Ian Bibby took his second win of the 2010 Halfords Tour Series at Round Eight in Stoke-on-Trent, leading his Motorpoint – Marshalls Pasta team back to the top of the Halfords Tour Series standings. 

Motorpoint now hold a three point lead with just two rounds to go, as erstwhile leaders Rapha – Condor – Sharp had a night to forget, finishing the night in fourth position to relinquish their brief hold on the orange Halfords leader’s jerseys and allowing Endura Racing to draw level with them in the standings.

With Stoke-on-Trent the home round of Motorpoint – Marshalls Pasta, the technical city centre circuit proved just the place to put in an excellent performance that saw them place three riders in the top eight positions.

Once again the pace was high from the start, with the peloton soon strung out around the 1.2km course at the heart of the city centre.  The early stages saw the usual game of cat and mouse, as various riders expended energy trying to escape the fast-moving bunch.

A lap before the opening Boardman Bikes Sprint of the evening, a crash just after the line briefly split the peloton and ended the evening of Sigma Sport – Specialized’s Matt Stephens.

With Motorpoint riders ever vigilant at the front of the split, Bibby and then Andy Tennant took the chance to stretch their legs at the sharp end of the action. 

The field though soon became one again, with just a few stragglers scattered around the circuit including Rob Hayles, another crash victim, who would end his evening in the pits.

As the race wore on and the peloton stayed stretched out, riders increasingly found it harder to close the gaps in front of them, allowing a duo of riders to go clear – Bibby and Pendragon Le Col Colnago’s Dave Clarke, who enjoyed an excellent, but ultimately unrewarded evening’s riding.

Bibby and Clarke pulled out around a 10 second lead on the field as Endura’s James McCallum tried to organise a chase behind.  When the chase did come, it caused the peloton behind to split, with Kristian House visible at the front of the first chasing group.

A catch looked inevitable as the field crossed the line almost within touching distance of Bibby’s rear wheel, but as Endura’s Scott Thwaites jumped across to make it a leading trio, the elastic seemed to snap and the main group quickly dropped back to 20 seconds in arrears. 

A 25 second lead with two laps to go ensured that the peloton were fighting for fourth place, but Bibby made sure he took the number one spot by leading the sprint from a long way out up the gently sloping finish straight.

Crossing the line arms spread, he was a couple of bike lengths clear of Thwaites, who came around the tiring Clarke on the drag to the line.

Pendragon’s Yanto Barker was at the front of the charge to the line, with Motorpoint’s Jonny McEvoy just pippin him to fourth on the line.

With Ed Clancy, who spent much of the evening circulating at the back of the peloton, taking seventh and Malcolm Elliott eighth, there was a wall of Motorpoint jerseys at the front, ensuring their home round ended with a home victory, and more importantly a return to the orange leader’s jerseys for Monday’s Chester round.

Round Eight Results:

Team

1)      Motorpoint – Marshalls Pasta
2)      Endura Racing
3)      Pendragon Le Col Colnago
4)      Rapha – Condor – Sharp
5)      CyclePremier.com – Metaltek
6)      Sigma Sport – Specialized
7)      Team Raleigh
8)      Team Corley Cycles
9)      Kuota – road.cc
10)      Team Ireland

Individual

1)      Ian Bibby               Motorpoint – Marshalls Pasta
2)      Scott Thwaites  Endura Racing
3)      Dave Clarke             Pendragon Le Col Colnago
4)      Jonny McEvoy    Motorpoint – Marshalls Pasta
5)      Yanto Barker            Pendragon Le Col Colnago

The Halfords Tour Series Standings (after eight rounds)

1)      Motorpoint – Marshalls Pasta            70pts
2)      Rapha – Condor – Sharp                  67pts
3)      Endura Racing                           67pts
4)      Sigma Sport – Specialized                       50pts
5)      Pendragon Le Col Colnago                47pts                  
6)      Team Raleigh                            42pts
7)      CyclePremier.com – Metaltek             41pts
8)      Team Corley Cycles                      29pts
9)      Kuota – road.cc                         18pts
10)     Team Ireland                                    8pts

Boardman Bikes Sprints Competition Results

1)      Graham Briggs   Rapha – Condor – Sharp          12pts
2)      Liam Holohan    Team Raleigh                    6pts
3)      Dave Clarke             Pendragon Le Col Colnago        5pts

Boardman Bikes Sprints Competition Standings (after eight rounds)

1)      Graham Briggs   Rapha – Condor – Sharp          55pts
2)      Liam Holohan            Team Raleigh                            41pts
3)      Kristian House          Rapha – Condor – Sharp          32pts

To see all the action from Stoke-on-Trent, tune in to ITV4 on Friday evening at 7pm for an hour’s highlights show.  The Halfords Tour Series is back in action on Monday in Chester for Round Nine of the 2010 Series.

For more information visit www.tourseries.co.uk or follow the action via Twitter.