed of over 40 kmh, stayed intact until the closing lap.
It was Dyson’s first road win of the season and followed an unexpected victory off-road in the Thetford Cyclo-Cross Enduro. “The end of the year is going well,” he said. “I bought a house this time last year and missed my winter training spending time doing it up.
“I’m going into the cyclo-cross season now, I’ve always enjoyed riding off road, and it will keep me interested over the winter rather than just trudging out the road miles, and hopefully I can start next season fit.”
Result:
1 Carl Dyson (Clay Cross RT)
2 Rob Orr (Velo29-OTR-Vankru)
3 Will Hayter (London Dynamo)
4 Andy Eagers (Derby Mercury RC)
5 Mark Lovatt (Planet X RT)
6 Carl Sturgeon (Lutterworth Cycle Centre RT)
7 Stephen Ellis (Out Of The Saddle)
8 Michael Jones (Nottingham Clarion)
9 Tom Neale (Spalding CC)
10 Paul Bell (Peak RC)
11 Andrew Marsh (Dinnington RC)
12 Lubomir Belak (Welwyn Wheelers)
13 Jonathon Tatton (Hafren Cycling)
14 Edward Ashby (BC Private Member)
15 GrayTurnock (Finsbury Park CC)
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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.
