Race Report: Rutland-Melton CiCLE Classic 2019

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

Results

Position	Number	Name	Team	Time
1	52	Colin JOYCE	Rally-UHC Cycling	5:10:20
2	1	Gabriel CULLAIGH	Team Wiggins LeCol	st
3	33	Rory TOWNSEND	Canyon-DHB-Bloor Homes	st
4	87	Jake SCOTT	SwiftCarbon Pro Cycling	st
5	6	Tom PIDCOCK	Team Wiggins LeCol	st
6	40	Alex LUHRS	Ribble Pro Cycling	st
7	29	Bas VAN DER KOOIJ	Monkey Town-A Block CT	st
8	99	Piotr HAVIK	BEAT Cycling Club	st
9	73	Steve LAMPIER	Saint Piran	st
10	19	Scott THWAITES	Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK	st
11	74	Oliver MAXWELL	Saint Piran	st
12	96	Adam TOUPALIK	Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany	st
13	103	Tom MAZZONE	Spirit-Tifosi RT	st
14	31	Tom STEWART	Canyon-DHB-Bloor Homes	st
15	95	Felix INTRA	Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany	at  00:03
16	4	Jacques SAUVAGNARGUES	Team Wiggins LeCol	st
17	35	Alex PATON	Canyon-DHB-Bloor Homes	st
18	10	Stephen BAKKER	WGPA Amsterdam	st
19	21	Alistair SLATER	Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK	st
20	17	George PYM	Madison-Genesis	st
21	28	Martin PLUTO	Monkey Town-A Block CT	st
22	78	Matthew NOWELL	Saint Piran	st
23	97	Daan HOEYBERGHS	BEAT Cycling Club	st
24	45	Kristers ANSONS	Latvian National Team	st
25	98	Luuc BUGTER	BEAT Cycling Club	st
26	104	Leon MAZZONE	Spirit-Tifosi RT	st
27	86	Isaac MUNDY	SwiftCarbon Pro Cycling	st
28	102	Guilaume SEYE	BEAT Cycling Club	st
29	61	Nathan DRAPER	Zappi-Holdsworth	st
30	30	Adriaan JANSSEN	Monkey Town-A Block CT	st
31	25	Maarten DE JONGE	Monkey Town-A Block CT	st
32	13	Connor SWIFT	Madison-Genesis	st
33	16	Thomas MOSES	Madison-Genesis	st
34	92	Joann LEINAU	Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany	st
35	37	Daniel BIGHAM	Ribble Pro Cycling	st
36	36	Ollie WOOD	Canyon-DHB-Bloor Homes	st
37	32	Jacob HENNESSY	Canyon-DHB-Bloor Homes	st
38	53	Ryan ANDERSON	Rally-UHC Cycling	st
39	50	Robin CARPENTER	Rally-UHC Cycling	at  00:10
40	3	Robert SCOTT	Team Wiggins LeCol	st
41	38	Gruffudd LEWIS	Ribble Pro Cycling	at  00:18
42	90	James SHAW	SwiftCarbon Pro Cycling	at  00:56
43	34	Andy TENNANT	Canyon-DHB-Bloor Homes	st
44	39	Mark STEWART	Ribble Pro Cycling	at  01:49
45	100	Adam LEWIS	BEAT Cycling Club	at  02:17
46	15	Johnny MCEVOY	Madison-Genesis	at  02:31
47	26	Mel VAN DER VEEKENS	Monkey Town-A Block CT	at  03:13
48	77	Jake ALDERMAN	Saint Piran	at  04:16
49	27	Wim KLEIMAN	Monkey Town-A Block CT	at  04:48
50	70	Ruben DE MAREZ	Dovy Keukens	at  05:58
51	138	Lewis BULLEY	Richardsons-Trek RT	st
52	23	Mickey MOTTRAM	Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK	at  06:04
53	108	Rupert GRAHAM	Spirit-Tifosi RT	at  06:13
54	76	Joe EVANS	Saint Piran	at  06:21
55	145	Oliver BATES	Flamme Rouge CT	at  07:20
56	112	Kieran SAVAGE	Cycling Sheffield	st
57	81	David BOLLAND	Team Bioracer -DHL-FR Services	at  07:22
58	141	Russell DOWNING	East MIDS-Pearces -RDA	st
59	137	Joseph SUTTON	Richardsons-Trek RT	st
60	42	Will BROWN	Ribble Pro Cycling	at  07:23
61	147	William SCOTT	Flamme Rouge CT	at  07:24
62	111	Louis SZYMANSKI	Cycling Sheffield	at  07:26
63	5	Ben HEALY	Team Wiggins LeCol	st
64	85	Peter WILLIAMS	SwiftCarbon Pro Cycling	st
65	9	Wessel KRUL	WGPA Amsterdam	at  07:39
66	128	Jonathan OXLEY	Bryan Steele Academy	at  09:35
67	106	Jordan PEACOCK	Spirit-Tifosi RT	st
68	132	Chris CHILDS	Holohan Coaching RT	st
69	119	Ben WALSH	GSC Blagnac VS31	st
70	64	Charlie QUARTERMAN	Zappi-Holdsworth	st
71	47	Andz FLAKSIS	Latvian National Team	st
72	158	Felix BARKER	Active Edge RT	st
73	94	Louis LEINAU	Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany	st
74	7	Koos-Jeroen KERS	WGPA Amsterdam	st
75	91	Johannes HODAPP	Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany	st
76	101	Alex MENGOULAS	BEAT Cycling Club	st
77	115	Ross LAMB	GSC Blagnac VS31	at  11:10
78	161	Morris BACON	DAP Cycling	at  12:43
79	46	Aleks Janis RAZINSKIS	Latvian National Team	at  12:50
80	121	Matt DOWNIE	TAAP Cervelo	st
81	114	Joe CLARK	Cycling Sheffield	st
82	151	James HILL	Team PB Performance	st
83	12	Teun MOURIS	WGPA Amsterdam	st
84	8	Joep STEINBUSCH	WGPA Amsterdam	st
85	60	Fernando LOPES GONZALEZ	Guerciotti-Kiwi Atlantico	st
86	160	Laurence KIRBY	Active Edge RT	st
87	88	Will BJERGFELT	SwiftCarbon Pro Cycling	st
88	164	Harley MATTHEWS	DAP Cycling	st
89	79	Dillon CORKERY	Team Bioracer -DHL-FR Services	st
90	24	Christopher LATHAM	Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK	st
91	89	Ben HARDY	SwiftCarbon Pro Cycling	st
92	107	Chris DREDGE	Spirit-Tifosi RT	st
93	156	Joe PERKINS	Leisure Lakes Bikes	at  12:54
94	66	Ben HAMILTON	Zappi-Holdsworth	at  16:31
95	140	Peter COCKER	Richardsons-Trek RT	at  17:19
OTL	93	Jon KNOLLE	Team Sauerland NRW p/b SKS Germany
OTL	120	Harrison JONES	GSC Blagnac VS31
OTL	116	Charley CALVERT	GSC Blagnac VS31
OTL	117	Corentin DUBOIS	GSC Blagnac VS31
DNF	2	Oliver ROBINSON	Team Wiggins LeCol
DNF	11	Niels BOELE	WGPA Amsterdam
DNF	14	Erick ROWSELL	Madison-Genesis
DNF	18	Jonathan MOULD	Madison-Genesis
DNF	20	Edward CLANCY	Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK
DNF	22	Adam KENWAY	Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK
DNF	41	Jacob TIPPER	Ribble Pro Cycling
DNF	43	Evalds PAVLOVS	Latvian National Team
DNF	44	Andris VOSEKALNS	Latvian National Team
DNF	49	John MURPHY	Rally-UHC Cycling
DNF	55	Jose Carlos NUÑEZ SANCHEZ	Guerciotti-Kiwi Atlantico
DNF	57	Andreas MILTIADIS	Guerciotti-Kiwi Atlantico
DNF	58	Paulo SILVA	Guerciotti-Kiwi Atlantico
DNF	62	Reece WOOD	Zappi-Holdsworth
DNF	63	Charlie MEREDITH	Zappi-Holdsworth
DNF	65	Paul WRIGHT	Zappi-Holdsworth
DNF	67	Doron WIGGINS	Dovy Keukens
DNF	68	Tiebo DEVOOGDT	Dovy Keukens
DNF	69	Jochen DEWEER	Dovy Keukens
DNF	71	Fabrizio DEKONING	Dovy Keukens
DNF	72	Jonathan VAN BETSBRUGGE	Dovy Keukens
DNF	75	Cameron JEFFERS	Saint Piran
DNF	80	Luke SMITH	Team Bioracer -DHL-FR Services
DNF	82	John BULLER	Team Bioracer -DHL-FR Services
DNF	83	Sean MOORE	Team Bioracer -DHL-FR Services
DNF	84	Conor MCCANN	Team Bioracer -DHL-FR Services
DNF	105	Charles WALKER	Spirit-Tifosi RT
DNF	109	Charlie RENSHAW	Cycling Sheffield
DNF	110	Tom KNIGHT	Cycling Sheffield
DNF	113	Dan PULLEN	Cycling Sheffield
DNF	122	Matt WEBSTER	TAAP Cervelo
DNF	123	Ben IRVING	TAAP Cervelo
DNF	124	Ryan VISSER	TAAP Cervelo
DNF	125	Thomas BOOTH	Bryan Steele Academy
DNF	126	Jack FORD	Bryan Steele Academy
DNF	127	Sebastian GARRY	Bryan Steele Academy
DNF	129	Kirk VICKERS	Holohan Coaching RT
DNF	130	Danny SMITH	Holohan Coaching RT
DNF	131	Oliver HAYWOOD	Holohan Coaching RT
DNF	133	James AMBROSE-PARISH	Bikestrong KTM
DNF	134	George BECK	Bikestrong KTM
DNF	135	Andrew EDWARDS	Bikestrong KTM
DNF	136	James PHILLIPS	Bikestrong KTM
DNF	139	Mathew CLEMENTS	Richardsons-Trek RT
DNF	142	Rob ORR	East MIDS-Pearces -RDA
DNF	143	Colin STURGESS	East MIDS-Pearces -RDA
DNF	144	Tom DUSSEK	East MIDS-Pearces -RDA
DNF	146	Matthew EXLEY	Flamme Rouge CT
DNF	148	Matthew HUMPAGE	Flamme Rouge CT
DNF	149	Bradley SYMONDS	Team PB Performance
DNF	150	Josh HOUSLEY	Team PB Performance
DNF	152	Sion HARLOW	Team PB Performance
DNF	153	James HAYDON	Leisure Lakes Bikes
DNF	154	William PERRETT	Leisure Lakes Bikes
DNF	155	Jonathan HORNBLOW	Leisure Lakes Bikes
DNF	157	Jesse YATES	Active Edge RT
DNF	159	Charlie BRATT	Active Edge RT
DNF	162	Mark RICHARDS	DAP Cycling
DNF	163	Andy TAYLOR	DAP Cycling
DNF	165	Michael BURKE	OVB
DNF	166	Andrew BRINKLEY	OVB
DNF	167	Alex PRITCHARD	OVB
DNF	168	Steve TAIT	OVB
DNF	169	Tom ELWOOD	Team LDN
DNF	170	Tom WILEY	Team LDN
DNF	171	Michael KRUKOV	Team LDN
DNF	172	Ben THOMPSON	Team LDN
DNF	173	Ben JOUGHIN	ProVision RT
DNF	174	Alexander SIMMONS	ProVision RT
DNF	175	Jonathan BOURNE	ProVision RT
DNF	176	Ben LLOYD	ProVision RT
DNF	177	Jake WOMERSLEY	Crimson Orientation Marketing RT
DNF	178	Tarn FYNN	Crimson Orientation Marketing RT