National Championships 2016 – United Kingdom – [Road Race – FULL RACE]

June 26, 2016

National Championships 2016 – United Kingdom – Stockton – Stockton – 201 km

The British National Road Race Championships cover different categories of British road bicycle racing events, normally held annually.[1]

Adam Blythe (Tinkoff) denied Mark Cavendish a second British national road race title as he outsprinted the Manxman at the end of an aggressive day in the north east of England.

Cavendish, who will try to claim the yellow jersey on the opening day of the Tour de France next week, was the favourite as a 14-rider group that came towards the line for a sprint and it was he who opened it up. However, Blythe, who had been part of a long four-man breakaway before limiting his workload on the final laps once caught by Cavendish’s chase group, took his wheel before brushing shoulders and coming past him on the slightly-uphill drag to the line.

The 26-year-old Tinkoff rider punched the air and celebrated wildly as he crossed the line for what is probably the biggest result of his career. Andy Fenn, whose Sky teammate Alex Peters had attacked repeatedly to shake up the closing stages of the race, was a more distant third.

“I wanted that one, I was thinking about it all day, trying to be in the right moves,” said Blythe, who won’t be at the Tour de France but is instead set to debut his white, red and blue champion’s jersey on home soil at the RideLondon-Surrey Classic later this summer.

“With a couple of laps to go I thought we might hold off the chasers, it was hanging around 20 seconds and I did a few hard turns, but it came back together and I just gambled it’d be a sprint and luckily I got round Cav.”

The 207km course was based on two circuits – a main 13.4km loop to be covered 12 times before a 6.7km finishing loop in Stockton to be covered six times – and it produced the aggressive and chaotic racing that has come to characterise national championships.

Indeed, Blythe described how hard it was, the WorldTour-level rider saying it was the toughest day his power meter has seen this year.

“Normally when Cav wins there are leadout trains, but today was a hard day,” he said. “We were marked out all day, we weren’t really given any room, always on the pedals all day, I’ve had one of the highest powers I’ve had all year.”

Five-time national time trial champion Alex Dowsett was aggressive early on, sparking various moves in a fluid opening portion of the race. However, the Movistar man didn’t make the key selections that were soon made, with two groups joining up to make a breakaway of 16, including Blythe.

It was fast and furious in the bunch as Dowsett and others looked to bridge over, and a large group of 28 ended up clipping off in pursuit of the leaders. That group itself split, and in the end eight riders, including Cavenidsh, Dowsett, and Tao Geoghegan Hart, made the junction to form a lead group of 22.

On the final lap of the main loop, Team Sky neo-pro Alex Peters showed his aggression and formed a four-man group with Geoghegan Hart, Tom Moses, and Blythe that would go close to contesting the victory. The quartet collaborated well and held onto around 30 seconds for four of the six final laps before an aggressive Cavendish helped drag the chase group – which by that stage had been whittled down to 10 – back into contention.

With 14 now at the head of the race with under two laps to go, Peters attacked repeatedly, with Chris Lawless the most active in shutting down the moves. It was frantic, with splits opening and closing all the time, but by this stage Blythe had set up shop on the back of the group – as he said, gambling on it coming together for a sprint.

After relative calm on the final lap, that’s what happened and once Cavendish had opened it up to come past Lawless and Thwaites, Blythe found he had enough in the tank to take the spoils.

Results :
1 Adam Blythe (GBr) Tinkoff 4:31:07
2 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data
3 Andrew Fenn (GBr) Team Sky
4 Mark McNally (GBr) Wanty – Groupe Gobert
5 Scott Thwaites (GBr) Bora–Argon 18
6 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Axeon Hagens Berman CT
7 Thomas Stewart (GBr) Madison Genesis
8 Dale Appleby (GBr) NFTO
9 Christopher Lawless (GBr) JLT Condor
10 James Shaw (GBr) Lotto Soudal U23
11 Dexter Gardias (GBr) Pedal Heaven
12 Kristian House (GBr) One Pro Cycling 0:00:09
13 Alex Peters (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:20
14 Christopher Latham (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:03:44
15 Matthew Holmes (GBr) Madison Genesis
16 Thomas Moses (GBr) JLT Condor 0:03:45
17 George Harper (GBr) One Pro Cycling
18 Sam Lowe (GBr) Team Wiggins 0:03:48
19 Steve Lampier (GBr) JLT Condor 0:03:49
20 Robert Partridge (GBr) NFTO 0:03:50
21 Max Stedman (GBr) Pedal Heaven 0:03:52
22 Alex Dowsett (GBr) Movistar Team 0:03:54
23 Daniel Mclay (GBr) Fortuneo – Vital Concept 0:04:50
24 Elliott Porter (GBr) Neon-Velo Cycling Team 0:05:15
DNF George Atkins (GBr) JLT Condor
DNF Scott Auld (GBr) Zappi’s Racing Team
DNF Karl Baillie (GBr) Raleigh GAC
DNF Yanto Barker (GBr) One Pro Cycling
DNF Peter Barusevicus (GBr) Wheelbase Altura MGD
DNF Sebastian Baylis (GBr) Zappis Racing Team
DNF Thomas Baylis (GBr) One Pro Cycling
DNF Ian Bibby (GBr) NFTO
DNF Daniel Bigham (GBr) Planet X – Northside Cycling
DNF William Bjergfelt (GBr) Neon-Velo Cycling Team
DNF Sam Boast (GBr) Wheelbase Altura MGD
DNF David Bolland (GBr) Neon-Velo Cycling Team
DNF Matthew Bostock (GBr) 100% ME
DNF Tom Bracegirdle (GBr) Goma Dakwerken vdb Steenhouwerij
DNF Edmund Bradbury (GBr) NFTO
DNF Kieran Brady (GBr) Richardsons-Trek RT
DNF Alexander Braybrooke (GBr) Lotto Soudal U23
DNF Graham Briggs (GBr) JLT Condor
DNF Dillon Byrne (GBr) Superano Ham – Isorex – Tarteletto
DNF Rob Carter (GBr) TS Racing Team – OTR
DNF Mark Christian (GBr) Team Wiggins
DNF Joseph Clark (GBr) Envelopemaster Giant Sheffield
DNF David Clarke (GBr) Massi Kuwait Cycling Project
DNF Matthew Clarke (GBr) Excel Pedal Heaven Academy
DNF Angus Claxton (GBr) EISER INFORLUR/S.C Duranguesa
DNF Edward Clemens (GBr) Spirit Bikes Racing Team
DNF Matt Cronshaw (GBr) Madison Genesis
DNF Gabriel Cullaigh (GBr) 100% ME
DNF Scott Davies (GBr) Team Wiggins
DNF Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Team Wiggins
DNF Andrew Disley (GBr) Harry Middleton Cycling Club
DNF Jordan Doig (GBr) Pro Vision Cycle Clothing
DNF Russell Downing (GBr) JLT Condor
DNF Nathan Draper (GBr) 100% ME
DNF Joshua Edmondson (GBr) NFTO
DNF Albert Ellison (GBr) TBW Bottecchia Wigmore RT
DNF Joseph Elwood (GBr) Langsett Cycles RT
DNF Jack Escritt (GBr) Raleigh GAC
DNF Joe Evans (GBr) Madison Genesis
DNF David Fletcher (GBr) Sherwood Pines Cycles Felt – Enve
DNF Alexander Foster (GBr) Bikehaus by Ridley
DNF George Fowler (GBr) NFTO
DNF Joseph Fry (GBr) Pedal Heaven
DNF Dan Gardner (GBr) Astellas Cycling Team
DNF Joshua Green (GBr) Catford CC Equipe/Banks
DNF Luke Grivell-Mellor (GBr) JLT Condor
DNF Luc Hall (GBr) Team Wiggins
DNF Richard Handley (GBr) One Pro Cycling
DNF Joe Harris (GBr) Spirit Bikes Racing Team
DNF Samuel Harrison (GBr) Team Wiggins
DNF Andrew Hawdon (GBr) Raleigh GAC
DNF Jacob Hennessy (GBr) Spirit Bikes Racing Team
DNF Richard Hepworth (GBr) Raleigh GAC
DNF Ben Hetherington (GBr) Planet X – Northside Cycling
DNF Liam Holohan (GBr) Team Wiggins
DNF Joe Holt (GBr) 100% ME
DNF Tobyn Horton (GBr) Madison Genesis
DNF Rhys Howells (GBr) Richardsons-Trek RT
DNF Joshua Hunt (GBr) One Pro Cycling
DNF Harrison Jones (GBr) Pedal Heaven
DNF Jake Kelly (GBr) Team Wiggins
DNF Adam Kenway (GBr) Metaltek Kuota Racing Team
DNF Ross Lamb (GBr) Godfrey Bikewear Race Team
DNF Edward Laverack (GBr) JLT Condor
DNF Andy Leigh (GBr) Superano Ham – Isorex – Tarteletto
DNF Gruffudd Lewis (GBr) Madison Genesis
DNF Adam Lewis (GBr) Team NHT Cycling Team
DNF James Lewis (GBr) NFTO
DNF Joel Lewis (GBr) Wheelbase Altura MGD
DNF David Lines (GBr) Wheelbase Altura MGD
DNF Rhys Lloyd (GBr) NFTO
DNF James Lowsley- Williams (GBr) NFTO
DNF Richard Mardle (GBr) NFTO
DNF Fraser Martin (GBr) Raleigh GAC
DNF Oliver Maxwell (GBr) Neon-Velo Cycling Team
DNF Zachery May (GBr) Metaltek Kuota Racing Team
DNF Tom Mazzone (GBr) Excel Pedal Heaven Academy
DNF Leon Mazzone (GBr) ILLI-Bikes Cycling Team
DNF Jonathan McEvoy (GBr) NFTO
DNF Louis Modell (GBr) Zappis Racing Team
DNF Anthony Moye (GBr) Spirit Bikes Racing Team
DNF Craig Nicholls (GBr) API-Metrow/Bodyby JR
DNF Daniel Nieto (GBr) TBW Bottecchia Wigmore RT
DNF Sean Noon (GBr) Spokes Racing Team
DNF Chris Opie (GBr) One Pro Cycling
DNF Alex Orrell-Turner (GBr) Wheelbase Altura MGD
DNF Joshua Outram (GBr) Richardsons-Trek RT
DNF Alex Paton (GBr) Pedal Heaven
DNF Daniel Patten (GBr) Team Wiggins
DNF George Pym (GBr) Raleigh GAC
DNF Charlie Renshaw (GBr) Envelopemaster Giant Sheffield
DNF Alexandar Richardson (GBr) Pedal Heaven Excel Academy
DNF Steven Roach (GBr) Raleigh GAC
DNF Tristan Robbins (GBr) Madison Genesis
DNF Ben Rowe (GBr) Wheelbase Altura MGD
DNF Erick Rowsell (GBr) Madison Genesis
DNF Luke Ryan (GBr) Richardsons-Trek RT
DNF David Shackleton (GBr) Wilsons Wheels Race Team
DNF Dean Shannon (GBr) Richardsons-Trek RT
DNF Kieran Simcox (GBr) Neon-Velo Cycling Team
DNF Mark Stewart (GBr) 100% ME
DNF Bradley Stokes (GBr) Planet X – Northside Cycling
DNF Liam Stones (GBr) NFTO
DNF Jake Tanner (GBr) Envelopemaster Giant Sheffield
DNF Joshua Teasdale (GBr) Prorace Cycling Team
DNF Michael Thompson (GBr) Team Wiggins
DNF Rory Townsend (GBr) Pedal Heaven
DNF Andrew Turner (GBr) KTM Impsport RT
DNF Joey Walker (GBr) 100% ME
DNF Daniel Whitehouse (GBr)
DNF Peter Williams (GBr) One Pro Cycling
DNF Samuel Williams (GBr) One Pro Cycling
DNF Stephen Williams (GBr) JLT Condor
DNF Jake Womersley (GBr) Pedal Heaven
DNF Cameron Woolsey (GBr) Spirit Bikes Racing Team