Abergavenny, Wales is host to the 2014 British national championships. With the elite men's and women's time trials already decided earlier in the week (Sir Bradley Wiggins and Emma Pooley, respectively), I've come to watch the road races.
The bunting is up!
A handful of shops in town have done up their windows for the cycling. My personal favorite is a knitted Wiggo at the local yarn store.
The women's hilly road race is 101 kilometers and includes 1 long loop before 4 laps of the finishing circuit.
I was a little surprised to see the state of affairs when I arrived at the start. Every race is run differently but British Cycling seemed to be dangerously behind schedule by my estimates. The gantry was down…
…it was up (kind of)…
…and down again…
…and finally up for good. Of course, as soon as it was up, the crew realized they needed to snake a TV cable across the gantry.
Several riders rolled through the start area trying to find race officials. I chatted with Victoria Grimmer and asked her what she thought of the course. “It's really hard. Yeah…it's really hard!” She was a bit nervous about the race, saying this would her biggest one yet, so it didn't help that the race officials were in fact running late. Below: Lowri Devey resigns herself to waiting.
Race day or not, the dogs must be walked!
The peloton continued to arrive and ask about what time the sign on would get underway. Unfortunately, the officials decided to scrap the sign on ceremony altogether so as to have a shot at starting the race promptly at 9am. While I appreciate punctuality, I'm both disappointed and annoyed that the organizers weren't prepared on time, especially when the riders were. I've seen very few women's races relative to the men's and I was really excited to see riders like defending British champion Lizze Armitstead and Laura Trott, gold medalist in track cycling at the London 2012 Olympics. Without the sign on, none of the women were introduced to the crowd. British Cycling wasted a great opportunity to help grow women's cycling.
Emma Pooley, 2014 time trial champion.
The press getting their shots of the peloton.
The peloton.
I'm not sure who the emcee was but he, too, was not particularly organized and even joked that he'd be ready by the men's race.
Since no one called the women to come forward, they stayed 15 meters behind the start line until the rushed 5 second countdown was complete.
Disorganization aside, the race was underway!
Left to right: Sharon Laws, Hannah Barnes, and Lucy Garner.
Lizzie Armitstead in the orange of Boels Dolmans Cycling Team (center) and Emma Pooley (right).
As the women rode through Monmouthshire, the emcee kept us up to date. After 90 minutes of racing, a breakaway of 13 had gone clear. By the time they arrived for the first of the city laps, they had dropped 5 and 8 dangerous riders remained: Lizzie Armitstead, Anna Christian, Hannah Walker, Katie Archibald, Sharon Laws, Emma Pooley, Dani King, Laura Trott, Sarah Storey, Elinor Barker, Nicola Juniper, and Louise Mahe.
Below: prepping the winner's jersey before the race began its 4 finish circuits.
As the women sped towards town, the men's vehicles drove on the course to reach their designated parking lot. Wouldn't you know it, the very first vehicle, Madison Genesis's RV, nearly pulled an Orica! The driver slowly proceeded to pass underneath the gantry but there was a vent or pipe or something on the roof that clearly wasn't going to cooperate.
So the spectators lifted the gantry from one side and the bus passed successfully!
Wisely, the officials did double check that shifting the gantry hadn't messed up the finish line camera.
The 8 strong break with 4 laps to go.
A strung out peloton minutes back.
The break had dropped 1 or 2 riders on the next lap.
The peloton rounds a corner at speed.
Lizzie Armitstead escaped the break and gained about a 13 second advantage.
The chase!
Armitstead's lead bounced between 5 and 16 seconds over the next lap. Below: moving the lap counter board.
On the next lap, Armitstead snuck up on the back of the peloton and had nearly lapped them! The officials clearly weren't prepared for her to appear so soon and they forgot to have the bell ready! But Armitstead signaled to the officials who all responded by showing her one finger (a polite finger!). The bell guy got his act together by the time the chasers arrived.
Emma Pooley goes off the front of the chase.
Clearing off the stage to make room for the race winners.
The riders in orange and black burst around the corner and onto the final 100 meter straightaway. It was clearly Armitstead, King, and Trott but in what order? The 2 Wiggle Honda riders were neck and neck with Armitstead trying dearly to hang on. With a handful of meters to go, Trott surged ahead and took both the U23 and elite national titles!
Trott and King.
Dame Sarah Storey was taking no chances that her number would come unpinned.
A joyful Trott before the awards ceremony.
Pulling on the U23 jersey which she had successfully defended.
The podium left to right: Katie Archibald, Laura Trott, and Elinor Barker.
The elite podium left to right: Lizzie Armitstead, Laura Trott, and Dani King.
King and Trott thoroughly enjoyed their champagne.
Katie Archibald hung out for awhile after all the hooplah died down and she signed the one and only autograph I got from the women.
