SL Easter 3-day - 1/2/3 FINAL STAGE REPORT

[huw williams]

This race was harder to watch than to ride in. Seeing Sylvain line up on his jack against all these big fellas in big teams I was left wondering how much realistic chance he had of defending his 5th on GC (the target for the day).

The sun was blazing down for the first time in 3-days and it felt and looked like proper stage race conditions. Sure enough everyone in the peloton celebrated the raise in temperarture with a raise in pace and the first 12 mile lap was completed in a staggering average speed of a 44kmph - this remember is the long Alfold course which has some very nasty uphill drags. Riders low on GC were simply attacking for the sake of it trying to disrupt the race and make things happen which resulted in some scary fast speeds early on and at least four separate groups on the second of the 5 and a bit laps. Things settled down on lap 3 when a concentrated breakaway of around 13 riders escaped and stretched their lead to 2 minutes at one point.

Sylv was showboating, sitting in the chase group and waving to the ACC groupies, suggesting he was comfortable and everything was in control. With Norwood's Steve Calland 2nd on GC, Dave Kennett was awesome on the front of the chase group, contributing a load of work in helping to reel in the breakaway, especially when Marcus Bruton was forced out with a puncture with two laps left. With so many riders in the break they really should have stayed away but a 45 second lead going into the final lap wasn't enough as the chase group reeled them in and the mass sprint was on.

The young fella from AW Cycles, Sam Allen (at 18 what a prospect he is) took it on the line from Steve, but more importantly Sylv finished comfortably in the top 10 for 6th overall

[size=150]GIVE IT UP FOLKS - This is an AWESOME result given that he was without a team for the entire three days and was Sylv's first stage race and first ride with the 1/2 BIG BOYS. Not a bad way to start eh?
[/size]
Sylv celebrated with garlic bread, Macdonalds and just enough Belgian beer to consider a crack at the 5-day later this summer.

We salute you!

[Sylv]

I celebrate the fact that Huw has managed to spell the four letters of my name in the right order - several times!

[Toks]

Yes indeed Sylvain Garde needs to take a bow. A brilliant performance up against some of South East's top racers. He pretty much rode the perfect race as we all know without the support and without ever having ridden a sate race before. We salute you dude. I hope to do a stage race with you before the year is out. I might even carry some bottles for you if they're not too heavy

[Toks]

[size=150]Overall GC - 1/2/3 [/size]
[size=150]Pos Name Club/Team Cat Time Bonus[/size]

1 Steve Calland Norwood Paragon CC 1 08:17:29 @ 00:00:00 00:00:50
2 Richard Hoult London Dynamo 1 08:17:34 @ 00:00:05 00:00:30
3 Douglas Dewey Pendragon Kalas 1 08:17:56 @ 00:00:27 00:00:20
4 Sam Allen awcycles.co.uk 2J 08:17:57 @ 00:00:28 00:00:30
5 David Sinclair GWR Team 1 08:18:05 @ 00:00:36 00:00:10
[size=150]6 Sylvain Garde Addiscombe CC 2 08:18:17 @ 00:00:48[/size]
7 Ian Taylor NFM Racing Team 1 08:18:17 @ 00:00:48
8 Matthew Miles Wildside 707 RT 2V 08:18:21 @ 00:00:52
9 Matthew Ewings Pendragon Kalas 1 08:18:21 @ 00:00:52
10 Lee Smith agiskoviner.com 1 08:18:27 @ 00:00:58
11 Warren Jesse Felt Racing 1 08:18:27 @ 00:00:58
12 Rob Enslin awcycles.co.uk 1 08:18:27 @ 00:00:58
13 Dan Ahearn DHCyclesport.co.uk 2 08:18:27 @ 00:00:58
14 Henry Furniss WyndyMilla 1 08:18:31 @ 00:01:02
15 Adam Wojtkiewicz Caesarean Cycling Club Jersey 2 08:18:31 @ 00:01:02
16 Daniele Santoni Pearson Cycles 1 08:18:31 @ 00:01:02
17 Andy Betts Sigma Sport RT 1 08:18:31 @ 00:01:02
18 Jerone Walters Sigma Sport RT 1 08:18:31 @ 00:01:02
19 Jaco Ehlers In-Gear Development Squad 2 08:18:39 @ 00:01:10
20 Shane Pope Swindon RC 3 08:18:46 @ 00:01:17
21 Toby Roberts Team Toachim 2 08:18:48 @ 00:01:19
22 Luke Wallis Kingston Wheelers 3 08:18:48 @ 00:01:19
23 Joe Hemmant London Dynamo 2 08:18:48 @ 00:01:19
24 Daniel Felstead Dulwich Paragon CC 2 08:18:48 @ 00:01:19
25 Mark Perry Dulwich Paragon CC 2 08:18:50 @ 00:01:21
26 Mark Sussex Wildside 707 RT 2V 08:18:52 @ 00:01:23
27 James Hawkins Cambridge University CC 2 08:18:57 @ 00:01:28
28 Chris Spence Caesarean Cycling Club Jersey 1 08:18:59 @ 00:01:30
29 Stephen Walkling Velocity Bikes CC 2V 08:18:59 @ 00:01:30
30 Daniel Davies Sabath Claytan 1 08:18:59 @ 00:01:30
31 Thomas Crouch Felt Racing 2 08:19:10 @ 00:01:41
32 Sam Humpheson London Dynamo 1 08:19:16 @ 00:01:47
33 Ian Legg Owen Cycles 1 08:19:22 @ 00:01:53
34 Richard Simmonds London Dynamo 2 08:19:42 @ 00:02:13
35 Conor Dunne Hemel Hempstead CC 2J 08:20:24 @ 00:02:55
36 Toby Neave Southdown Velo 1 08:21:37 @ 00:04:08
37 Tom Hemmant London Dynamo 1 08:22:06 @ 00:04:37
38 Richard Tanguy Pendragon Kalas 1 08:22:32 @ 00:05:03
39 Ian Paine London Dynamo 1 08:22:51 @ 00:05:22
40 David Streule London Dynamo 2 08:25:07 @ 00:07:38
41 Kevin Knox Dulwich Paragon CC 1V 08:26:35 @ 00:09:06
42 Richard Mason Fit-For 1 08:27:00 @ 00:09:31 00:00:20
43 Llewellyn Kinch GWR Team 2 08:27:10 @ 00:09:41
44 David Kennett Norwood Paragon CC 2V 08:29:59 @ 00:12:30
45 Ben Wilson Solihull CC 1 08:31:54 @ 00:14:25
46 Warrick Spence Cyclefit RT 1 08:32:11 @ 00:14:42 00:00:10
47 David Creeggan VC Meudon 1 08:32:42 @ 00:15:13 00:00:10
48 Andy Duff Swindon RC 3 08:35:06 @ 00:17:37
49 Darrell Pembroke agiskoviner.com 1 08:35:44 @ 00:18:15
50 Paul Holdsworth Hounslow & District 1V 08:35:44 @ 00:18:15
51 Dan Staite Python RT 1 08:35:44 @ 00:18:15
52 Chris Prior agiskoviner.com 1 08:36:26 @ 00:18:57
53 Peter Wager VC Meudon 1 08:40:22 @ 00:22:53
54 Justin Callaway DHCyclesport.co.uk 2 08:40:22 @ 00:22:53
55 Jason Salter In-Gear Development Squad 2V 08:41:17 @ 00:23:48
56 Cameron Austin London Dynamo 3 08:41:52 @ 00:24:23
57 Stephen Dring Team Echelon 2 08:42:47 @ 00:25:18
58 Graeme Rose Wildside 707 RT 3 08:44:41 @ 00:27:12
59 Christopher Seviour Caesarean Cycling Club Jersey 2 08:45:16 @ 00:27:47
60 Andrew Cook Manx Viking Wheelers 2 08:46:55 @ 00:29:26
61 Crispin Doyle Swindon RC 3 08:47:04 @ 00:29:35
62 Daniel Clark Private Member 2 08:49:04 @ 00:31:35
63 David Barnes East London Velo 2 08:50:14 @ 00:32:45
64 James Beaumont Kingston Wheelers 2 08:52:02 @ 00:34:33
65 John Nye Pendragon Kalas 1 08:52:35 @ 00:35:06
66 Richard Newey agiskoviner.com 2V 08:57:39 @ 00:40:10
67 James Makepeace Wildside 707 RT 2 09:00:45 @ 00:43:16
68 Neil Cooper awcycles.co.uk 2 09:00:50 @ 00:43:21
69 Martin Garratt London Dynamo 3 09:09:41 @ 00:52:12
70 Simon Berogna Velocity Bikes CC 3 09:20:22 @ 01:02:53
dnf Phil Jones Dulwich Paragon CC 2 dnf
dnf Sam Redding GWR Team 2J dnf
dnf Tim Lawn Kingston Wheelers 3V dnf
dnf Doug Baldock In-Gear Development Squad 2 dnf
dnf Alex Peterson awcycles.co.uk 1 dnf
dnf Marcus Brueton Norwood Paragon CC 2 dnf
dnf Vincent Halpern awcycles.co.uk 1 dnf
dnf Julian Bray Dulwich Paragon CC 2V dnf
dnf Chris Peden Velocity Bikes CC 3 dnf
dnf Gonzalo Rodriguez East London Velo 3 dnf
dns Adam Currie Kingston Wheelers 3 dns
dns Simon Breakwell Rapha Condor Club 2 dns
wd Jonathon Tomlinson East London Velo 3 wd

[George]

Well done Sylv thats awesome riding, a result to be proud of, to get up and do a stage the next day is real tough,all it takes is one mistake to slip up but you kept it pinned all weekend for a great result, nice one