Sylvain get's 2nd @ Hillingdon!!

[Matthew Ives]

Another fine evening down at Hillingdon .

Met up with Sylvain and Ajay at Victoria and cycled through the smog of Shepherds Bush roundabout and The Uxbridge road to Hillingdon.

It was Sylvains first race at Hillingdon and on the way down there told us several times how he couldn't sprint and basically would have no chance.
Maybe I'm becoming a bit cynical, but I'm beginning to understand that you should take what cyclists say about their form and their abilities with a pinch of salt!

Anyway, on the way over to the circuit Ajay was definitely getting in the Zone by building his aggressive mindset to boiling point by having several altercations with car and bus drivers. He had a nervous energy about him tonight that boded well for the race. It manifested itself again outside the club house where, with 5 minutes to go before the race, he decided to give his bike a complete overhaul/service .Luckily I talked him out of it and he put his allen key set away.

It was quite a large field and from the off it was faster than last week. Sylvain was almost immediately on the front dictating the pace with Ajay just behind. Not many people tried to get away, mainly because it was quite windy and the pace was pretty high.
I moved up towards the front around about lap 5 or so to try and support Sylvain. This seemed to work quite well at one point where a guy rode off the front of the bunch and Sylvain followed. With me right behind Sylvain,. I just soft pedaled for a while and hey presto they had a 50 metre gap! Unfortunately, Sylvain didn't look round so didn't realise he was in a break and it all came to nothing in the end. Still, it was good to see that tactics can work.

I had a dig shortly after going up the drag to the finish but it seemed that it was really hard to get away tonight. Ajay was keeping well protected in the bunch with Sylvain up front in the top 5 and me just behind. I was sure that Ajay was saving himself for some almightly attack near the end, probably on that massive gear he pedals, but it didn't materialise and I learned later that he wasn't on a good day.

Anyway, 2 laps to go and I was in the first 3 at the front with Sylvain on my wheel. I was planning to attack on the last lap back straight and catch them by surprise, but the pace was quite fast on the last lap since one guy got away with the Elites and we were eyeballs out trying to chase him.
Down to the bottom of the hill and I was in a decent position and got on the wheel of the burliest guy I could find who's calves were bigger than my thighs. After being on Steve Broomfields wheel in the Charlwood sprint on Saturday and seeing how he waited and waited till he made his move, I decided to wait until the sprint was well underway till I went for it. This worked well after a fashion, but I got boxed in a bit as a few riders came past and I had to brake and change line several times. I crossed the line quite pleased and as I looked up I saw Sylvain about 10 metres up the road! How on earth did he get up there? As I rode up to him I asked him how he did and, in that understated way of his, he said that he'd won the sprint! Amazing ride! We thought at that point that he'd won the race, but it turned out that the guy in the break hadn't been caught and Sylvain got 2nd over all. Still, great ride!

Sylvain collected his cash prize and Ajay and myself made sure he bought the teas back at the club house where there was some consternation and wagging of fingers as the Elites argued about who caused the big pile up on the last lap of their race.

Had a nice gentle ride back home in the warm summer evening air.
Well done Sylvain! Looks like you'll be banished to The Palace pretty soon to ride the 3 / 4 race .

Cheers,
Matthew

[Toks]

Excellent result Sylv! I expect to see the result on London Cyclesport sometime next month

[Dr Frigo]

Cheers, I enjoyed that. We chased attacks at the start but it was tough trying to get away, and I certainly couldn't have done it on my own. But it should be possible with 3-4 ACC riders working together. In the second half I was just chasing attackers to help bring the bunch back onto them, and in the last few laps didn't even bother at all as they always ended up getting caught. Did zilch work on the last three laps but still staying around third row, I saw this tall guy with the black On-One top who had been sheltering at the back all the way and thought he was going to make a cheeky move so got into his wheel. I'm usually overtaken by a sea of riders in the last few hundred meters but maybe because of the uphill it didn't happen and had to squeeze past a few. The guy who won apparently got caught with the 1/2 group on the climb and I didn't see him get away.

[Kevin Rynne]

Well done. Does this mean a change to road racing? See you at beast way later today

[Tim H (liquigas)]

well done Sylv.. i thought your sprint had improved after our ride on Saturday..

good work

[Dr Frigo]

Until when does the series last? Would like to do more but my legs can't cope with doing Beastway as well the following evening until 2nd August.

[Matthew Ives]

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