Stage one Crawley to Milland Hell, sorry Hill.
The first two hours flew by, and the pace was as hot as the tarmac. Plenty of teams fancied the Sprints and before too long Recycling had stamped their authority on the 70 strong peloton. No one was arguing.
The Milland Hill finishing circuit loomed and a few splits in the field isolated groups all over the place. Eventually a large splinter group formed behind a breakaway that had gone after the first hour or so and had already gained about 2 minutes. Many big hitters were still in the group and PCA had missed it, so there was no slowing down just yet!
This bigger group split again and Malcolm Elliott and a few others tried to bridge towards the front group, however they were long gone. The first time up ‘Milland’ was super fast and it set the tone for the final 5 laps of the Milland Hill circuit, it was very hard and the hill’s 1:4 section was demanding to say the least. The only bonus was that there was a feed at the top and a chance to grab a drink. The back half of the course was fast and a chance to gain on the peloton – small groups formed and came in 5, 7 and 10 minutes back. The remains of the main peloton was at well over 15 minutes and a few puncture victims lost over half an hour. The race speed was over 25 miles an hour, they’ll be tired today, hopefully.
Today is a little flatter, apparently. Weather’s looking a bit iffy. We’ll keep you posted.
Stage 1 Results
1. Chris Newton – recycling.co.uk 3:32:17
2. Robin Sharman – recycling.co.uk @st
3. Fred Johannsen – Plowman Craven @st
4. Rob Partridge – recycling.co.uk @st
5. Alex Higham – Composite Team @ 0:03
6. Rob Hurd – Composite Team @2:49
7. Malcolm Elliot – Plowman Craven @2:49
8. Brett Perez – Rapha Condor @3:19
9. Joe Bayfield – Central Region @st
10. Henry Furness – Composite Team @st
Points
1. Chris Newton recycling.co.uk 15
2. Robin Sharman recycling.co.uk 13
3. Rob Partridge recycling.co.uk 11
KOM
1. Chris Newton recycling.co.uk 30
2. Alex Higham Composite Team 20
3. Fred Johannsen Plowman Craven 18
