The B-side: a closer look at National B road racing
The fourth men’s National B road race of the year – the first to take place in Scotland – took place last weekend (19 June).
Organised by Spokes RT, the race was run on the Sporting Suie Road Race course in Aberdeenshire. The course finishes at the top of Suie Road, 3 km climb at 5.4%, including a challenging 1.7 km section at 10%.
First-year U23 George Wood (Cycling Sheffield) won the race, continuing his strong season start after his third place at the Return to Racing for Big Dogs.
With no official report on the race, we asked George to explain how it went:
“The first couple of laps were full of people trying to solo off the front, followed by the group setting a hard pace up the climb. On the second ascent, I tried to test people’s legs and got a bit of a gap but sat up over the top because there was a group of about 11 or so that I knew I wouldn’t be able to get away from.
Then on the third lap, after it had all come back together, I slipped off the front when everyone sat up. My teammate Will Harding came with me and two guys each from both Wheelbase and RT23 joined us. One of the Wheelbase riders dropped off, so a final group of five was established. We set a fast – but not crazy – pace up the third climb and held the gap to the chasers steady and worked really well taking our turns.
On the run-in to the final climb both the RT23 riders were alternating attacks so Will and I had to work hard to chase them down every time. My plan was to hit the final climb hard, which I did, but I think the chasing had taken a bit out of me so the legs weren’t as good as I’d hoped. In the end, it came down to a two-up sprint between me and Finn Crockett of Wheelbase which I was in the big ring for which paid off once I got on top of the gear.”
The B-side: a closer look at National B road racing
The fourth men’s National B road race of the year – the first to take place in Scotland – took place last weekend (19 June).
Organised by Spokes RT, the race was run on the Sporting Suie Road Race course in Aberdeenshire. The course finishes at the top of Suie Road, 3 km climb at 5.4%, including a challenging 1.7 km section at 10%.
First-year U23 George Wood (Cycling Sheffield) won the race, continuing his strong season start after his third place at the Return to Racing for Big Dogs.
With no official report on the race, we asked George to explain how it went:
“The first couple of laps were full of people trying to solo off the front, followed by the group setting a hard pace up the climb. On the second ascent, I tried to test people’s legs and got a bit of a gap but sat up over the top because there was a group of about 11 or so that I knew I wouldn’t be able to get away from.
Then on the third lap, after it had all come back together, I slipped off the front when everyone sat up. My teammate Will Harding came with me and two guys each from both Wheelbase and RT23 joined us. One of the Wheelbase riders dropped off, so a final group of five was established. We set a fast – but not crazy – pace up the third climb and held the gap to the chasers steady and worked really well taking our turns.
On the run-in to the final climb both the RT23 riders were alternating attacks so Will and I had to work hard to chase them down every time. My plan was to hit the final climb hard, which I did, but I think the chasing had taken a bit out of me so the legs weren’t as good as I’d hoped. In the end, it came down to a two-up sprint between me and Finn Crockett of Wheelbase which I was in the big ring for which paid off once I got on top of the gear.”
Results
Share this:
Discover more from The British Continental
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.