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Smithfield Nocturne 2010 · 21/06/10


photos by Mike Conway

Saturday night saw Rapha Condor Sharp take part in their home race, the HTC Smithfield Nocturne. Close to the financial district in London the event is now an annual pilgrimage for thousands of cycling fans in and around the capital.

After an afternoon of events including a women’s race, fixed wheel longest skid, a folding bike race (with Le Mans style start) and even a mobile ice cream sellers race, the serious action was timed to warm up just as the sun descended to give this event, run off under floodlights, it’s own unique atmosphere.

After a flurry of opening attacks it was a group of four made up of riders from three teams that established themselves at the front of the race. Rapha Condor Sharp had the numerical advantage in the form of Zak Dempster and Darren Lapthorne accompanied by recent nemesis Ian Bibby of Motorpoint and Jack Bauer of Endura.

In the early phases of their move the break seemed to work well together, quickly building a lead that left the bunch unable to respond. With few other teams represented in significant enough numbers to organise a chase, several attempts to force a counter attack ultimately amounted to nothing.

With 10 minutes of racing left to go the closest the break came to being caught came when manager John Herety gave the order to begin attacking with the gap dropping below 10 seconds. However with no rider allowed to gain an advantage and the only likely outcome being the capture of the break the team sat up and the advantage of the four leaders climbed again as quickly as it had diminished just laps before.

Into the final five laps and it was Darren Lapthorne who could be seen driving the break more often than not, a situation that persisted into the bell lap and up to the final bend, at which point it was Ian Bibby who was first over the top with Zak Dempster chasing him all the way to the line but never able to get on equal terms.

Speaking after the race Darren explained how despite appearances from a spectators point of view, the break had nearly faltered on a number of occasions:

“Initially it worked smoothly, then Jack Bauer started attacking which upset the momentum of the break and towards the end we weren’t really going anywhere so we had to make a decision, I thought the best move was to work for Zak because he was feeling good and he has a strong sprint so I just committed to that, I guess in the last corner the positioning wasn’t great but all credit to Ian Bibby, he was really sharp at the end.”

I asked Zak if having two riders in the break had ultimately proved to be a disadvantage for the team, putting the onus on Rapha Condor Sharp to take responsibility for keeping the break away.

“That’s a positive spin on things, yeah, it was negative that we had two in the move, I like that! Pardon my french but we f**ked that up!”

Then, going on to reflect on his individual performance and his season so far, Zak was clearly frustrated with the latest in a string of ‘nearly but not quite’ wins in 2010:

“I’m not happy with second, I don’t think he was that much faster than me, I should have got on to Lappers wheel if I’d realised he could do the whole of the last two laps that fast, I thought he was going to swing off at some point but he just got faster and faster. Thinking about it now if I’d realised he was going so well I’d rather have seen him go for the race win. There’s no point throwing the arms up and having a strop about it, things happen, you can’t win every race, that’s a basic part of cycling. We’ve won a fair bit this year but personally I’m disappointed I couldn’t get my first win up, I’ve had quite a few podiums now, I’m knocking on the door.”

After this brief return to individual racing it’s all about the team again on Monday with the resumption of the Tour Series in Chester, a race that Darren won last year. I suggested that we might be looking at a result where the team finishes 2nd, 4th and 5th through slightly different eyes:

“Yeah, I guess so, I’m really eager to race at the minute, I’ve had a bit of illness and a couple of weeks of not much quality in training or racing, so I feel really fresh now and I’m really just keen to get out there and race hard.”

A sentiment that’s felt equally throughout the team as it seeks to make up for a disappointing night in Stoke last Thursday and salvage a Tour Series lead lost for the second time this year with just a week of racing left to go.

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