Sat 26 Mar 2016
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britishcycling.org.uk
Edmund Bradbury (NFTO) drew first
blood in the Motorpoint Spring Cup Series, taking the win in a
wet and windy Chorley Grand Prix on Easter Saturday.
The
20-year-old from Banstead in Surrey time trialled his way to
victory over the last few miles, and despite the pouring rain
and strong winds on the exposed Lancashire course he made
victory look easy, crossing the line around 30 seconds ahead of
team-mate Dale Appleby, with Dexter Gardias (Pedal Heaven)
third.
Bradbury is a superb time trial rider, and placed
second to Alex Dowsett in the 2015 British Time Trial
Championship. Most recently he was second in the Wally Gimber
Trophy a fortnight ago, proving that he can ride successfully in
road races too.
But both he and NFTO had to bide their
time towards the end of the 116-mile race before making their
decisive move.
As the race rolled out of Chorley the rain
began to come down heavier, and as they powered towards the
first climb of Rivington Pike several riders made a bid for
freedom.
They were helped by some crashes which split the
field, and as they crested the top of the climb it was Ian
Wilkinson (Pedal Heaven RT) and Ben Hetherington (Planet X-Northside
Cycling) who got clear.
They worked hard to get clear,
and after ten minutes they were joined at the front by Rob
Partridge (NFTO). With added impetus, the trio established a
lead of over a minute.
As they hurtled towards the end of
the first lap, their lead had grown to around 1-15 over the
bunch, but two riders attempted to chase – Tommy Bustard (Metaltek-Kuota)
and Jez McCann (Richardsons-Trek).
Heading into the
second lap, the three leaders had around 45 seconds as they
tackled Rivington climb again, while behind them the chasing few
had been pulled back by the bunch.
Their lead steadily
dropped until it was around 25 seconds, and they were now within
sight of the bunch on longer stretches. Stephen Swindley (PMR at
Toachim House) bridged across to make the leading group
four-strong, but it did little to help them stay clear as JLT
Condor drove hard on the front of the bunch.
The third
ascent of Rivington loomed, and as the leaders pulled themselves
up it they were finally swallowed up by the chasers after around
two hours of freedom.
After one or two solo attacks came
to nothing, a large break of 12 riders formed, with many of the
big teams represented. Pedal Heaven RT had four riders up there
in Jack Pullar, James Gullen, Max Stedman and Grant Ferguson,
but NFTO featured Ian Bibby and Ed Bradbury.
Raleigh GAC
had Craig Wallace and Adria Moreno Salo, Metaltek-Kuota’s Dan
Fleeman and Adam Kenway were present, as were JLT Condor duo
Steve Lampier and Stephen Williams.
They quickly gained
45 seconds over the bunch, but just when it was looking likely
to stay away the bunch pulled them back again.
With
around two and a half hours gone, Connor Swift (Envelopemaster-Giant
Sheffield) and Jonny McEvoy (NFTO) got around 30 seconds clear.
Of the several chasers, they were eventually joined at the front
by Dexter Gardias (Pedal Heaven) and Daniel Patten (Team
Wiggins).
Their lead hovered around 25 seconds with
Madison Genesis keen to push the chase on and stop them from
escaping.
A successful chase was eventually mounted, and
they swelled the lead group to 11 riders with McEvoy, Swift,
Patten and Gardias being joined by Steve Lampier (JLT Condor),
Gruffydd Lewis (Madison Genesis), Ed Bradbury, Dale Appleby and
James Lowsley-Williams (NFTO), Rhys Howells (Richardsons Trek)
and Craig Wallace (Raleigh GAC).
On the final climb of
Rivington, James Lowsley-Williams jumped away and was quickly
joined by Lampier, Gardias and Appleby, and with others
struggling to stay in touch, the break was down to eight riders
by the top of the climb.
As they crested the climb for
the final time, Bradbury attacked and quickly gained crucial
daylight. Lampier reacted but couldn’t hold close to his wheel.
With little more than a minute in front Bradbury had opened
up a lead of 12 seconds over Lampier, with Appleby and Gardias
at 28 seconds.
He adopted a classic time trial pose and
looked determined to solo to victory as his lead grew to 28
seconds, despite the weather worsening.
At the line he
was over 30 seconds clear, with team-mate Appleby taking second
from Gardias in third.
“I’m over the moon, I couldn’t
believe it,” said Bradbury. “I went with about 20 kilometres to
go and really had to dig deep. I kept getting time checks in the
last two kilometres saying I had 30 seconds lead so I probably
had enough time to sit up, but I just kept going because I
didn’t want to risk it.
“Today was all about the team
effort. We were looking to last year’s winner Ian Bibby a lot,
and I think all the other teams were looking at him which gave
the rest of us a bit more lee-way. But we ended up with so many
riders in the break it shows how strong the team is this year.
“It got absolutely grim towards the end, but when you’re
going full gas you hardly notice it. We’ve got such good kit on
this year. We were staying dry as best as we could but in the
last 4-5 kilometres it was absolutely biblical!
“The team
is looking better than ever. We’ve had a great Winter and have
been training hard. We had two weeks training out in Calpe and
then did some fast racing out in Belgium and Holland, and have
really come into form in time for this.” |
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