2021 Women’s CiCLE Classic: report and results

Abi Smith became the first person to win a National Road Series race since 18 August 2019 with a dominant win at the Women’s CiCLE Classic on Sunday.

Race summary

The race stayed together in the early stages, with no major breaks forming. Instead, it was a race of attrition, with around 30-40 riders left in the bunch at around the halfway mark. Abi Smith (Team Breeze) struck out alone with over 40 kilometres to go and gradually built up a commanding lead. Behind, a chase group of 12 riders formed, which then swelled to 30. Sammie Stuart (Crimson Orientation Marketing RT) and then Jess Finney (CAMS-Basso) launched attacks in an effort to bridge to Smith, but both were brought back.

Smith crossed the finishing line for the first time – taking the Melton Mowbray pork pie prize in the process – with a lead of over a minute on the chasers. With just the 15 km finishing circuit remaining, things looked finely poised. But Smith’s lead quickly increased from there. With 10 km to go she led by 1’53” and by the 3 km to go the gap had opened up to 2’32”. She eventually crossed the line 2’19” ahead of the chasers, the largest winning margin in the race’s five-edition history.

From the chase group, Ellen McDermott (Team Boompods) won the sprint to take second place, with Smith’s teammate Eluned King finishing third.

😁 “I’m so chuffed… I can’t believe it!”

🎤 The Women’s CiCLE Classic winner Abi Smith was all smiles after her breakaway victory! pic.twitter.com/fR28akEQze

— British Cycling (@BritishCycling) June 27, 2021

Talking points

• Elite road racing is finally back! We couldn’t make it up to Melton Mowbray to witness the race in person but boy oh boy it was good to have closed roads racing back in the UK. And by all accounts, Colin Clews and his team put on a fantastic event and should be applauded.
• Abi Smith confirms her potential. Three of the top four riders – Abi Smith, Eluned King and April Tacey – were on our list of U23 women to watch in 2021. All of their performances were impressive and for first-year elite rider Smith, in particular, the result confirmed the promise that she’d demonstrated so ably as a junior but hadn’t yet had the chance to prove as a senior.
• Ellen McDermott’s best result yet? Team Boompod’s Ellen McDermott is no slouch. She’s a former Irish crit champion, has had top 10s in the Tour Series, top 20s in the National Road Series, and has racked up impressive results on the track in the past. But second place in the CiCLE Classic is arguably her best result on the road so far and marks her out as one to watch for the rest of the season.
• Juniors Zoe Bäckstedt (Tormans-ACROG) and Flora Perkins (VC Londres) have already racked up impressive results this season, with the former winning Junior Tour of Yorkshire and finishing third in Halesowen, and the latter third in Yorkshire and first at Banbury. With both riders finishing just outside the top ten today, Bäckstedt and Perkins confirmed their status as two of the best junior road racing prospects in the UK.

Series standings & calendar

National Road Series standings here.

Round 2 of the women’s Series will be the Ryedale Women’s Grasscrete Grand Prix on 22 August.

Results

Rank	#	Name	Team
1	92	Abi Smith – U23	Team Breeze
2	90	Ellen McDermott	Team Boompods
3	91	Eluned King – U23	Team Breeze
4	15	April Tacey – U23	Drops-Le Col supported by Tempur
5	10	Natalie Grinczer	CAMS-Basso
6	81	Amira Mellor	Spectra Wiggle p/b Vitus
7	65	Jo Tindley	Pro-Noctis – Redchilli Bikes – Heidi Kjeldsen
8	122	Sophie Thackray – U23	BC Private Member
9	8	Jessica Finney	CAMS-Basso
10	39	Samantha Stuart	Crimson Orientation Marketing RT
11	135	Zoe Bäckstedt – JNR	Tormans-ACROG
12	126	Grace Lister	Cero – Cycle Division Racing Team
13	140	Flora Perkins – JNR	VC Londres
14	51	Francesca Hall	Loughborough Lightning – TRG
15	83	Lucy Gadd – U23	Storey Racing
16	102	Danielle Shrosbree	Team LDN – Brother UK
17	62	Corinne Side – U23	Pro-Noctis – Redchilli Bikes – Heidi Kjeldsen
18	13	Elizabeth Bennett – U23	Drops-Le Col supported by Tempur
19	85	Beth Morrow – U23	Storey Racing
20	60	Samantha Fawcett	Pro-Noctis – Redchilli Bikes – Heidi Kjeldsen
21	40	Mary Wilkinson	Crimson Orientation Marketing RT
22	130	Monica Greenwood	Macclesfield Wheelers
23	110	Eilidh Shaw – JNR	Tofauti Everyone Active
24	88	Georgia Hilleard – U23	Team Boompods
25	134	Gabriella Homer – U23	Team Rupelcleaning – Champion Lubricants
26	98	Lucy Lee	Team LDN – Brother UK
27	74	Megan Dickerson	SKODA DSI Cycling Academy
28	75	Lucy Ellmore – U23	SKODA DSI Cycling Academy
29	33	Becky Storrie	Brother U.K – Cycle Team OnForm
30	12	Hayley Simmonds	CAMS-Basso
31	86	Isabel Darvill – U23	Team Boompods
32	127	Kim Baptista – U23	ENEICAT-RBH GLOBAL-MARTIN VILLA
33	11	Katie Scott – U23	CAMS-Basso
34	107	Grace Castle – JNR	Tofauti Everyone Active
35	112	Olivia Bentley	Weston Homes-Torelli-Assure
36	70	Bexy Dew	Saint Piran Womens
37	116	Alice Lethbridge	Weston Homes-Torelli-Assure
38	22	Jasmine Jones	Bianchi Dama
39	111	Nicole Coates – U23	Weston Homes-Torelli-Assure
40	14	Emily Meakin	Drops-Le Col supported by Tempur
41	96	Harriet Dodd	Team LDN – Brother UK
42	93	Jenny Holl – U23	Tekkerz CC
43	7	Megan Barker	CAMS-Basso
44	136	Ella Barnwell – U23	Team Breeze
45	9	Emma Edwards	CAMS-Basso
46	61	Amy Gornall	Pro-Noctis – Redchilli Bikes – Heidi Kjeldsen
47	37	Gwenno Hughes – U23	Crimson Orientation Marketing RT
48	56	Millie Couzens – JNR	PH-MAS – Paul Milnes Cycles
49	43	Beth Harley-Jepson	Jadan – Vive le Velo
50	118	Beth Maciver – U23	Scotland
51	5	Phoebe Martin	AWOL OShea
52	115	Rebecca Seal	Weston Homes-Torelli-Assure
53	4	Connie Hayes – U23	AWOL OShea
54	72	Christina Wiejak	Saint Piran Womens
55	104	Heather Mayer	Team Watto-LDN
56	47	Emma Jeffers – JNR	JRC-Shutt-Ridley Race Team
57	3	Charlotte Broughton	AWOL OShea
58	132	Suzetta Guerrini	Team Watto-LDN
59	64	Poppy Thompson	Pro-Noctis – Redchilli Bikes – Heidi Kjeldsen
60	100	Polly Mason	Team LDN – Brother UK
61	95	Francesca Cutts	Team LDN – Brother UK
62	42	Madeleine Gammons – U23	Jadan – Vive le Velo
63	28	Sian Botteley	Brother U.K – Cycle Team OnForm
64	36	Melissa Greaves	Crimson Orientation Marketing RT
65	124	Elizabeth Sanders	Avid Sport
66	50	Alderney Baker – U23	Loughborough Lightning
67	78	Xan Crees – U23	Spectra Wiggle p/b Vitus
68	128	Ffion James	Hope Factory Racing
69	32	Rebecca Richardson	Brother U.K – Cycle Team OnForm

Featured photo: Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com