Race Road Racing · 17 Aug , 2023 · David Stoyle

Bath CC Road Race Report

Bath Cycling Club hosted a very successful Men’s Regional A and A Women’s National B Road Race on Sunday 13th August. The race HQ was at the Bishop Sutton Football club, close to the bottom of the Stowey climb, the course was 8 laps of a 10km circuit. 1500m of climbing awaited the 138 competitors.

Men’s Regional A Race

A rain shower before the start of the Bath Cycling Club Road Races did not dampen the enthusiasm and anticipation of the 65 riders racing up Stowey 8 times. The race was neutralised until the start of the lap, giving the riders almost a whole lap to get ready for the first racing climb. Andrew Mouton of Bath CC made the first attack and picked up the points for the 73 Degrees KOM competition, but his attack only succeeded in distancing a few riders from the back of the peloton. On the second lap Gabriel Dellar of Stolen Goat Race team pushed the pace, but this turned out to be a softening up exercise for the decisive move at the end of lap 3. This is where Gabriel and Leo White of Reflex racing attacked at the bottom of the climb and formed the race winning move. They had a lead of 30 seconds by the KOM point where Gabriel picked up the 7 points.

The two riders pushed hard for the next lap and opened an 80 second advantage by the time they got to the halfway point at the end of lap 4. The race then stabilised for the next 2 ½ laps with the breakaway maintaining a gap of between 60 and 80 seconds over an ever-decreasing peloton. Halfway around the 6^th lap Andre Mouton and Renzo Casale of University of Bath tried a different tactic and attacked on one of the kickers 2 kms from the base of the climb. The strategy worked and the peloton eased up and by the time they got to the bell they had a gap of one minute over the peloton, but they were unable to close the gap to the leaders. At the front of the race Gabe decided to push on and leave his breakaway companion, he picked up the final 7 points in the KOM to take the win in that competition.

The leaders of the race held station over the final lap, and no one seem to have the energy to make a decisive move, with Gabe winning by 43 seconds from Leo. Renzo got the better of Andre on the final climb to take the last place on the podium. Darren Rider went long at the finish and had a 9 second advantage over Jack Ramsbottom of Caffi Gruff, who won the bunch sprint from the first junior, George Mahon of Poole Wheelers CC.

Men’s Race Strava Fly-bys

1	Gabriel Dellar	02:01:20	StolenGoat Race Team
2	Leo White	02:02:03	Reflex Racing
3	Renzo Casale	02:02:38	University of Bath Cycling Club
4	Andre Mouton	02:02:42	Bath Cycling Club
5	Darren Rider	02:03:12	BC Private Member
6	Jack Ramsbottom	02:03:21	Caffi Gruff
7	George Mahon	02:03:21	Poole Wheelers CC
8	Charlie Mactear	02:03:21	WestSide Coaching 73 Degrees
9	Sam Llewelyn	02:03:21	Clwb Beicio Egni Eryri
10	Oliver Tandy	02:03:21	Solihull CC
11	Thomas Bowden	02:03:23	Reflex Racing
12	James Pittard	02:03:23	WestSide Coaching 73 Degrees
13	Sam Shepherd	02:03:26	trainSharp Elite
14	Luke Brennan	02:03:29	BCC Race Team
15	Adam Millington	02:03:30	Contiki Velo Bavarian RT
16	James Pearcy	02:03:33	Mid Devon CC
17	Timothy Jones	02:03:33	BC Private Member
18	Alexander Speirs	02:03:33	TAAP Endura
19	Liam Flannery	02:03:33	Team PB Performance
20	Harvey Thomas	02:03:38	Steele Davis Via Roma
21	Jonathan Masters	02:03:39	University of Bath CC
22	George Wise	02:03:39	Saddleback Racing
23	Andrew Davenport	02:03:39	Team Tor 2000 KALAS
24	Charlie Lacaille	02:03:42	Velo Schils – Interbike RT
25	Philip Hopley	02:03:42	Bradford on Avon
26	Adam Baker	02:03:45	Royal Air Force CA
27	Alistair Gardner	02:03:45	Velo Club Venta
28	Iain Duffield	02:03:46	PMRR
29	Alexander Carley	02:03:46	BC Private Member
30	David Roper	02:03:52	Kalas Motip Race Team
31	Samuel Tillett	02:04:09	Reflex Racing
32	Will Duffy	02:04:13	Bath Cycling Club
33	Mathys Venter	02:12:22	Maindy Flyers CC
34	Matthew Franklin	02:18:30	Bristol RC
35	Connor Backhouse	02:18:40	trainSharp Development team
36	Joseph Staddon	02:23:05	Army Cycling Union
37	Corey Snell	02:30:24	Army Cycling Union
38	Louis Clarkson	02:30:24	Loughborough Students CC
39	Charlie Davis	02:30:24	North Devon Velo
40	Matthew Taylor	02:30:24	Army Cycling Union
41	Jos Kertzman	02:33:31	Somer Valley CC
42	Thomas Adby	02:52:40	Velo Club Venta
43	Tony Overington	02:55:36	Bath Cycling Club

Women’s National B Race

A very high-quality field of 57 riders entered the 2^nd running of the Bath Cycling Club Women’s National B Road Race. The Women’s Race included the South, South West and Welsh Regional Championships, the Road.cc Queen of the Mountain Competition and the PDQ Coaching Team competition, so there was always going to be races within races and everyone fighting for their finishing position.

The peloton kept together for the first lap, and it wasn’t until the first QOM prime that the race came to life with Lucy Lee of DAS – Handsling Bikes getting the better of Awen Roberts of Liv Cycling Halo Films and the unattached Katherine Sheridan from the USA to win the 7 points for the 1^st QOM prime. These three would never be far apart for the rest of the race.

The impact of this burst of speed was to split the peloton into at least 4 groups, but with so many competitions on the line the riders fought to get back on . And by the start of the next climb the peloton had swollen back to its original size, only to split once again as they climbed Stowey. Each time there were QOM points on offer, Lucy Lee got the better of her opponents winning all 4. The pace at the front would split the peloton on the hill. But hard work around the rest of the course meant that by the halfway point there were still 27 riders in with a chance of victory.

The hill started to take its toll and slowly groups got distanced, by the last lap there were 17 riders left for the final climb to the line. This time Awen Roberts got the better of Lucy Lee with Katerine Sheridan in 3^rd place and Bexy Dew in 4^th.

The winners of all the competitions were:

South West Championship

1^st Tamsin Miller – Hutchinson-Brother UK

2^nd Hannah Baynes – Saint Piran WRT

3^rd Claire Pile – 05/03

South Championship

1^st Bexy Dew – Pro-Noctis – Heidi Kjeldsen – 200 Degrees Coffee

2^nd Maddie Haywood – FTP-Fulfil The Potential-Racing

3^rd Niamh Murphy – Liv Cycling Club – Halo Films

Welsh Junior Championship

1^st Awen Roberts – Liv Cycling Club – Halo Films

Welsh Senior Championship

1^st Lucy Lee – DAS – Handsling Bikes

2^nd Amy Gornall – Pro-Noctis – Heidi Kjeldsen – 200 Degrees Coffee

3^rd Laura Furness – Army Cycling Union

QOM Prize

1^st Lucy Lee – DAS – Handsling Bikes

PDQ Coaching Team Prize

1^st Hutchinson Brother UK – 07:30:40

2^nd Laka Pedal Mafia RT – 07:44:47

3^rd Army Cycling Union – 08:05:03

4^th FTP-Fulfil The Potential-Racing – 08:07:08

The combined services team best three rides Laura Furness, Pippa Inderwick and Sarah Toms would have had a time of 7:43:23 and that would have been a good enough time for 2nd place – congratulations.

Sylivia Green Fighting Prize

This could have gone to any number of riders but was awarded to Rebecca Hair of Laka Pedal Mafia RT who fought 3 times to get back to the Peloton after being dropped on the climb.

Women’s Race Strava Fly-bys

1	Awen Roberts	02:29:58	Liv Cycling Club – Halo Films
2	Lucy Lee	02:30:00	DAS – Handsling Bikes
3	Katherine Sheridan	02:30:00	Unattached
4	Bexy Dew	02:30:01	Pro-Noctis – Heidi Kjeldsen – 200 Degrees Coffee
5	Maddie Heywood	02:30:01	FTP-Fulfil The Potential-Racing
6	Tamsin Miller	02:30:04	Hutchinson-Brother UK
7	Sannah Zaman	02:30:04	Hutchinson-Brother UK
8	Caitlin Dimbleby	02:30:08	Le Col Race Team
9	Amy Gornall	02:30:09	Pro-Noctis – Heidi Kjeldsen – 200 Degrees Coffee
10	Alice Lethbridge	02:30:20	Loughborough Lightning
11	Olivia French	02:30:22	StolenGoat Race Team
12	Annamarie Lipp	02:30:24	Saint Piran WRT
13	Savannah Morgan	02:30:27	BC Private Member
14	Penny Colloff	02:30:27	BC Private Member
15	Molly Patch	02:30:32	Hutchinson-Brother UK
16	Niamh Murphy	02:30:37	Liv Cycling Club – Halo Films
17	Marie-Louise Kertzman	02:30:47	FTP-Fulfil The Potential-Racing
18	Rebecca Hair	02:33:51	LAKA Pedal Mafia RT
19	Laura Furness	02:33:54	Army Cycling Union
20	Lois Brewer	02:34:06	Ystwyth Cycling Club
21	Isabella Johnson	02:34:12	LAKA Pedal Mafia RT
22	Pippa Inderwick	02:34:27	Army Cycling Union
23	Sarah Toms	02:35:02	Royal Air Force CA
24	Laura Pittard	02:36:41	Brother UK-Orientation marketing
25	Rebecca Babbage	02:36:44	LAKA Pedal Mafia RT
26	Iona Mitchell	02:36:53	Brixton Cycles Club
27	Hannah Bayes	02:36:59	Saint Piran WRT
28	Jennifer Cynan Jones	02:37:20	Cardiff Ajax CC
29	Katie-Anne Calton	02:55:54	JRC-INTERFLON Race Team
30	Angela Laycock	02:56:42	Army Cycling Union
31	Claire Pile	02:56:42	05/03
32	Vivienne Tomlin	03:06:20	FTP-Fulfil The Potential-Racing
33	Lisa Martin	03:19:42	05/03
34	Georgina Pasmore	03:44:20	FTP-Fulfil The Potential-Racing

Thank you to our photographers for creating such an amazing record of the event. Their albums can be found at

Dave Dodge www.pelotonpix.uk

Jonathon Lampard www.johnsphotography.co.uk

Ian Wrightson https://www.ianwrightsonphotography.co.uk/bath-rr-women-13-08-2023

Matt de B https://photos.mattdeb.photography/bath-cc-road-race-2023/

Thanks to the volunteers from Bath Cycling Club, British Cycling and Welsh Cycling for putting this event on, without whom this event would not have taken place.