This piece was written by Matilda Price. For more of her musings on the domestic racing scene, visit her excellent blog here. And follow her on Twitter here.
The CiCLE Classic is a race that everyone thinks they can win. That’s because it’s been won by sprinters, climbers and time triallists, from long breakaways, late attacks and bunch sprints. But also everyone thinks they can win, because everyone knows they can lose – at the touch of a wheel, thanks to a poorly-timed puncture, by a centimetre on the finish line. Whether you’re a club rider or a European professional, you know the smallest thing could make the difference between a top-10 and a DNF. On paper, the race is not incredibly hard – it is not full of big climbs, or exposed sections, or tricky descents – but the route’s 11 off-road sectors of gravel and grass tracks make the race treacherous and unpredictable, whilst the rolling Rutland terrain and 200km length make for a gruelling day out. A day out where luck and brute force often win out over tactics and race craft.
Now in its 15th edition, the CiCLE Classic is a UCI 1.2 race – currently the only race of this kind on the British calendar – meaning it attracts an increasingly international field, often welcoming teams from Belgium, the Netherlands and further afield as well as a wide range of British teams. The most exciting inclusion for 2019 came in the form of Rally-UHC, a North American Pro Continental team who came to this race off the back of Wednesday’s Flèche Wallonne, already their second WorldTour race of the season. Though Rally may have appeared the strongest team in theory, they were lining up against squads with years of experience racing this tricky course and many on-form riders including 2018 winner Gabriel Cullaigh (Team Wiggins Le Col), so there was no expectation that the American team would dominate the day.
As the 174 starters from 35 teams lined up in Oakham on Sunday morning, donning and discarding various layers under the threateningly grey skies, there was certainly an air of nerves and anticipation ahead of 5 hours of tough racing. After a short neutralised section, the attacks came as soon as the flag was dropped and within 10km a break had formed, made up of the trio of Matt Nowell (Saint Piran), Wim Kleiman (Monkey Town-À Bloc) and Josh Housley (Team PB Performance).
Being a small group and lacking any overly threatening riders, the peloton seemed happy to let this move get away, confident they could reel them back in when they wanted to. With a couple of crashes slowing the bunch behind, the leading trio’s advantage quickly stretched to 3 minutes and counting as the race tackled the newly-added laps of Wymondham, and had grown to over 7 minutes by the time the riders hit the race’s gravel sectors. Rain earlier in the week had thrown up the possibility of muddy, slippery sectors, but by Sunday the terrain was damp at most and the rain held off, so water-filled potholes the worst the peloton had to contend with – though these did catch a few riders out.
The breakaway swept up most of the day’s prime points with Nowell and Kleiman winning the King of the Hills and Sprints competitions respectively. As the riders weaved and looped through the Rutland and Leicestershire countryside, the race situation remained stable for most of the day, with the peloton strung out but mainly intact. At the 100km completed mark, Daan Hoeyberghs (BEAT Cycling Club) and Charlie Quarterman (Holdsworth-Zappi) launched an ambitious counter-attack to chase down the leaders, who were 7 and half minutes ahead at this point. Hoeyberghs soon dropped back to the peloton, but 20-year-old Quarterman powered on, building up a gap of 2 minutes over the main group, though ultimately finding himself alone in no-man’s land as it proved too much of an ask to catch the leading trio.
Charlie Quarterman (Holdsworth-Zappi). Photo: Alex Reed
The peloton, who hadn’t really been actively chasing up until this point, started to organise themselves after Quarterman’s escape and the teams of Canyon dhb p/b Bloor Homes and Madison Genesis began to mass at the head of the group. Going into the final third of the race, Canyon dhb p/b Bloor Homes’s powerhouse Alex Paton hit the front and pushed the pace hard, rapidly eating into the breakaway’s lead which shrunk and shrunk as the kilometres counted down. When the gap had fallen to within 2 minutes, a few riders attempted to attack the peloton, most notably Jake Scott (SwiftCarbon Pro Cycling) but with several teams working hard to bring it all back together, these moves were short-lived. Because the breakaway’s advantage had once been so large, it took until the final 30km for the catch to finally be made. Tom Stewart (Canyon dhb p/b Bloor Homes) was among the handful of riders who tried to make a break for it as the leaders were caught, but again the peloton was not letting anyone get more than a few seconds of an advantage.
The pace of the second half of the race, combined with the effects of a tough course, meant that the back of the race had really fractured by the time the peloton arrived in Melton Mowbray for the first time, but there were still at least 40 riders at the head of the race as they entered the final 20km lap of the CiCLE Classic. With fast finishers such as Townsend (Canyon dhb p/b Bloor Homes), Cullaigh and Thwaites (Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother) all in this leading group, and a bunch sprint looking increasingly likely, anyone who didn’t rate their chances in a sprint knew a late attack would be their only shot at the win. National champion Connor Swift (Madison Genesis) attempted just this on the Sawgate sector, but he failed to shake off the bunch as they sped towards a sprint finish in Melton Mowbray.
Connor Swift (Madison Genesis) on the Somerberg Photo: Alex Reed
Going into the final kilometre, it was Paton once again who was powering on at the head of the race, setting things up for teammate Rory Townsend, whilst Wiggins’ Tom Pidcock and Rob Scott were leading out Cullaigh. Out of the sizeable group of riders sprinting, three emerged to fight it all the way to the line – Townsend, Cullaigh, and Joyce (Rally-UHC). Two were attempting doubles of sorts – Townsend looking to add to his Klondike GP win two weeks previously, and Cullaigh metres away from becoming the first rider in the race’s history to take back-to-back wins in Melton. Taking the left-hand side of the road, Cullaigh led the sprint out and sat up smiling as he crossed the line, thinking he’d done it, but his expression changed as he saw Townsend and Joyce, heads down, having come up on the far-right, lunging to the line.
Photo: Alex Reed
As probably the best sprinter in the British peloton, Cullaigh’s confidence in thinking he’d won was certainly not misplaced, but ultimately those few seconds of celebrating instead of keeping his head down almost definitely cost him the win. After the commissaires had inspected the photo finish, Joyce was declared the winner, taking it by a fraction of a tyre width from a visibly dismayed Cullaigh and a frustrated Townsend.
What We Learnt
Rutland is always selective, but not always in the way we expect.When we think of a race being ‘selective’, we often imagine a race where it’s active at the front, several riders attacking until they establish an elite group. But this wasn’t really what happened on Sunday. Instead it was more a whittling down process as the pace remained so high at the front of the race, too fast for anyone to get away and plenty fast enough to continuously drop riders. Speaking to VeloUK at the finish, George Pym expressed his surprise at looking back and seeing there were only 40 riders left in the group, suggesting that it really was a gradual selection rather than an intentioned fracturing of the peloton.
Townsend is back on top.This was probably already clear from his win at the Klondike GP, but Sunday proved that Rory Townsend is well and truly back to the impressive form we saw from him in 2017 – able to climb well but also sprint with the best of the best. With this strength and the confidence that comes with it, Townsend will certainly be a rider to keep an eye on in the Tour de Yorkshire and the iconic Lincoln GP, a race where he definitely has more to give after coming so close in 2017.
Madison left us with more questions than answers.Madison Genesis seemed like they came into this race with options, but when it came down to it they really only seemed to have a Plan A. The team’s traditional sprinter, Jon Mould, has never got on with the CiCLE Classic (in fact, he’s never finished an edition) so it was the turn of Connor Swift to be their protected rider. Knowing he couldn’t beat the pure sprinters in a bunch finish, he needed a really selective group to contest the win but this just never came and his solo attacks didn’t pay off. In the end, Madison’s best finisher was George Pym in 20th, a result that – to his credit – is well within his ability and doesn’t seem like the result of a rider who was supported into the finish, despite the team’s work during the day. So what went wrong for Madison?
Matt Nowell (Saint Piran) takes maximum points on the first time up the Cold Overton Berg Photo: Alex Reed
Rider of the Day
A few riders deserve a mention here for their efforts in the CiCLE Classic, including Alex Paton, Charlie Quarterman and Jake Scott, but the stand-out rider in my eyes was Matt Nowell. Nowell looked consistently strong and in control in the day’s break, but what really impressed me was the fact he managed to stick with the leaders in the finale, sprinting to just outside the top-20. After spending over 150km out front and winning the climbing classification, it’s certainly no small achievement to still be able to out-sprint half the leading group at the end of a 200km race. Since joining Saint Piran at the start of the 2019 season, Nowell has already picked up a few strong Nat B results so hopefully we will see him given some leadership opportunities on the road this year.
Looking Ahead
Going into May the races start coming thick and fast, starting with the Tour de Yorkshire on Thursday where all six men’s Continental teams will be competing, along with CiCLE Classic winners Rally-UHC. The National Road Series returns on Sunday 12th May with the men’s and women’s editions of the Lincoln Grand Prix.
Canyon dhb p/b Bloor Homes continue to lead the Tour of Britain qualification race following. Click here to see the latest standings.
This piece was written by Matilda Price. For more of her musings on the domestic racing scene, visit her excellent blog here. And follow her on Twitter here.
The CiCLE Classic is a race that everyone thinks they can win. That’s because it’s been won by sprinters, climbers and time triallists, from long breakaways, late attacks and bunch sprints. But also everyone thinks they can win, because everyone knows they can lose – at the touch of a wheel, thanks to a poorly-timed puncture, by a centimetre on the finish line. Whether you’re a club rider or a European professional, you know the smallest thing could make the difference between a top-10 and a DNF. On paper, the race is not incredibly hard – it is not full of big climbs, or exposed sections, or tricky descents – but the route’s 11 off-road sectors of gravel and grass tracks make the race treacherous and unpredictable, whilst the rolling Rutland terrain and 200km length make for a gruelling day out. A day out where luck and brute force often win out over tactics and race craft.
Now in its 15th edition, the CiCLE Classic is a UCI 1.2 race – currently the only race of this kind on the British calendar – meaning it attracts an increasingly international field, often welcoming teams from Belgium, the Netherlands and further afield as well as a wide range of British teams. The most exciting inclusion for 2019 came in the form of Rally-UHC, a North American Pro Continental team who came to this race off the back of Wednesday’s Flèche Wallonne, already their second WorldTour race of the season. Though Rally may have appeared the strongest team in theory, they were lining up against squads with years of experience racing this tricky course and many on-form riders including 2018 winner Gabriel Cullaigh (Team Wiggins Le Col), so there was no expectation that the American team would dominate the day.
As the 174 starters from 35 teams lined up in Oakham on Sunday morning, donning and discarding various layers under the threateningly grey skies, there was certainly an air of nerves and anticipation ahead of 5 hours of tough racing. After a short neutralised section, the attacks came as soon as the flag was dropped and within 10km a break had formed, made up of the trio of Matt Nowell (Saint Piran), Wim Kleiman (Monkey Town-À Bloc) and Josh Housley (Team PB Performance).
Being a small group and lacking any overly threatening riders, the peloton seemed happy to let this move get away, confident they could reel them back in when they wanted to. With a couple of crashes slowing the bunch behind, the leading trio’s advantage quickly stretched to 3 minutes and counting as the race tackled the newly-added laps of Wymondham, and had grown to over 7 minutes by the time the riders hit the race’s gravel sectors. Rain earlier in the week had thrown up the possibility of muddy, slippery sectors, but by Sunday the terrain was damp at most and the rain held off, so water-filled potholes the worst the peloton had to contend with – though these did catch a few riders out.
The breakaway swept up most of the day’s prime points with Nowell and Kleiman winning the King of the Hills and Sprints competitions respectively. As the riders weaved and looped through the Rutland and Leicestershire countryside, the race situation remained stable for most of the day, with the peloton strung out but mainly intact. At the 100km completed mark, Daan Hoeyberghs (BEAT Cycling Club) and Charlie Quarterman (Holdsworth-Zappi) launched an ambitious counter-attack to chase down the leaders, who were 7 and half minutes ahead at this point. Hoeyberghs soon dropped back to the peloton, but 20-year-old Quarterman powered on, building up a gap of 2 minutes over the main group, though ultimately finding himself alone inno-man’s land as it proved too much of an ask to catch the leading trio.
The peloton, who hadn’t really been actively chasing up until this point, started to organise themselves after Quarterman’s escape and the teams of Canyondhb p/b Bloor Homes and Madison Genesis began to mass at the head of the group. Going into the final third of the race, Canyon dhb p/b Bloor Homes’s powerhouse Alex Paton hit the front and pushed the pace hard, rapidly eating into the breakaway’s lead which shrunk and shrunk as the kilometres counted down. When the gap had fallen to within 2 minutes, a few riders attempted to attack the peloton, most notably Jake Scott (SwiftCarbon Pro Cycling) but with several teams working hard to bring it all back together, these moves were short-lived. Because the breakaway’s advantage had once been so large, it took until the final 30km for the catch to finally be made. Tom Stewart (Canyon dhb p/b Bloor Homes) was among the handful of riders who tried to make a break for it as the leaders were caught, but again the peloton was not letting anyone get more than a few seconds of an advantage.
The pace of the second half of the race, combined with the effects of a tough course, meant that the back of the race had really fractured by the time the peloton arrived in Melton Mowbray for the first time, but there were still at least 40 riders at the head of the race as they entered the final 20km lap of the CiCLE Classic. With fast finishers such as Townsend (Canyon dhb p/b Bloor Homes), Cullaigh and Thwaites (Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother) all in this leading group, and a bunch sprint looking increasingly likely, anyone who didn’t rate their chances in a sprint knew a late attack would be their only shot at the win. National champion Connor Swift (Madison Genesis) attempted just this on the Sawgate sector, but he failed to shake off the bunch as they sped towards a sprint finish in Melton Mowbray.
Going into the final kilometre, it was Paton once again who was powering on at the head of the race, setting things up for teammate Rory Townsend, whilst Wiggins’ Tom Pidcock and Rob Scott were leading out Cullaigh. Out of the sizeable group of riders sprinting, three emerged to fight it all the way to the line – Townsend, Cullaigh, and Joyce (Rally-UHC). Two were attempting doubles of sorts – Townsend looking to add to his Klondike GP win two weeks previously, and Cullaigh metres away from becoming the first rider in the race’s history to take back-to-back wins in Melton. Taking the left-hand side of the road, Cullaigh led the sprint out and sat up smiling as he crossed the line, thinking he’d done it, but his expression changed as he saw Townsend and Joyce, heads down, having comeup on the far-right, lunging to the line.
As probably the best sprinter in the British peloton, Cullaigh’s confidence in thinking he’d won was certainly not misplaced, but ultimately those few seconds of celebrating instead of keeping his head down almost definitely cost him the win. After thecommissaires had inspected the photo finish, Joyce was declared the winner, taking it by a fraction of a tyre width from a visibly dismayed Cullaigh and a frustrated Townsend.
What We Learnt
Photo: Alex Reed
Rider of the Day
A few riders deserve a mention here for their efforts in the CiCLE Classic, including Alex Paton, Charlie Quarterman and Jake Scott, but the stand-out rider in my eyes was Matt Nowell. Nowell looked consistently strong and in control in the day’s break, but what really impressed me was the fact he managed to stick with the leaders in the finale, sprinting to just outside the top-20. After spending over 150km out front and winning the climbing classification, it’s certainly no small achievement to still be able to out-sprint half the leading group at the end of a 200km race. Since joining Saint Piran at the start of the 2019 season, Nowell has already picked up a few strong Nat B results so hopefully we will see him given some leadership opportunities on the road this year.
Looking Ahead
Going into May the races start coming thick and fast, starting with the Tour de Yorkshire on Thursday where all six men’s Continental teams will be competing, along with CiCLE Classic winners Rally-UHC. The National Road Series returns on Sunday 12th May with the men’s and women’s editions of the Lincoln Grand Prix.
Canyondhb p/b Bloor Homes continue to lead the Tour of Britain qualification race following. Click here to see the latest standings.
Results
Featured photo: Ian Price / https://www.ianrprice.co.uk/
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