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1, 2 at the Preston GP · 10/08/10

Sunday 8th August and Preston was the location for the final round of the British Cycling Elite Circuit Series where Dean Downing was still theoretically capable of overhauling series leader Ian Wilkinson.

The race took place in the centre of Preston with the start/finish in the covered market making for a unique and atmospheric focal point to the festival of cycling laid on by Ivor Armstrong and his organisational team.

Speaking to Dean before the start of the race he was philosophical about his chances of stealing the series from Wilkinson, a rider who has been in great form all year. The approach therefore would be as usual; victory for the team as priority and let the series take care of itself.

As soon as the flag was dropped, the team were on the attack with Graham Briggs the first man off the front. His move was followed by Dean Windsor who escaped in the company of Kristian House and the two set about applying pressure that would enable them to keep the Endura team of Wilkinson on the back foot. Their escape would ultimately last the whole race, but their impressive work rate nearly became a sideshow as the real action was unfolding behind in the main bunch.

30 minutes into the race and Wilkinson had frequently been seen at the back of the group, struggling to respond to the early pace. Seeing the opportunity to take both the race and the series the team began to drive the front of the race in an effort to distance the troubled series leader. First Matt Cronshaw, then Chris Newton and Dan Craven took it in turns to apply the pressure.

However try as they might the team were unable to distance Wilkinson, a number of his team mates succumbed to the pressure from the main group but each time, somehow Wilkinson clung on, much to the annoyance of Chris Newton who protested vocally about what he perceived to be un-sportsman like behaviour in the bunch.

As the race wore on the bunch diminished and Wilkinson found his second wind. Now comfortably in the wheels and with 6 laps to go the chances of winning the series diminished, the top two places were secure for the team but the feeling of a chance missed was obvious in the body language of all the staff in the pit. All we could do now was sit and wait.

Further blows to the teams chances of an unlikely overall upset came in the final laps as first Matt Cronshaw and Graham Briggs packed, closely followed by Chris Newton who punctured in the final laps, leaving Craven and Greenwood to look after the chances of Dean in the sprint.

Up front, the forgotten heroes of the day were told to fight it out amongst themselves for the win and fight they did with Kristian House taking the spoils, clearly being made to work to his maximum as Dean Windsor ran him close all the way to the line. Another win in what has been a stellar season for the 2010 National Road Champion.

That just left the small matter of the bunch gallop and as the bunch stormed through the covered market to the line it was Jeroen Janssen of Kuota who took third whilst both Downing and Wilkinson finished further back, the series now settled.

Speaking after the event John Herety talked of his mixed feelings on a day where for a moment an unlikely upset seemed possible:

“If you’d asked me at the start of the day I’d have been happy to walk away with first and second, Kristian and Dean could’ve lapped the field, we were really dominant out there and it’s a shame that the ride they did almost became a footnote to the battle for the overall series. Looking at what went on in the bunch today, I made my feelings clear to the commissaires on the day and I’ll pick the issue up with the road commission. If we’re going to continue to support these events in the kind of numbers we have all year, they’ve got to to be run in a way that’s fair, that’s what the fans want, fast, exciting racing where the best man wins.”


photos by Cheryl King http://ckingimages.co.uk/

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