At the BUCS Road Race Championships on Dartmoor’s Bridestowe circuit, Archie Peet (Swansea) conquered the open contest from a determined break, while Madeline Cooper (Leeds) surged clear on the final rise to claim the women’s title.

Featured image: Chris Godfrey

Report

Thank you to Travis Bramley for these reports.

Open race

The sun shone on Okehampton’s Pump & Pedal café-workshop as almost a hundred students rolled out beside Dartmoor’s Granite Way and onto the 45 km Bridestowe circuit.

The open race was halted barely a minute in when a crash brought down several riders just outside the neutral section. Once racing resumed—after a neutralised run over one of the circuit’s decisive climbs – the pace was aggressive from the gun until a break of eight formed.

That move contained Archie Peet (Swansea), Alex Galpin (Loughborough), James Satoor (Notts Trent), George Cottrell (Nottingham), Carl Jolly (Oxford), Nathan Hardy (Loughborough), Hamish Johnstone (Swansea) and Craig Paterson (Glasgow). The octet carved out more than 90 seconds along the tight lanes skirting Roadford Lake. Their lead held until just after the first pass of the finishing circuit, when a concerted chase cut it down and Johnstone and Paterson lost contact on the long drag.

Just as the break, now down to six, looked set to be swallowed by the peloton, with a gap of just ten seconds, the bunch seemingly sat up, with no team committing to the chase. The six were allowed to push on once again and rebuilt an advantage of over ninety seconds with 10km to go. Several riders, including Piers Mahn (Birmingham) and George Spooner (Cambridge), had the legs to break free from the bunch, both finishing solo in 9th and 10th respectively.

However, it was Thomas Gardner (Exeter) and George Stephen (Nottingham) who truly lit up the final 6km, bridging to the leaders with just a handful of kilometres remaining. With 200m to go, the break was spread almost seven abreast across the uphill dual carriageway, but it was Archie Peet (Swansea) who proved strongest, clearly delighted with an emphatic win. Nottingham tried to use their numbers to their advantage, with George Stephen opening up the sprint, but in the end, it proved to be every rider for themselves on the final rise to the line.

Women’s race

The women’s race saw a select field roll out of HQ, with Loughborough making up almost a third of the total field. The bunch largely stayed together over the first of the two long laps, with Elena Day (Loughborough) leading the group through the finish line for the first time. At that point, nearly the entire field remained intact.

However, the finishing climb proved decisive, as the race quickly split into two distinct groups, with a few more riders off the back. Ellen Inglis (Loughborough), Madeline Cooper (Leeds), Lucy Harvard (Cambridge), Phoebe Roche (St Mary’s), Hannah Clough (Nottingham), Hope Inglis (Birmingham), Jess Morrish (Birmingham City), and Elena Day (Loughborough) had made the front selection.

Over the next 45km, the gap continued to grow, with the winner increasingly likely to come from the front half of the race.

This group truly split apart in the final kilometre as the road ticked uphill from the village of Bridestowe. Cooper seized an emphatic victory, upgrading her silver medal from the criterium championships the day before. Day proved her class on tough finishes once again to take the silver medal, while BUCS Criterium Champion Morrish clinched the final podium position in the colours of the Royal Navy.

Results

Open race

Pos	Bib	Rider	Age	Team	Pts
1	63	Archie Peet	U23	University of Swansea Cycling Club	60
2	44	Alex Galpin	U23	Loughborough University Cycling Club	52
3	52	James Satoor	U23	Nottingham Trent University Cycling Club	45
4	46	George Cottrell	U23	University of Nottingham Cycling Club	40
5	32	Thomas Gardner	U23	University of Exeter Cycling Club	35
6	54	Carl Jolly	Senior	Oxford University Cycling Club	31
7	50	George Stephen	U23	University of Nottingham Cycling Club	27
8	39	Nathan Hardy	U23	Loughborough University Cycling Club	23
9	5	Piers Mahn	U23	Birmingham University Cycling Club	20
10	12	George Spooner	Senior	Cambridge University CC	17
11	37	Joshua Knowles	U23	Loughborough University Cycling Club	15
12	48	Edward Charles	U23	University of Nottingham Cycling Club	13
13	61	Jacob Hardy	U23	Southampton University Road Club	11
14	57	Matthew Coulson	U23	Oxford University Cycling Club	9
15	16	William Lowden	Senior	Cambridge University CC	7
16	38	Caleb Pain	U23	Loughborough University Cycling Club	6
17	1	Harry Codd	U23	University of Bath Cycling Club	5
18	43	Dan Galpin	U23	Loughborough University Cycling Club	3
19	58	Jack Sutton	Senior	University of Sheffield CC	2
20	35	Cai Davies	Senior	University of Leicester Cycling Club	1
21	49	Matthew Brown	U23	University of Nottingham Cycling Club	0
22	45	Daniel Barnes	U23	Loughborough University Cycling Club	0
23	59	Charlie Mactear	U23	University of Sheffield CC	0
24	21	Max Duckworth	U23	University of Cardiff Cycling Club	0
25	51	Barnabas Pickford	Senior	University of Nottingham Cycling Club	0
26	25	Benjamin Flatau	U23	University of Derby CC	0
27	9	Harry Howlett	U23	Birmingham University Cycling Club	0
28	19	Thomas Charles	U23	University of Cardiff Cycling Club	0
29	41	Sam Chaplin	U23	Loughborough University Cycling Club	0
30	40	Mark Agent	U23	Loughborough University Cycling Club	0
31	65	Renzo Casale	U23	UCL	0
32	10	Elijah Kwon	U23	University of Bristol CC	0
33	33	Matthew Britton	U23	University of Exeter Cycling Club	0
34	34	Craig Paterson	U23	University of Glasgow	0
35	62	Hamish Johnstone	U23	University of Swansea Cycling Club	0
36	11	James Maxen	U23	Cambridge University CC	0
37	30	Kade Straker-Meads	U23	University of Exeter Cycling Club	0
38	53	Oscar Eddis	U23	Oxford University Cycling Club	0
39	22	Tsz Shun Cheung	U23	University of Coventry Cycling Club	0
40	26	Jack Baugh	U23	University of Derby CC	0
41	24	Rhys Thomas	U23	University of Derby CC	0
42	31	Louis Hay	U23	University of Exeter Cycling Club	0

Women’s race

Pos	Bib	Rider	Age	Team	Pts
1	77	Madeline Cooper	U23	University of Leeds Cycling Club	60
2	80	Elena Day	Senior	Loughborough University Cycling Club	52
3	71	Jessica Morrish	Senior	Birmingham University Cycling Club	45
4	70	Hope Inglis	U23	Birmingham University Cycling Club	40
5	89	Hannah Clough	Senior	University of Nottingham Cycling Club	35
6	79	Ellen Inglis	Senior	Loughborough University Cycling Club	31
7	73	Lucy Havard	Senior	Cambridge University CC	27
8	91	Phoebe Roche	U23	St Mary’s University	23
9	82	Georgia Lancaster	U23	Loughborough University Cycling Club	20
10	83	Roisin Lally	U23	Loughborough University Cycling Club	17
11	87	Florence Lissaman	U23	University of Nottingham Cycling Club	15
12	78	Eva Callinan	U23	Loughborough University Cycling Club	13
13	74	Freya Taylor	U23	Cambridge University CC	11
14	81	Olivia Kelly	Senior	Loughborough University Cycling Club	9
15	84	Matilda Gurney	Senior	University of Nottingham Cycling Club	7
16	93	Daisy Barnes	Senior	UCL	6
17	94	Natasha Reddy	Senior	University of Warwick	5
18	92	Bethany Barnett	U23	UCL	3