The Reading Road Race on the great Milton Circuit in Oxfordshire today looked a challenging prospect: "We tend to favour the courses with more climbing," explains Neil Wass. "This circuit is pretty flat and is very exposed. It's all about the wind and positioning."
The brisk winds as the day began only added to the difficulty of dealing with this course: "We thought it was unlikely that a break would stay away," adds Doug Coleman. "But never say never."
The pace was high at the beginning and a move went just before the race crossed the line for the first time. This break was missed by the Anders Horizon riders, but Coleman was watching as it maintained a gap: "I knew I had to get across." He wasn't the only one and he spotted an opportunity when Mike Jackson of Luton CC attacked off the front of the bunch: "I've known Mike a while and I thought we would work well together."
 |
| Happy but not yet satisfied - Doug Coleman |
The two riders crossed the gap quickly enough to avoid a defensive bunch move and went straight to wok in the break. Says Coleman: "I was shouting 'now is the time to race!' because I knew that was the most vulnerable time."
The group shed a couple of weaker riders as teh hammer went down and slimmed to a cohesive six. Coleman continues: "We were fairly evenly matched and I think that helped because we all seemed to be working pretty hard. We all kept the effort up right up to the last kilometre."
The gap grew to nearly two minutes and, having bided his time, Coleman followed an attack by Jackson to sprint to third place: "You can always do better," he concludes. "The only time I will sit back and be content is when I get the win."
No comments:
Post a Comment