Hamish Johnstone (Team Tor 2000 Kalas) took the opening stage of the 53rd Totnes–Vire Two-Day at the Torbay Velopark criterium, then held his nerve on Oddicombe Hill to leave Devon’s most venerable stage race with a seven-second overnight lead over Jacob Mauger (Crabbé Dstny). Jed Claxton (Wheal Velocity) won the hill climb in two minutes and one second but sits fourth on general classification, 20 seconds back. The gaps are tight. The Dartmoor stage will decide it.

Report

Stage 1 | Colin Lewis Velopark Criterium

The 52nd Totnes–Vire Two-Day opened in Paignton on Saturday morning with an hour and a quarter of racing on the closed circuit at the Torbay Velopark — and for most of it, TAAP Kalas and Draft Racing kept the field where they wanted it. The wind was a constant factor throughout, the headwind on one straight punishing any rider who let a wheel go through the second hairpin, and the constant surging through corners steadily reduced the field as the race wore on.

Several of the riders highlighted before the weekend did not make the start: Lewis Tinsley, Alex Pickering, Ashley Hutchison and Joe Reeves were among the DNSs, thinning the field of some of its anticipated contenders before a pedal had been turned.

Those who remained found a race that was controlled until it wasn’t. A group of around eight eventually got clear with help from blocking by teams represented in the move, and though the bunch worked to close the gap, the wind was not kind to a small group and the advantage held — around ten seconds at the line. Behind the leaders, Hamish Johnstone (Team Tor 2000 Kalas) had been watching. He bridged to the two-man chase, and once that group had brought back the break, he opened his sprint early and held on. Oliver Snodden (Mandene Racing) came through for second, Ollie Cadin (Draft Racing) third.

“Teams were working really well to keep everything together for the first hour,” Johnstone told The British Continental after the race. “At about an hour in I saw a group of three up the road looking organised and decided to bridge across to the two-man chasing group to work on bringing them back. It was touch and go for a bit with the bunch working to bring us in — but once the chasing group caught that break of three, everyone pulled hard enough to keep the gap steady and I ended up having enough left in the tank to open up an early sprint and get the victory.”

Stage 1 result

Stage 2 | Ken’s Oddicombe Hill Climb

The afternoon took the race somewhere altogether different. Oddicombe Hill — 850 yards, four hairpin bends, one of the steepest climbs in the country — sent riders up at one-minute intervals from the beach at Babbacombe, the road closed and the cliff railway watching on. Rain arrived towards the end of the first wave, leaving the surface slippery for later starters. Elliott Colyer (Aero CLCTV Race Team), who went up in the second group, described the climb as “short and sharp” and noted that warm-up options on the clifftop were not extensive — squats for some, running sprints for others.

Jed Claxton (Wheal Velocity) won the stage in two minutes and one second, with Jacob Mauger (Crabbé Dstny) two seconds back and Harvey Thomas (Nopinz RT) a further two seconds adrift in third.

Johnstone finished sixth in 2:11, enough to hold the race lead overnight. Mauger’s strong hill climb pulled him up to second overall, seven seconds back. Snodden sits third at 18 seconds, Claxton fourth at 20.

The Dartmoor stage awaits on Sunday morning — 117 kilometres from Hatherleigh, 1,650 metres of climbing — and the gaps are tight enough for several riders to harbour realistic ambitions.

Stage 2 result

General classification

Pos	Rider	Team	Time	Gap
1	Hamish Johnstone	Team Tor 2000 Kalas	1:23:57	—
2	Jacob Mauger	Crabbé Dstny	1:24:04	+0:07
3	Oliver Snodden	Mandene Racing	1:24:15	+0:18
4	Jed Claxton	Wheal Velocity	1:24:17	+0:20
5	Harvey Thomas	Nopinz RT	1:24:21	+0:24
6	Ollie Cadin	DRAFT	1:24:22	+0:25
7	Spencer Corder	BCC Race Team	1:24:25	+0:28
8	Cai Davies	DAS Richardsons	1:24:25	+0:28
9	James Bacon	TAAP Kalas	1:24:26	+0:29
10	Jack Dallyn	Army Cycling Union	1:24:26	+0:29
11	Elliott Colyer	Aero CLCTV Race Team	1:24:27	+0:30
12	Matthew Webber	TAAP Kalas	1:24:28	+0:31
13	George Safranauskas	Schils–Doltcini RT	1:24:28	+0:31
14	George Whitlock	DRAFT	1:24:28	+0:31
15	Matthew Gilmour	Nopinz RT	1:24:31	+0:34
16	William Jewitt	DRAFT	1:24:32	+0:35
17	Thomas Adby	DRAFT	1:24:33	+0:36
18	Adam Lightfoot	DRAFT	1:24:33	+0:36
19	Jack Bartholomew	Stolen Goat 4Endurance	1:24:36	+0:39
20	Stephen Swindley	Royal Navy Cycling	1:24:36	+0:39
21	Ben Fish	TAAP Kalas	1:24:37	+0:40
22	Cameron McLaren	TAAP Kalas	1:24:40	+0:43
23	Jack Beveridge	Nopinz RT	1:24:40	+0:43
24	Huw Watkins	Stolen Goat 4Endurance	1:24:41	+0:44
25	Clay Davies	Ride Revolution Coaching	1:24:41	+0:44
26	Bobby Buenfeld	Aero CLCTV Race Team	1:24:43	+0:46
27	Ben Goodwin	Stolen Goat 4Endurance	1:24:43	+0:46
28	Ashley Towey	Team Tor 2000 Kalas	1:24:43	+0:46
29	Piers Mahn	DAS Richardsons	1:24:44	+0:47
30	Elijah Kwon	Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT	1:24:46	+0:49
31	Joshua Horsfield	Cycling Sheffield	1:24:46	+0:49
32	Ben Waghorne	League-Forté Chiropractic	1:24:48	+0:51
33	Jamie Pullen	TAAP Kalas	1:24:50	+0:53
34	Tobias Coates	Pronto Bikes	1:24:53	+0:56
35	Thomas Charles	Team PB Performance	1:24:53	+0:56
36	Olivier Mangham	DAS Richardsons	1:25:01	+1:04
37	Alexander Stanley	Aero CLCTV Race Team	1:25:04	+1:07
38	Shaun Davey	Mid Devon CC	1:25:18	+1:21
39	Fergus Phelan	TAAP Kalas	1:27:09	+3:12
40	William Deely	DRAFT	1:27:17	+3:20
41	Thomas Bowden	Nopinz RT	1:27:39	+3:42
42	Josh Hall	Nopinz RT	1:30:17	+6:20
43	Joshua Snow	trainSharp Roman RT	1:30:32	+6:35
44	Macauley Vincent	Team Tor 2000 Kalas	1:30:43	+6:46
45	Ted Harvey	360cycling	1:32:13	+8:16
46	Archie Wright	Aero CLCTV Race Team	1:32:18	+8:21
47	Reuben Dando	Stolen Goat 4Endurance	1:34:33	+10:36
48	Caio Waters	Mid Devon CC	1:34:47	+10:50