Location: Garelochhead, Scotland
Event: 16 June 2013
Report: Snowdon Sports
Team Raleigh’s Evan Oliphant left it until the last 250 metres of a gruelling uphill finish before digging in to open up the lead that gave him victory in the Hugh Dornan Memorial – Race to Rosneath on Sunday.
The 31-year-old Edinburgh rider managed to get the march on rival Ben Greenwood (Herbalife-Leisure Lakes Bikes) on the final climb of Whistlefield Hill after more than 80 miles of tough racing.
Oliphant and Greenwood started off on the front foot and worked hard to get clear of the rest of the field.
As the laps went by, the gap got bigger and the two riders continually increased the space between them and the main bunch.
But competition for places in the top spots was still fierce further back as attacks went in throughout the race, leading to the bunch splitting up.
Alex Coutts (Herbalife-Leisure Lakes Bikes) was the best of the rest, coming home in third, a good minute behind Greenwood. The rest of the field crossed the line in fits and starts, having become fragmented during the race.
Although it was warm and dry with only a slight breeze, the race was still a tough one with four 21-mile laps near Garelochhead, leading up to the killer hill up towards the finish line.
That, coupled with the furious pace and aggressive racing of the competitors, made for an exhilarating race with the field torn to shreds.
Oliphant said after the race: “The climb on the course was quite a hard one, Quite hard climb There was a group of 11 who got away straight away and they had a big gap but eventually I think it got quite hard for them and I managed to get into a little chasing group and we managed to get over to them
“With a lap to go, Ben led and we just accelerated away. They did chase us but eventually we managed to get away and with about 600 metres to go, I just went for it and Ben was knackered by then.
“It was a decent field and it’s the first time I’ve won this race. I think I’ve won most of the races in Scotland now but I’d never won this one.
“It isn’t normally held in June so it’s usually a cold race with snow and all the rest of it, it was nice to ride it with the warm weather and the only thing I had to worry about was the midges!
“It’s the National Championships next weekend and I’m looking forward to that, I had a hard week with the Scotland team and I’m leading the Premier Calendar at the moment so I’ve had some tough weeks.
“I had a bit of a cold and decided to take time out to recover for a weekend and I think I made the right choice, I felt much better today.”
Results:
1 Evan Oliphant (Team Raleigh) 3:08:35
2 Ben Greenwood (Hope Factory Racing)
3 Alex Coutts (Herbalife-Leisure Lakes Bikes)
4 Gary Hand (Herbalife-Leisure Lakes Bikes)
5 Scott McCrossan (Rock to Rolls Cycles)
6 Robert Hassan (Ibaigne Opel)
7 Peter Murdoch (Paisley Velo RT)
8 Jack Barrett (Velocity 44 Stirling)
9 Andrew Whitehall (Equipe Velo Escosse/Montpeliers)
10 Tim Blathwayt (VC Edinburgh)
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