Cat Ferguson (Shibden Apex RT) bounced back from a penultimate lap crash and bike change to take a first National Road Series victory in the inaugural East Cleveland Classic.

In the open race, Rowan Baker took a stunning solo victory to ensure Saint Piran continued the same imperious form the squad showed in last year’s National Road Series in this year’s season-opener.

Reports

Women’s race

With significant changes compared to the course that held last year’s National Championships – ones that made the course an easier prospect according to a number of riders, delighted by the deletion of the brutal Skelton Green climb – and that was reflected in the nature of the racing. 

From the off, no one was willing to force the pace or try an early attack and see if they could slip out of sight of the peloton around the twisty Yorkshire coast course. Indeed, a decent lead group of about 50 riders formed, with any thinning out coming from mechanicals or riders not quite able to keep up with a consistently solid pace which was eating up the climbs and burning down the descents. 

Facing up the climbs and hairpins of Saltburn Bank for the first time, it was Ferguson and Shibden Apex RT team-mate Imogen Wolff who instigated a little attack up the climb – joined by Tiffany Keep (DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK) – to see what sort of response they’d get from the pack behind. 

That response proved to be a quick catch as the climb levelled out for the few hundred metres towards the start/finish, and the need to figure out a new idea if anyone wanted to try and attack off the front. 

With a number of teams represented – with Pro-Noctis – 200 Degrees Coffee – Hargreaves Contracting Ltd, Hess Racing, and Alba Development Road Team all up at the front with a rider or two – everyone seemed happier to control the pace and keep things slightly more relaxed than they otherwise might have been. 

When an attack did go – Jessica Finney (Doltcini – O’Shea) and Tamsin Miller (DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK) had a bit of a kick off the front going into Lingdale on the third lap – it was given a little time to enjoy the sense of freedom before someone from the pack behind pushed down on the pedals and swallowed them back in. 

That group of 40 didn’t particularly change its make-up, the biggest shake-up was when Ferguson took a tumble before the third ascent of the Saltburn climb and needed to swap onto the team’s spare bike – one she had never ridden before. 

It seemed as though her race had finished, and the lead group had one less threat to worry about. But a quick gel, and a hell of a push, and the Yorkshire racer was back in the bunch and eager to see what could happen. 

With the whole group still together coming through Brotton and approaching the flamme rouge, it was going to be all down to who wound up their legs first and could sustain it up the climb. 

On the front of the pack, Ferguson threw a glance over her shoulder and launched away. Another look back confirmed that any attempt to chase her down had become properly strung out and she crossed the line with three seconds in hand. 

Second went the way of Eilidh Shaw (Alba Development Road Team) and, combined with her runner-up spot at the CiCLE Classic, she’s now the National Road Series leader. 

The final spot on the podium went to Wolff, who picked up the Fenwicks Sprint competition victory, to complete a remarkable top three comprising of two juniors and an under-23. 

Open race

If the women’s race was a tactical, cagey, affair, then the open race was anything but with multiple riders trying punches off the front and not particularly accepting being reeled back in, with one attack being pulled back being the trigger for another one to go off up the road.

It was telling that Saint Piran had some sort of presence in all but one of the moves of any significance, and right from the start it was Rowan Baker who was one of the riders in black that was getting himself into what was a solid headwind on the run from Saltburn all the way to Guisborough.

The first move that went away included Baker, with Foran CT’s Dom Jackson and Tom Martin (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) forming a handy trio which had opened a 12-second gap over the pack behind, which had been strung out to single file as the field weaved its way round the bends of Saltburn Bank.

Martin remained off the front on the second tour through, but was joined by two different comrades as Baker elected to drop back into the bunch and preserve some energy for later into the six-lap season-opener. Martin took turns with Ollie Hucks (TAAP Kalas) and Spirit TBW Stuart Hall Cycling’s George Kimber as they auditioned to be the ones to try and get away.

From there, things turned very much in the favour of the Saint Piran squad. Come the halfway mark, and Baker had broken into a 15-second lead over a chasing peloton that hadn’t really weakened in strength too much from the 130 riders who set off at the start.

Oddly, the next time the field came back into Saltburn, Baker had swapped his position with Rhys Robotham and had pulled a slight margin over a pack of four that were chasing hard to try and reel him back in.

Some semblance of logic came on the penultimate tour of the 28km lap as Robotham and Baker elected to join forces – joined for a time by Thomas Mein, in a first National Road Series race for his PROJECT 1 Cycling Team. The trio made good work of growing a gap of over 30 seconds, but Mein didn’t stay too long at the front and left the Saint Piran duo to forge their own path ahead.

It was going well for the pair, but come the penultimate climb of the Bank – which was the scene of so much action throughout the course of the day – and Robotham had hit his limit. Baker distanced him on the run to the line, and had a dozen seconds in hand over the Australian, with James McKay an equal distance back in third to provisionally secure a 1-2-3 for the Cornish team.

Pushing ahead undaunted, Baker ended up taking victory by 48 seconds, but the real action was behind. The battle for second had become a three-way fight between McKay, his team-mate Dylan Hicks and Wheelbase CabTech Castelli’s Tim Shoreman.

On the run to the line, it appeared to be advantage Shoreman, but as he started to ease McKay continued with the power – it was by the skin of his teeth, but Shoreman held on to the runner-up spot. McKay took third, with Hicks in fourth.

The Sprint competition went the way of Spectra Racing’s Ed Morgan, pipping Mein and Kimber to the competition, which was based on four sprints through Guisborough.

Victory for Baker secures him the National Road Series lead, with Saint Piran leading the team standings ahead of next month’s Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix.

Results

Women’s race

Position	Name	Team	Time
1	Cat Ferguson (JR)	Shibden Apex RT	3:09:48
2	Eilidh Shaw (U23)	Alba Development Road Team	+3
3	Imogen Wolff (JR)	Shibden Apex RT	+6
4	Caitlin Dimbleby	FTP-Fulfil The Potential-Racing	+9
5	Tiffany Keep	DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK	+10
6	Alice McWilliam	Hess Cycling Team	+13
7	Robyn Clay (U23)	DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK	+15
8	Morven Yeoman (U23)	DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK	st
9	Esther Wong (JR)	Shibden Apex RT	st
10	Lucy Harris	Loughborough Lightning	st
11	Zoe Langham	Pro-Noctis – 200º Coffee – Hargreaves Contracting Ltd	+19
12	Ella Maclean-Howell (U23)	Hope Tech Factory Racing	+22
13	Tilly McKibben (U23)	Doltcini – OShea	+23
14	Tamsin Miller	DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK	st
15	Amelia Tyler (U23)	Alba Development Road Team	+25
16	Molly Patch	Team LDN	+28
17	Bexy Dew	Pro-Noctis – 200º Coffee – Hargreaves Contracting Ltd	st
18	Lizi Brooke	Pro-Noctis – 200º Coffee – Hargreaves Contracting Ltd	st
19	Jessica Finney	Doltcini – OShea	st
20	Frankie Hall	DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK	st
21	Katy Hill	London Academy	+31
22	Abi Plowman	Alba Development Road Team	st
23	Amy Gornall	Pro-Noctis – 200º Coffee – Hargreaves Contracting Ltd	+36
24	Lucy Lee	DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK	+37
25	Amelia Cebak (JR)	Tofauti Everyone Active	st
26	Jemma Speers	North Down CC	st
27	Alice Colling (JR)	Shibden Apex RT	+40
28	Megan Anderson	Team Boompods	+42
29	Mia Rutterford (JR)	Tofauti Everyone Active	st
30	Lucy Gadd	Pro-Noctis – 200º Coffee – Hargreaves Contracting Ltd	st
31	Charlotte Hodgkins-Byrne	DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK	+1:04
32	Beth Morrow (U23)	Alba Development Road Team	+1:06
33	Lulu Bartlett	Alba Development Road Team	+1:24
34	Lotty Dawson (U23)	Brother UK – On Form	+1:53
35	Jo Tindley	Pro-Noctis – 200º Coffee – Hargreaves Contracting Ltd	+1:56
36	Georgia Bullard	Doltcini – OShea	st
37	Nicola Greenwood	Jadan Vive le Velo Glasdon	+1:58
38	Savannah Morgan	London Academy	st
39	Isabel Mayes (JR)	Shibden Apex RT	+2:15
40	Ruth Shier	DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK	+3:27
41	Lauren Langham	Team Boompods	+6:46
42	Kim Baptista	Torelli	+7:03
43	Keira Bond (U23)	Alba Development Road Team	+7:45
44	Corinne Side	Pro-Noctis – 200º Coffee – Hargreaves Contracting Ltd	+8:05
45	Amy Drysdale	Team Boompods	st
46	Connie Hayes	Doltcini – OShea	st
47	Charlotte Deykin	Peterborough Cycle Hub	+8:08
48	Hope Inglis (U23)	Brother UK – On Form	+8:11
49	Carys Blowers (JR)	Liv Cycling Club – Halo Films	st
50	Katie Scott	Spectra Racing	+8:18
51	Lucy Glover (JR)	Shibden Apex RT	+8:20
52	Erin Avill (U23)	Nouvelles Cycling x Prendas	+8:22
53	Lucy Neatham	London Academy	+8:29
54	Rachel Brown	Brother UK – On Form	+8:38
55	Miriam Jessett	Loughborough Lightning	+12:10
56	Arabella Blackburn (JR)	Shibden Apex RT	+13:11
57	Rebecca Clowes	Jadan Vive le Velo Glasdon	+15:09
58	Penny Colloff	Loughborough Lightning	+15:17
59	Emma McDonald	Saint Piran WRT	+15:24

Open race

Position	Name	Team	Time
1	Rowan Baker (U23)	Saint Piran	4:03:50
2	Tim Shoreman	Wheelbase CabTech Castelli	+48
3	James McKay	Saint Piran	st
4	Dylan Hicks (U23)	Saint Piran	st
5	Damien Clayton	Le Col Race Team	+1:04
6	William Perrett	Spirit TBW Stuart Hall Cycling	+1:16
7	Harry Macfarlane	TAAP Kalas	+1:21
8	William Taylor (U23)	Moonglu Race Team	st
9	Oliver Rees	Sabgal/Anicolor	+1:29
10	Jacob Smith (U23)	Wheelbase CabTech Castelli	+1:31
11	Oliver Hucks	TAAP Kalas	st
12	Thomas Armstrong	Wheelbase CabTech Castelli	+1:33
13	George Radcliffe (U23)	XSpeed United Continental	+1:34
14	John Bardsley (U23)	360cycling	+1:36
15	Dylan Westley	Saint Piran	st
16	Guido Blee	Primera-TeamJobs	+1:38
17	James Hartley (U23)	Cycling Sheffield	st
18	Nicholas Candy	Zappi Racing Team	+1:40
19	Joshua Ludman (U23)	Saint Piran	st
20	Alexander Pritchard	Richardsons Trek DAS	st
21	Max Krasinski (U23)	Cycling Sheffield	+1:43
22	Adam Lewis	Team Skyline	st
23	Callum Laborde (U23)	Wheelbase CabTech Castelli	st
24	George Kimber	Spirit TBW Stuart Hall Cycling	st
25	Josh Housley	HUUB BCC Race Team	st
26	Ben Pease	Moonglu Race Team	+1:46
27	Samuel Nisbet (U23)	Reflex Racing	+1:48
28	Danylo Riwnyj	trainSharp Orro Elite	+1:49
29	Dom Jackson	Foran CT	+1:53
30	Conor McGoldrick	Richardsons Trek DAS	+1:59
31	Rhys Robotham (U23)	Saint Piran	st
32	Ben Mewes	Moonglu Race Team	+2:05
33	Cai Davies	Richardsons Trek DAS	+2:06
34	Joseph Smith (U23)	Wheelbase CabTech Castelli	+2:09
35	Jenson Young	Spectra Racing	st
36	Ryan Christensen		+2:12
37	Luke Brennan (U23)	HUUB BCC Race Team	+2:14
38	Thomas Mein	PROJECT 1 Cycling Team	st
39	Matthew Lord (U23)	Richardsons Trek DAS	st
40	Joe Howcroft		st
41	Cameron McLaren	TAAP Kalas	st
42	Maxwell Hereward (U23)	360cycling	+2:28
43	Robin Mould	Foran CT	+2:36
44	Jake Jackson	THRIVA-SRCT	st
45	Joe Shillabeer (U23)	Shibden-A.Fawcett RT	st
46	Daniel McDermott	Ride Revolution Coaching	+2:39
47	Craig Paterson (U23)	Vanelli-Project Go	st
48	Matthew Houlberg (U23)	Spirit TBW Stuart Hall Cycling	+2:41
49	Benjamin Bright (U23)	THRIVA-SRCT	+2:45
50	Carl Stubbs	Moonglu Race Team	+2:49
51	Alexander Bosley (U23)	Spirit TBW Stuart Hall Cycling	+2:55
52	Tom Martin	Wheelbase CabTech Castelli	+2:59
53	Peter Cocker	Richardsons Trek DAS	+3:22
54	Matthew Warhurst	Cycling Sheffield	+3:46
55	Ross Birrell (U23)		+3:58
56	Bradley Symonds	Saint Piran	+4:18
57	Nathan Hardy (U23)	Team PB Performance	+5:02
58	Thomas Heal	Stolen Goat Race Team	+5:26
59	Edward Morgan	Spectra Racing	+5:35
60	Ben Wiggins (U23)	Hagens Berman Jayco CT	+5:43
61	Michael Weavers		+6:25
62	Toby Barnes	Spectra Racing	+6:42
63	Alex Luhrs	Leadout Performance	+7:09