This Is Guernsey

Ann Bowditch puts in a stint at the front of the pack during the five-lap race. (0592139)

GUERNSEY cyclists showed their dominance over the weekend, taking four out of the five categories in the inter-insular road race.

James McLaughlin took the senior race with Paul Brehaut the first veteran, Ann Bowditch the top female and Terry Wright the leading grand veteran.

Chris Seviour was the only Jersey rider to taste victory as he took the junior category. The senior event was competed over seven laps of the gloriously sunny L’Eree circuit with the veteran, junior and women’s race starting five minutes later over five laps of the same course.

As the seniors started and began to climb Pleinmont hill, it was clear that the Guernsey riders wanted to make an impact on the race and chose to send their best climbers on an early attack.

Jersey’s Adam Wojtkiewicz and Ali Cann were also taken up the road in this attack.

Aaron Bailey and Rob Smart were given the task of marshalling the remaining riders, allowing the front group to get away.

As the lead group approached the end of the first lap, the Sarnians continued to attack their Jersey counterparts in an attempt to get riders away.

Finally Tony Bleasdale managed to break away from the group and with no riders chasing him down, he got his head down to increase his lead.

Rolling down L’Eree hill, the second group headed by Bailey and Smart caught the lead sextet.

Approaching the start of the third lap, Josh Gosselin and Stuart Le Tissier attempted a breakaway from the group but this was chased down by the Jersey riders.

The moment Gosselin and Le Tissier had been brought back, Smart followed by Matt Osborn launched an attack off the group which was not chased and the duo were off up the road.

At the base of Pleinmont hill, McLaughlin also decided to make a solo attack and rode away from the group.

Soon the four leading home riders had joined together and began to work as a team sharing the work on the front.

In the main group, the three Caesareans were well marshalled by the seven Sarnians and any attacks were soon chased down.

Having established a lead of some five minutes over the second group, the leading riders battled it out with each other to decide who was going to be the overall winner.

As has been the case so many times this season, McLaughlin launched his break for victory from some distance, pulling away from Bleasdale, Smart and Osborn, who finished in that order, to sprint to victory by some 14 seconds.

Five minutes later in the bunch sprint finish, Bailey used his time-trialling power to take fifth while Wojtkiewicz sneaked ahead of Gosselin to be first Jerseyman home in sixth.

Cann took eighth ahead of Le Tissier, Tim Holmes, Jon Osborn, Leon Ogier, Philip Touzeau and Paul Millar. Further back Pete Miller out-sprinted Stefano Rizzuto for 15th place.

The largest field of the day was in the juniors’, veterans’ and women’s race, which featured 10 Jersey riders and 14 locals.

With the pace of the race picking up throughout the early laps, two distinct groups began to emerge with the lead one comprising Brehaut, Oliver Tracey, Bowditch and Wright of Guernsey and Jersey’s Seviour and Dave Mayman.

As the last lap started, Brehaut and Tracey made their move up Pleinmont hill breaking away from the other riders and working together to establish a slight lead.

Going down L’Eree hill Seviour caught Brehaut and Tracey and, as the trio approached the Cup and Saucer, he made a break and managed to hold on to take the win despite Brehaut closing rapidly in the final few metres.

Tracey came over the line in third place with Bowditch finishing strongly slightly ahead of Wright.

*IN THE under-16 and -14s time trial around one lap of the L’Eree circuit, Alex Wilson was the only rider and he completed the course in 22-32 to win the category.

Article posted on 13th June, 2008 - 2.29pm