Archie Wright spent an hour alone on Saturday to lead by nearly two minutes, before Curtis Neill took over four minutes out of him on Sunday's four ascents of Harptree Hill to win the general classification by 59 seconds.
Curtis Neill (Velo Performance U23 Development Team) won the Clive Tiley Memorial from fourth overall, bridging to the leaders on the second of Sunday’s four ascents of Harptree Hill and never being seen again. The 20-year-old, a guest rider entered under Cycling Ulster, took over four minutes out of the race leader across the afternoon to win the general classification by 59 seconds.
The rider he displaced was Archie Wright (Aero CLCTV), who had won Saturday’s opening stage alone after an hour off the front and led overnight. Wright finished third overall, behind Tom Guccione (London Dynamo).
Featured image: Matt de-B Photography
Stage 1: Saturday 15 August
Saturday was supposed to be the quiet half. The opening stage of this two-day National B on the Mendip plateau ran 10 laps of an exposed circuit, 132.1 kilometres on roads where the elevation never varies by more than 70 metres. It was aggressive from the flag without ever breaking apart, with Nopinz RT doing most of the driving. “From the start there were lots of attacks with people appearing very keen to get away in a break straight away,” Wright says. “A few 1s and 2s got some small gaps that were held for a while but nothing that seemed like a threat.”
Neill was one of the riders making them. “It was an especially hard race due to the low rider count,” he says, of a field of 26 in which nobody could hide for long. “The circuit didn’t suit me at all, pan flat with crosswinds, but I had a good few goes on the attack and ended up splitting up the race.”
Wright made a few attempts of his own and gave them up. “I quickly realised that the fresh bunch were keen to hold it together, and so I took the decision to sit back and let the race police itself, and save my matches for a later moment.” The moment arrived around two hours in, with roughly three laps left, on the rise towards the feed zone, and began as something less deliberate than an attack. “It was more of a drop of wheels at the front, up the kick which I jumped across and then went from there on my own.” Three others were briefly involved. None stayed.
Image: Matt de-B Photography
What followed was a calculation rather than a flyer. “I knew once a big enough gap was made, the cooperation behind would fall apart in these later stages of the race, so I pushed hard for the first 15 minutes on my own and then settled into my own pace once I was away.” Nothing organised itself behind him. “Archie Wright took off solo and had a phenomenal ride to put almost two minutes into myself and the other three chasers,” Neill says.
Wright won the stage by 1min 46sec from Elliot Barratt, who led the chase group home level on time with Alexander Cross (Schils–Doltcini RT). Neill was fourth, a second further back.
Stage 2: Sunday 16 August
Sunday ran 124.8 kilometres: an opening lap of Saturday’s circuit, then four times around a longer loop that dropped off the plateau through Litton and East Harptree before climbing back up Harptree Hill. The climb is not much on its own, a kilometre or so of Somerset lane at an average of 10.2%, steep enough to hurt and short enough to survive. Ridden four times in an afternoon with the last ascent as the finish line, it becomes the entire race.
Neill came to it needing two minutes and, for the first time that weekend, with a course that could give them to him. “The climby circuit was quite perfect for me, so we went into the race with the plan to send my two teammates up the road and get the yellow jersey to work on the front before the climb, where I’d attack him.”
Image: Matt de-B Photography
Wright’s difficulty was arithmetic as much as legs. “It was tough being in the leaders’ jersey, being targeted by everyone, or so it felt,” he says.
The move that settled it came on the second ascent. “The Cycling Ulster guys and Nopinz were my biggest problems,” Wright says, “with the Ulster riders organising a good lead into the second time up the climb, setting up Curtis Neill to bridge to two who were up the road.” Neill puts it more plainly: with two laps to go he “attacked away from the yellow jersey group to bridge across to the two solo riders out front”.
Wright followed and nearly made it. “I managed to nearly hang on and end up between the bunch and Curtis with Ludo Hirst with me. But the two of us didn’t manage to keep the pace over the top and dropped back to the bunch.” That was the race. “Wasn’t much cooperation from there and the group ahead grew their gap.”
Ahead, Neill thinned the group himself. “The next lap around on the climb we dropped one rider so it was just the two of us, and then on the final time up the climb to the finish my breakaway partner couldn’t hold my wheel so I got away solo to take the stage and the GC.”
Image: Matt de-B Photography
Neill finished 55 seconds ahead of Guccione, with Callum Orchard (Nopinz RT) third at 2min 31sec and Barratt, who left the bunch with a lap remaining, fourth at 2min 56sec. Wright salvaged what was left on the final ascent. “I managed to get away on the finish climb to win the bunch and get fifth and hold onto third GC.” Fifth at 4min 37sec kept him on the podium by five seconds.
Neill takes the general classification by 59 seconds from Guccione, with Wright third at 2min 51sec, Barratt fourth and Cross fifth. Nopinz RT, the largest team in the race, end with Orchard seventh, though Ben Millar, sixth on the opening stage, lost 13min 20sec on Sunday to slip to 14th.
Curtis Neill (Velo Performance U23 Development Team) won the Clive Tiley Memorial from fourth overall, bridging to the leaders on the second of Sunday’s four ascents of Harptree Hill and never being seen again. The 20-year-old, a guest rider entered under Cycling Ulster, took over four minutes out of the race leader across the afternoon to win the general classification by 59 seconds.
The rider he displaced was Archie Wright (Aero CLCTV), who had won Saturday’s opening stage alone after an hour off the front and led overnight. Wright finished third overall, behind Tom Guccione (London Dynamo).
Featured image: Matt de-B Photography
Stage 1: Saturday 15 August
Saturday was supposed to be the quiet half. The opening stage of this two-day National B on the Mendip plateau ran 10 laps of an exposed circuit, 132.1 kilometres on roads where the elevation never varies by more than 70 metres. It was aggressive from the flag without ever breaking apart, with Nopinz RT doing most of the driving. “From the start there were lots of attacks with people appearing very keen to get away in a break straight away,” Wright says. “A few 1s and 2s got some small gaps that were held for a while but nothing that seemed like a threat.”
Neill was one of the riders making them. “It was an especially hard race due to the low rider count,” he says, of a field of 26 in which nobody could hide for long. “The circuit didn’t suit me at all, pan flat with crosswinds, but I had a good few goes on the attack and ended up splitting up the race.”
Wright made a few attempts of his own and gave them up. “I quickly realised that the fresh bunch were keen to hold it together, and so I took the decision to sit back and let the race police itself, and save my matches for a later moment.” The moment arrived around two hours in, with roughly three laps left, on the rise towards the feed zone, and began as something less deliberate than an attack. “It was more of a drop of wheels at the front, up the kick which I jumped across and then went from there on my own.” Three others were briefly involved. None stayed.
What followed was a calculation rather than a flyer. “I knew once a big enough gap was made, the cooperation behind would fall apart in these later stages of the race, so I pushed hard for the first 15 minutes on my own and then settled into my own pace once I was away.” Nothing organised itself behind him. “Archie Wright took off solo and had a phenomenal ride to put almost two minutes into myself and the other three chasers,” Neill says.
Wright won the stage by 1min 46sec from Elliot Barratt, who led the chase group home level on time with Alexander Cross (Schils–Doltcini RT). Neill was fourth, a second further back.
Stage 2: Sunday 16 August
Sunday ran 124.8 kilometres: an opening lap of Saturday’s circuit, then four times around a longer loop that dropped off the plateau through Litton and East Harptree before climbing back up Harptree Hill. The climb is not much on its own, a kilometre or so of Somerset lane at an average of 10.2%, steep enough to hurt and short enough to survive. Ridden four times in an afternoon with the last ascent as the finish line, it becomes the entire race.
Neill came to it needing two minutes and, for the first time that weekend, with a course that could give them to him. “The climby circuit was quite perfect for me, so we went into the race with the plan to send my two teammates up the road and get the yellow jersey to work on the front before the climb, where I’d attack him.”
Wright’s difficulty was arithmetic as much as legs. “It was tough being in the leaders’ jersey, being targeted by everyone, or so it felt,” he says.
The move that settled it came on the second ascent. “The Cycling Ulster guys and Nopinz were my biggest problems,” Wright says, “with the Ulster riders organising a good lead into the second time up the climb, setting up Curtis Neill to bridge to two who were up the road.” Neill puts it more plainly: with two laps to go he “attacked away from the yellow jersey group to bridge across to the two solo riders out front”.
Wright followed and nearly made it. “I managed to nearly hang on and end up between the bunch and Curtis with Ludo Hirst with me. But the two of us didn’t manage to keep the pace over the top and dropped back to the bunch.” That was the race. “Wasn’t much cooperation from there and the group ahead grew their gap.”
Ahead, Neill thinned the group himself. “The next lap around on the climb we dropped one rider so it was just the two of us, and then on the final time up the climb to the finish my breakaway partner couldn’t hold my wheel so I got away solo to take the stage and the GC.”
Neill finished 55 seconds ahead of Guccione, with Callum Orchard (Nopinz RT) third at 2min 31sec and Barratt, who left the bunch with a lap remaining, fourth at 2min 56sec. Wright salvaged what was left on the final ascent. “I managed to get away on the finish climb to win the bunch and get fifth and hold onto third GC.” Fifth at 4min 37sec kept him on the podium by five seconds.
Neill takes the general classification by 59 seconds from Guccione, with Wright third at 2min 51sec, Barratt fourth and Cross fifth. Nopinz RT, the largest team in the race, end with Orchard seventh, though Ben Millar, sixth on the opening stage, lost 13min 20sec on Sunday to slip to 14th.
Results
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