Andy Tennant took victory in his first Elite Road Series race of the year as the Team Wiggins man beat One Pro Cycling’s Yanto Barker in a sprint finish in the Cycle Wiltshire Grand Prix.

Part of a four-man break which led for much of the race, Tennant and Barker opened up a 45-second gap on the final lap leaving Mike Northey (Madison Genesis) and Edmund Bradbury (NFTO) to battle for third.

Despite finishing further back in the field, Steve Lampier’s consistency over the first three rounds saw him take the Spring Cup.

The Cycle Wiltshire Grand Prix was round three of the British Cycling Elite Road Series and also marked the final round of the Spring Cup.

The 173-kilometre race set off from near Salisbury before heading to Wilton where the riders headed out on a large circuit towards Burcombe before taking in Fovant, Broad Chalke and Bishopstone.

They completed this circuit five times before finishing the race on four laps of a smaller circuit between Wilton and Burcombe.

The weather conditions were ideal for the riders, with a temperature of 15 degrees Celsius but with a few spots of rain in the air and low winds.

After a 6.5km neutralised section as the bunch left the starting point, the race began properly and in the early stages, the bunch stayed together with no significant attacks.

During the first lap, there were some small attacks from Team Wiggins and Team Raleigh GAC riders, opening up a lead of around 50 metres as the race approached Fovant Down for the first time.

The first ascent of Fovant Down saw eight riders dropped as Ryan Perry (SportGrub KUOTA) and Thomas Baylis (One Pro Cycling) attacked and pulled out a 30-second lead. Andrew Hastings (Richardsons-Trek RT) tried to bridge across but was caught by the bunch.

At the start of the second lap in Wilton, Perry and Baylis were caught and Starley Primal began to drive the pace. The bunch was strung out and had split with 21 riders having a 150 metre lead.

Twenty riders, including Marcin Bialoblocki (One Pro Cycling), Kristian House (JLT Condor), Jon Mould (One Pro Cycling), Richard Handley (JLT Condor) and Erick Rowsell (Madison Genesis) then managed to open a 17-second lead.

As the riders made their way up Fovant Down for the second time, Jon Mould was still in the leading group with NFTO's Ian Bibby and Velosure Starley Primal's Adria Morena Sala also joining the breakaway. The front half of the peloton then came together with the second bunch 52 seconds behind.

Around 40 riders were in the first peloton as it swept back to Wilton for the start of the third large lap. On the third climb of Fovant Down, a leading group of 19 riders formed, opening a 33-second lead over a second group who were quickly being caught by the main peloton.

The group consisted of Joshua Hunt, Yanto Barker and Peter Williams (One Pro Cycling), Kristian House and Thomas Moses (JLT Condor), Tobyn Horton, Mike Northey and Erick Rowsell (Madison Genesis), Edmund Bradbury and Rob Partridge (NFTO) and for Team Raleigh GAC, Morgan Kniesky, Steve Lampier and Sam Lowe.

Will Fox and Stephen Williams of Pedal Heaven, Dan Fleeman of SportGrub KUOTA and Jack Pullar of Starley Primal, as well as Owain Doull and Andrew Tennant of Team Wiggins completed the group. The gap continued to grow and by lap four, they had 5:30 over the main peloton with a few chasers in-between.

Then, on the final large lap, Mike Northey (Madison Genesis), Yanto Barker (One Pro Cycling), Edmund Bradbury (NFTO) and Andrew Tennant (Team Wiggins) attacked and managed to get a lead of one minute and 15 seconds over the rest of the lead group.

As the end of the final large lap approached, the four leaders had one minute and 30 seconds over the chasing group of 16 but they were picking up the pace.

With two of the four finishing circuit laps done, that leading group of four had extended the lead to two minutes and 48 seconds and the chasers had an extra two minutes and 15 seconds over the second bunch.

On the third lap, Yanto Barker put in an attack and managed to move 200 metres clear of the other three riders whom he had worked so hard with.

With just over a lap left, Andrew Tennant of Team Wiggins joined Barker and helped to open up a 10-second gap over Northey and Bradbury.

On the final lap, Barker and Tennant increased the gap to 45 seconds but as the line approached, it was Tennant who produced the better form to beat Barker in the sprint and claim victory. With Barker second, Mike Northey managed to hold off Edmund Bradbury to finish third.

Speaking after the race, Tennant said: “I didn’t feel good at the start and I didn’t feel good all race to be honest. It just kept splitting. It split from a 100-something man field to 50 and then 20. I made a big effort with Owain Doull to get across to the 20-man break.

"To be honest, the attack came from me being fattest and being able to get down the hill the quickest! Apart from Jon Dibben, I reckon I would have had fastest top tube speed.

“So, I got the break with Yanto and Northey and we were away. Ed from NFTO was being slightly annoying, shall we say, during the bike race.

“At first, we understood why he was sitting on, because we thought Steele Von Hoff was getting back on.

“But after two or three minutes, there was no reason for him to sit on so we made a bit of a pact between us that he wasn’t going to win.

“Yanto attacked and I was sitting on and I was hoping Mike would go first and he did. But he got dragged back.

“I just went straight over the top and me and Yanto just worked together and then it was man versus man in the sprint basically.

“It was Team Wiggins’ first win. I got a third the other day but this was the first time we started with eight riders so there were no excuses today really. It was good to have a team mate with me and I saw Doull come in to win the bunch gallop so a good result all round.”

Result:
1 Andrew Tennant Team Wiggins 4.07.14
2 Yanto Barker One Pro Cycling st
3 Mike Northey Madison Genesis 1.24
4 Edmund Bradbury NFTO st
5 Owain Doull Team Wiggins 6.30
6 Tobyn Horton Madison Genesis st
7 James Lowsley Williams NFTO st
8 Peter Williams One Pro Cycling st
9 Joshua Hunt One Procycling st
10 Will Fox Pedal Heaven RT st
11 Sam Low Raleigh GAC st
12 Jack Pullar Velosure Starley Primal st
13 Stephen Williams Pedal Heaven RT st
14 Thomas Moses JLT Condor st
15 Morgan Kneisky Raleigh GAC st
16 Steve Lampier Raleigh GAC st
17 Robert Partridge NFTO st
18 Dan Fleeman Sportgrub Kuota Ct st
19 Kristian House JLT Condor 6.34
20 Erick Rowsell Madison Genesis 6.36
21 David Mcgowan Pedal Heaven RT at 2 Laps
22 James Gullen Velosure Starley Primal at 2 Laps
23 William Bergfeld Sports Grub Kuota CT at 2 Laps
24 Rhys Howells Richardson Trek RT at 2 Laps
25 Thomas Bustard Giordana Mitsubishi Electric RT at 2 Laps
26 Adam Kenway Sport Grub Kuota CT at 2 Laps
27 Nathan Edmondson Giordana Mitsubishi Electric RT at 2 Laps

Elite Road Series - Spring Cup Individual Overall:
1 Steve Lampier Raleigh GAC 88
2 Andrew Tennant Team Wiggins 79
3 Yanto Barker One Pro Cycling 78
4 Eddie Dunbar NFTO 66
5 Erick Rowsell Madison Genesis 60
6 Mark McNally Madison Genesis 58
7 Karol Domagalski Raleigh GAC 50
8 Marcin Bialoblocki One Pro Cycling 48
9 Ian Bibby NFTO 40
10 Morgan Kneisky Raleigh GAC 39

Teams:
1 One Pro Cycling 30
2 Raleigh GAC 28
3 NFTO 28
4 Madison Genesis 28
5 Pedal Heaven RT 20
6 JLT Condor 17
7 SportGrub KUOTA Cycling Team 15
8 Velosure Starley Primal 12
9 Team Wiggins 8
10 Polypipe Cycling Team 5
11 Catford CC Equipe/Banks 4