Sunday 5 April. Elliott Colyer (Aero CLCTV Race Team) won the Roy Hopkins Dartmoor View Road Race solo to take the 53rd Totnes–Vire Two-Day overall, attacking on the Jacobstowe circuit and riding clear to Hatherleigh.
Elliott Colyer (Aero CLCTV Race Team) won the Roy Hopkins Dartmoor View Road Race and with it the 53rd Totnes–Vire Two-Day overall, attacking solo on the Jacobstowe finishing circuit and riding the final lap of the Devon stage race alone to Hatherleigh. Overnight leader Hamish Johnstone (Team Tor 2000 Kalas) finished outside the lead group, losing the yellow jersey he had held since Saturday’s criterium.
Featured image: PelotonPix / Dave Dodge Photography
Report
Stage 3 | Roy Hopkins Dartmoor View Road Race
The Roy Hopkins Dartmoor View Road Race did not wait for the nervousness to subside. From the rolling hills around Halwill Junction, a break of seven established itself on the opening Dartmoor circuits and began to build an advantage over a peloton that contained overnight leader Hamish Johnstone (Team Tor 2000 Kalas) in yellow.
The seven — Josh Horsfield (Cycling Sheffield), Spencer Corder (BCC Race Team), Ashley Towey (Team Tor 2000 Kalas), Elliott Colyer (Aero CLCTV Race Team), Matthew Webber (TAAP Kalas), James Bacon (TAAP Kalas) and Olivier Mangham (DAS Richardsons) — worked through the Dartmoor lanes and had more than a minute on the field by the time they passed through Hatherleigh at the 45-kilometre mark. On the road, Corder — who had started the day seventh overall, 28 seconds behind Johnstone — was the virtual race leader.
Image: PelotonPix / Dave Dodge Photography
The race turned on the Jacobstowe finishing circuit. Clay Davies (Ride Revolution Coaching) and Josh Hall (Nopinz RT) bridged to the front to make nine, and the moment they arrived, Colyer attacked. The Aero CLCTV founder and rider — a physics graduate who left TAAP Kalas to launch his own collective — went immediately and went alone. Twenty seconds became 38, then the lead group splintered with one lap remaining: Colyer out front, Davies chasing solo, Corder in a group of four at 40 seconds, Johnstone in yellow chasing alone at 1:39. The race was over as a contest for the GC; the only question was whether Colyer could hold on.
He could. Davies could not close him. Corder broke clear of the remaining chasers to finish third on the stage solo. Colyer took the final roundabout in Hatherleigh with one kilometre to go and crossed the line alone, taking the stage and the 53rd Totnes–Vire Two-Day overall. Davies was second on GC at 44 seconds wth Corder third at 1:35.
Colyer told The British Continental after the race that the result had played out almost exactly as he had planned. “On the first small lap I could tell that everyone was starting to tire,” he says, “so I marked out a couple of places mentally to attack — my plan was always to go solo.” Teammates Archie Wright and Bobby Buenfeld had helped shape the race from behind, sitting on every bridging move to protect the break. When Davies and Hall joined to make nine, Colyer moved immediately. “I attacked out of a corner just before Clay and another joined the break, instantly got a decent gap, and then had just under 40 minutes riding a solid pace to fend them off.”
Colyer wins. Image: PelotonPix / Dave Dodge Photography
He added that he had been riding with a softening rear tyre for much of that solo effort. “It turns out that back at HQ I had a squishy/going flat back tyre which I thought I could feel around 15 minutes into my solo,” he explains, “but there was of course nothing I could do, so I just put it out of my mind and carried on.”
The win is Colyer’s first National B road race victory, and the first for his Aero CLCTV outfit too.
Elliott Colyer (Aero CLCTV Race Team) won the Roy Hopkins Dartmoor View Road Race and with it the 53rd Totnes–Vire Two-Day overall, attacking solo on the Jacobstowe finishing circuit and riding the final lap of the Devon stage race alone to Hatherleigh. Overnight leader Hamish Johnstone (Team Tor 2000 Kalas) finished outside the lead group, losing the yellow jersey he had held since Saturday’s criterium.
Featured image: PelotonPix / Dave Dodge Photography
Report
Stage 3 | Roy Hopkins Dartmoor View Road Race
The Roy Hopkins Dartmoor View Road Race did not wait for the nervousness to subside. From the rolling hills around Halwill Junction, a break of seven established itself on the opening Dartmoor circuits and began to build an advantage over a peloton that contained overnight leader Hamish Johnstone (Team Tor 2000 Kalas) in yellow.
The seven — Josh Horsfield (Cycling Sheffield), Spencer Corder (BCC Race Team), Ashley Towey (Team Tor 2000 Kalas), Elliott Colyer (Aero CLCTV Race Team), Matthew Webber (TAAP Kalas), James Bacon (TAAP Kalas) and Olivier Mangham (DAS Richardsons) — worked through the Dartmoor lanes and had more than a minute on the field by the time they passed through Hatherleigh at the 45-kilometre mark. On the road, Corder — who had started the day seventh overall, 28 seconds behind Johnstone — was the virtual race leader.
The race turned on the Jacobstowe finishing circuit. Clay Davies (Ride Revolution Coaching) and Josh Hall (Nopinz RT) bridged to the front to make nine, and the moment they arrived, Colyer attacked. The Aero CLCTV founder and rider — a physics graduate who left TAAP Kalas to launch his own collective — went immediately and went alone. Twenty seconds became 38, then the lead group splintered with one lap remaining: Colyer out front, Davies chasing solo, Corder in a group of four at 40 seconds, Johnstone in yellow chasing alone at 1:39. The race was over as a contest for the GC; the only question was whether Colyer could hold on.
He could. Davies could not close him. Corder broke clear of the remaining chasers to finish third on the stage solo. Colyer took the final roundabout in Hatherleigh with one kilometre to go and crossed the line alone, taking the stage and the 53rd Totnes–Vire Two-Day overall. Davies was second on GC at 44 seconds wth Corder third at 1:35.
Colyer told The British Continental after the race that the result had played out almost exactly as he had planned. “On the first small lap I could tell that everyone was starting to tire,” he says, “so I marked out a couple of places mentally to attack — my plan was always to go solo.” Teammates Archie Wright and Bobby Buenfeld had helped shape the race from behind, sitting on every bridging move to protect the break. When Davies and Hall joined to make nine, Colyer moved immediately. “I attacked out of a corner just before Clay and another joined the break, instantly got a decent gap, and then had just under 40 minutes riding a solid pace to fend them off.”
He added that he had been riding with a softening rear tyre for much of that solo effort. “It turns out that back at HQ I had a squishy/going flat back tyre which I thought I could feel around 15 minutes into my solo,” he explains, “but there was of course nothing I could do, so I just put it out of my mind and carried on.”
The win is Colyer’s first National B road race victory, and the first for his Aero CLCTV outfit too.
Stage 3 result
General classification
Share this:
Discover more from The British Continental
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.