Win for Neil at Newbury

The 10 o'clock at Newbury. Sort of. Neil & Paul turned up on Sunday morning for the Newbury Road Club's LVRC Road Race. Neil, typically unprepared, had no idea that the course had a hill in it, but, as he said, "you can waste a lot of time preparing for things that don't happen." er, yes

early break: Simon Brooks, Neil, Martin Jones, Rowan Horner

Neil's AB race was off with a bang and he got straight into the early move which became the mid race break and then failed to be the break that stuck when it was caught after nearly 4 laps. He'd been working hard too: "Simon Brooks and Rowan Horner from St Raphael were working really hard to tow us along and all 4 of us were really pushing but Simon was clearly stronger than the rest of us." Eventually, the main group got working and caught the breakaway, but Brooks had already taken flight. Neil was left to lick his wounds and try to recover.

"I'd been working at my limit really for 4 laps so I was struggling to see what I could do next," he recalls. After almost a lap back in the bunch though, he followed a move by Vince Divine of Finchley up the climb and opened a gap on the bunch of about 10 seconds. Joined by Gianluca Capello of GS Vecchi, the trio got their heads down and headed full tilt for the line. Neil was beaten by Capello and Divine in the sprint but he wasn't downhearted. "I fought hard for that and after 4 laps in the break, I thought that wasn't bad!" he said afterwards.

Paul hangs tough in the winning break

Meanwhile, in the CD race, Paul made sure he was in the main move of the day, but he too was finding it tough. "It was a tough course with the climb in particular causing difficulties in the peloton. In fact it was at the base of the climb," he says. 

a successful outing for a happy duo

With just over two laps to go that the final selection was made with an eight man group of the strongest riders forming over the crest.


The group worked well but with three VC Vecchi team riders there were plenty of attacks and counter attacks as they each tried for a solo victory. "We were pretty wise to this," continues Paul "so they didn't succeed which left it all lined up for an eight man sprint for the win. Unfortunately I let myself get boxed in a bit so only got 3rd. Still not a bad result and starts to cement my 3rd place in the series but I have eyes set on 2nd."