After a six-year hiatus, Robyn Clay (DAS–Hutchinson) roared across Consett’s town-centre finish to win the Alexandra Tour of the Reservoir. The National Road Series leader edged out Rapha Super-League frontrunner Noémie Thomson (Brother UK–On Form), with teammate Tiffany Keep completing a red-letter day for the DAS squad in third.
A bloodied nose, a pair of smashed sunglasses and a first-lap crash would have been enough to finish most riders’ afternoons on the Derwent moor. Adam Howell, though, spent the next three hours turning disaster into triumph. The National Road Series leader threaded his way through the wreckage of a race shredded by North Pennine crosswinds and, on Consett’s uphill Front Street, surged past the fading George Radcliffe to deliver a Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck one-two with team-mate Alex Beldon.
Featured image: SWpix.com
Report
Women’s race
The day began with the Derwent moorland doing its best North-East impression of Flanders: leaden skies, wind whipping off the water and road surfaces that rattled bottle-cages loose. Fifty-six riders rolled out; within 20 minutes Isabel Mayes (CJ O’Shea), Keep and Mabli Phillips (Shibden Apex RT) were already testing legs up Prospect Hill. The peloton’s answer was unanimous: not yet.
. Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
The opening prime, 30-odd kilometres in, provided the first clue to Clay’s intentions. She edged out Lauren Dickson (Handsling Alba Development RT) and Anna Flynn (Spectra Racing), banking points and – more importantly – confidence on the climb that would set the day’s rhythm.
The decisive early move formed on the downhill sweep into Edmundbyers. Katie Scott (CJ O’Shea), Keep, Jo Tindley (Smurfit Westrock) and Amy Gornall (Handsling Alba) seized the lull, their advantage ballooning to 5min 45sec as the bunch dithered. Scott, irrepressible, pocketed both intermediate primes.
The second reservoir circuit brought crosswinds and a noticeably tighter elastic. Behind, Clay and Lucy Lee – Clay’s teammate – began to bridge across with Thomson, chopping the deficit to 2min 20sec by the day’s third and final prime.
. Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
Corner by corner the trio reeled in the tiring break, the lead quartet wilting in the block headwind that battered half the circuit. With three DAS-Hutchinson jerseys now driving the pace, Gornall and Scott were dropped.
On the lumpy run-in to Consett Clay and Thomson delivered the coup de grâce, riding clear to duel on the uphill drag. They were wheel-to-wheel until Clay ripped one last acceleration and edged it.
Thomson claimed a career-best Nat A second (after sixth at Lincoln), Keep rolled home 21 seconds down for third, and Lee nipped Tindley for fourth. Scott’s early aggression earned her the QoM jersey; she eventually finished 13th, over four minutes adrift.
Clay’s win extends her National Road Series lead to 52 points over the non-starting Holly Ramsey, while Thomson’s runner-up ride vaults her to third overall. With first, third and fourth on the day, DAS-Hutchinson now hold a 12-point cushion over Handsling Alba in the team standings.
Thomson extends her lead in the Rapha Super-League, now sitting on 130 points, with Clay her nearest challenger 30 points back.
Open race
The first move arrived before the bunch had worked out which direction the wind was blowing. Hugo Lutz-Atkinson (EuroCyclingTrips) and Charlie Genner (Telco’m-On Clima-Osés) eased clear with barely 10 seconds to play with, their advantage evaporating as rain sheeted across Edmundbyers.
On Meadows Edge, the day’s opening prime was claimed by a punchy Cameron McLaren (TAAP Kalas), who still had the breath to look round for team-mate Sam Kettlewell – already on his way to the medic after an untidy fall. Eventual winner Adam Howell (Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck) was also an early faller, bashing up his face and breaking his sunglasses, his seemingly written off.
Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
The long drag past the reservoir wall provided the afternoon’s first act of demolition. A savage cross-wind produced a lead echelon of nine: Tom Martin and Max Bufton (both Wheelbase CabTech Castelli), Ewan Mackie and Cameron Orr (both MyPad Racing p/b Discovery Properties), Ed Morgan (Muc-Off), the lone privateer Oliver Hurdle, Lewis Tinsley (BCC Race Team), William Harding (Zappi RT) and Matthew Holmes (One Good Thing-Factor Racing). Howel, meanwhile, was beginning his comeback from the convoy, dragging himself forward group by group.
Every kilometre of exposure reshuffled the deck. By Meadows Edge for the second time the leading group was 23-strong: George Radcliffe (XSpeed United), George Kimber (Spirit Racing), Truelove, Martin, Logan Maclean (Private Member), Alex Beldon (Muc-Off), Holmes, Jente Michels (Alpecin-Deceuninck Development), Harding, Matt Bostock (TEKKERZ CC), Lucas Jowett (MyPad), Rowan Baker (Raptor Factory Racing), Morgan, Toby Tanfield (Leadout Performance), Mackie, Danylo Riwnyj (Foran CT), Cameron Still (Ride Revolution Coaching), Bufton, Tinsley, Genner, Hurdle, Orr and Jake Edwards (360 Cycling).
Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
The elastic stretched again when Martin and Holmes slipped away at 40 km to go, eking out 45 seconds.
Howell, now finally welded to the front group, was aided by Beldon, Morgan and Truelove, to ensure the escapees were on a short leash before the final climb. There, Radcliffe chanced his arm, leaning into the cross-tailwind, and dropped like a stone on the plunge towards Castleside, 20 seconds clear.
The response came from Howell, Beldon, Morgan, Baker and Martin. The gap bled away in single-second chunks. Radcliffe still led into Consett – 700 metres of rising road to the finish – but Howell and Beldon made the catch with the line in sight, Howell reaching the finish first, arms aloft, face bruised and battered, to take his second National Road Series win of the season.
MUC-OFF-SRCT-STORCK’s Adam Howell takes the win. Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
Beldon eased over two seconds later, Radcliffe rescuing third, nine back, Baker and Morgan rounding out the top five.
Howell extends his lead in the National Road Series with 142 points. His nearest challenger, Martin, is 31 points behind on 111, with last year’s Series winner, George Kimber, in third on 107 points. Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck sit atop the team standings on 381 points.
In the Rapha Super-League, Howell leads a Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck 1-2-3. Howell has 90 points, Beldon is on 89 and Morgan has 80. Previous leader James McKay (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) is fourth on 70 points.
After a six-year hiatus, Robyn Clay (DAS–Hutchinson) roared across Consett’s town-centre finish to win the Alexandra Tour of the Reservoir. The National Road Series leader edged out Rapha Super-League frontrunner Noémie Thomson (Brother UK–On Form), with teammate Tiffany Keep completing a red-letter day for the DAS squad in third.
A bloodied nose, a pair of smashed sunglasses and a first-lap crash would have been enough to finish most riders’ afternoons on the Derwent moor. Adam Howell, though, spent the next three hours turning disaster into triumph. The National Road Series leader threaded his way through the wreckage of a race shredded by North Pennine crosswinds and, on Consett’s uphill Front Street, surged past the fading George Radcliffe to deliver a Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck one-two with team-mate Alex Beldon.
Featured image: SWpix.com
Report
Women’s race
The day began with the Derwent moorland doing its best North-East impression of Flanders: leaden skies, wind whipping off the water and road surfaces that rattled bottle-cages loose. Fifty-six riders rolled out; within 20 minutes Isabel Mayes (CJ O’Shea), Keep and Mabli Phillips (Shibden Apex RT) were already testing legs up Prospect Hill. The peloton’s answer was unanimous: not yet.
The opening prime, 30-odd kilometres in, provided the first clue to Clay’s intentions. She edged out Lauren Dickson (Handsling Alba Development RT) and Anna Flynn (Spectra Racing), banking points and – more importantly – confidence on the climb that would set the day’s rhythm.
The decisive early move formed on the downhill sweep into Edmundbyers. Katie Scott (CJ O’Shea), Keep, Jo Tindley (Smurfit Westrock) and Amy Gornall (Handsling Alba) seized the lull, their advantage ballooning to 5min 45sec as the bunch dithered. Scott, irrepressible, pocketed both intermediate primes.
The second reservoir circuit brought crosswinds and a noticeably tighter elastic. Behind, Clay and Lucy Lee – Clay’s teammate – began to bridge across with Thomson, chopping the deficit to 2min 20sec by the day’s third and final prime.
Corner by corner the trio reeled in the tiring break, the lead quartet wilting in the block headwind that battered half the circuit. With three DAS-Hutchinson jerseys now driving the pace, Gornall and Scott were dropped.
On the lumpy run-in to Consett Clay and Thomson delivered the coup de grâce, riding clear to duel on the uphill drag. They were wheel-to-wheel until Clay ripped one last acceleration and edged it.
Thomson claimed a career-best Nat A second (after sixth at Lincoln), Keep rolled home 21 seconds down for third, and Lee nipped Tindley for fourth. Scott’s early aggression earned her the QoM jersey; she eventually finished 13th, over four minutes adrift.
Clay’s win extends her National Road Series lead to 52 points over the non-starting Holly Ramsey, while Thomson’s runner-up ride vaults her to third overall. With first, third and fourth on the day, DAS-Hutchinson now hold a 12-point cushion over Handsling Alba in the team standings.
Thomson extends her lead in the Rapha Super-League, now sitting on 130 points, with Clay her nearest challenger 30 points back.
Open race
The first move arrived before the bunch had worked out which direction the wind was blowing. Hugo Lutz-Atkinson (EuroCyclingTrips) and Charlie Genner (Telco’m-On Clima-Osés) eased clear with barely 10 seconds to play with, their advantage evaporating as rain sheeted across Edmundbyers.
On Meadows Edge, the day’s opening prime was claimed by a punchy Cameron McLaren (TAAP Kalas), who still had the breath to look round for team-mate Sam Kettlewell – already on his way to the medic after an untidy fall. Eventual winner Adam Howell (Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck) was also an early faller, bashing up his face and breaking his sunglasses, his seemingly written off.
The long drag past the reservoir wall provided the afternoon’s first act of demolition. A savage cross-wind produced a lead echelon of nine: Tom Martin and Max Bufton (both Wheelbase CabTech Castelli), Ewan Mackie and Cameron Orr (both MyPad Racing p/b Discovery Properties), Ed Morgan (Muc-Off), the lone privateer Oliver Hurdle, Lewis Tinsley (BCC Race Team), William Harding (Zappi RT) and Matthew Holmes (One Good Thing-Factor Racing). Howel, meanwhile, was beginning his comeback from the convoy, dragging himself forward group by group.
Every kilometre of exposure reshuffled the deck. By Meadows Edge for the second time the leading group was 23-strong: George Radcliffe (XSpeed United), George Kimber (Spirit Racing), Truelove, Martin, Logan Maclean (Private Member), Alex Beldon (Muc-Off), Holmes, Jente Michels (Alpecin-Deceuninck Development), Harding, Matt Bostock (TEKKERZ CC), Lucas Jowett (MyPad), Rowan Baker (Raptor Factory Racing), Morgan, Toby Tanfield (Leadout Performance), Mackie, Danylo Riwnyj (Foran CT), Cameron Still (Ride Revolution Coaching), Bufton, Tinsley, Genner, Hurdle, Orr and Jake Edwards (360 Cycling).
The elastic stretched again when Martin and Holmes slipped away at 40 km to go, eking out 45 seconds.
Howell, now finally welded to the front group, was aided by Beldon, Morgan and Truelove, to ensure the escapees were on a short leash before the final climb. There, Radcliffe chanced his arm, leaning into the cross-tailwind, and dropped like a stone on the plunge towards Castleside, 20 seconds clear.
The response came from Howell, Beldon, Morgan, Baker and Martin. The gap bled away in single-second chunks. Radcliffe still led into Consett – 700 metres of rising road to the finish – but Howell and Beldon made the catch with the line in sight, Howell reaching the finish first, arms aloft, face bruised and battered, to take his second National Road Series win of the season.
Beldon eased over two seconds later, Radcliffe rescuing third, nine back, Baker and Morgan rounding out the top five.
Howell extends his lead in the National Road Series with 142 points. His nearest challenger, Martin, is 31 points behind on 111, with last year’s Series winner, George Kimber, in third on 107 points. Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck sit atop the team standings on 381 points.
In the Rapha Super-League, Howell leads a Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck 1-2-3. Howell has 90 points, Beldon is on 89 and Morgan has 80. Previous leader James McKay (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) is fourth on 70 points.
Results
Women’s race
Open race
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