“B” is for Burglars

Stortford Open B grade Tour 2004

Saturday 24^th & Sunday 25^th January 2004

Jason Kelly

With the results of the 2003 A grade Stortford Open Tour still lurking, many riders opted for the “safe” option of the B grade for the 2004 tour. This resulted in a strong field of 39 starters which included Sarah Ulmer and two past B grade winners – Mark Coombe from 2001 and Bryce Martin from 2002. As the field contained nine Ramblers, an informal meeting of some of the riders had decided that we should try to work together to ensure a Rambler won the B grade for the first time since 2001. Dan Warren was also the designated sprinter.

The first stage, Apley Rd X 3, ended up being a fairly tame affair with most rider’s content to just sit in the bunch and cruise around. Patrick Kelly made the most of this on the second lap to open a small gap and claim the 5 King of the Mountain points on offer before being re-absorbed by the peleton. Jason Kelly and George Masters tried a similar tactic on the last lap, with George securing the 5 KOM points, but failing to achieve a decisive breakaway. In the sprint to the line, John Fitzpatrick edged out Sarah Ulmer who was followed by Dan Warren. All the Ramblers finished comfortably in the bunch in a time of 2hrs 09m.

The afternoon criterium was dominated by Dan Warren, Eliot Crowther, Sarah Ulmer, Bryce Martin and John Fitzpatrick who took all the sprint points on offer between them. George Masters and Gavin Povey watched proceedings from near the front of the bunch. With an average speed of over 41km/h, this was no Ramblers B grade race! While most of the Ramblers finished with the bunch, Grant Nicoll and Callum Millward lost some time.

The result of the first day was that 23 riders were all on the same time with Dan Warren holding a one point lead in the Sprint Ace category while three Ramblers, Patrick Kelly, George Masters and Adam Thomson, were first equal on 5 points in the KOM category. The lack of a team plan in the KOM category was obvious!

The 3^rd stage, the Te Mata Peak climb on Sunday morning, is designed to split the field. The team “plan” was to help Dan win the Sprint Ace while for the stage, I was to set the tempo for George to attack near the top. A few early attacks in the stage were quickly shut down and Patrick and I led Dan out for the sprint points. Part one of the plan was completed successfully with Dan taking the 5 points on offer. Once into Simla Avenue, Dan initially set the tempo before I took over. Phil Smith, last year’s winner of this stage, briefly took the lead before I again went to the front and pushed the pace. Approaching the KOM just before the gates, I eased up to let George take the 5 points but he had decided to conserve his energy so Earl Rowney pipped me for the 5 points while George took the 1 point for third. We continued to climb at a solid pace and with about 800 metres to go, as planned, George attacked. I sat up but Eliot Crowther, Ben Olesen and Luke Cornille went with him. Reaching the finish line, George positioned himself perfectly to edge out Eliot Crowther by 1 second and take a deserved stage win. I followed 20 seconds later, followed a further nine seconds back by Mark Coombe. On reaching the top and stopping my stopwatch, I had completed the Ramblers peak climb part of the stage in a personally stunning 16m 05s – easily a personal best. This meant George had completed the climb in 15m 45s and all of the top 10 B grade finishers had beaten 17 minutes! Phil Smith, who won this stage last year by 30 seconds from Scott Betteridge, finished 30 seconds behind George this year.

With George now in yellow, a further “team” meeting decided to help him retain this in the last stage around the Tuki. Dan was happy for any Rambler to go up the road as this would help him by them taking the Sprint Ace points on offer. Nothing eventful happened until over half way around the first lap when Bryce Martin rolled off the front. Recalling his ride away victory in the 2002 tour, I quickly jumped on his wheel and expected the balance of the field to do the same. After a few seconds, I saw Bryce look behind and then settle into time trial mode. Glancing behind, I could see we had a gap so I started to work with him. Rotating the lead between us, we widened the gap from the peleton. George had decided not to chase as he thought everyone else would have gone with him. Approaching the Sprint Ace line for the first time, I misjudged the rotation and had to settle for 2^nd but we had taken 1^st and 2^nd place which helped Dan.

Soon after this, my turns on the front were getting longer. Up the first little rise, Bryce struggled. Climbing up the "Undercliff" hill behind the peak, we were told we had a one minute lead on the bunch. By the time I reached the top of this hill, Bryce had fallen off my wheel and I was solo. I felt I had a fair chance of getting the 5 KOM points on the 2^nd lap so pushed on. Climbing up and over Coops Hill, I secured the 5 KOM points and was told I had a gap of about 45s. Now I thought I had a fair chance of picking up the 5 Sprint Ace points so settled into a good rhythm. The bunch meanwhile was only sporadically interested in chasing so my lead varied from 30s to over a minute (or so I’m told!) With the Sprint Ace points in the bag, it was back into the hills for the final lap. By the time I had taken the 5 KOM points up Coops on the 3^rd and final lap, my legs were fading and I could see the chasing bunch. It seems the bunch had finally decided that it was time to race!

With about 8km to go to the finish line and after a 50k individual time trial, 11 riders caught me. With less than a minute separating the first eight riders, changes in GC were still achievable if a small break could be established. Several riders tried this but the peleton was having none of this and the stage ended in a bunch sprint. John Fitzpatrick took out his 2^nd stage win of the tour from Eliot Crowther and George. However, with bunch time awarded, George had done enough to win the Tour by the slimmest of margins – one second – from Eliot Crowther with myself finishing 4^th and Mark Coombe 5^th and first Vet. Dan Warren won the Sprint Ace and I took second in the KOM, behind Earl Rowney, with George 3^rd. Overall, we had achieved what we planned and set some personal Te Mata Peak climb standards that will be difficult to match, let alone beat.