First result wil appear here:
2008 and the championship is Dean Downing's.
Not for a long time has the British Cycling Circuit Race Championship been as important as it is this year, especially for the rider who wins the coveted champion’s jersey. In 2009, from May onwards, town centre races in front of large crowds have wowed the British public and in the thick of that action has been the British Circuit Champion Dean Downing (Rapha Condor).
This Friday night, in the very pretty town of Beverly (near Hull) , a star studded field of the top British circuit race riders will be racing in the town centre with the prize of a champion’s jersey at stake. Wearing number 1 will be last year’s winner, Dean Downing who has been in great form in 2009 and is really up for defending the title he has now won twice in his career.
Dean however will not find it easy to win his third despite some great rides in the last two months. In the last two Elite Circuit Race series events prior to Blackburn, the Downing brothers have won both. First Dean won at Brighouse and then Russell kept it in the family by winning at Colne. The decider came at Blackburn for the final warm-up for the championship where Dean gave a champion's performance by winning it from a rider who may well threaten him most on Friday, Graham Briggs.
Pushing them all the way have been the Halfords Bikehut riders which include the Olympic Gold medallist Ed Clancy and triple Olympic medallist Rob Hayles. Clancy has already been on the podium for this event back in 2007 whilst Rob Hayles won the title way back in 2000 and was second last year. Ian Wilkinson returned from injury in Blackburn and he too knows what its like to stand on the podium at the Circuit Race championships.
They along with the Downing brothers are just a few of the possible winners in Beverley. Dean Downing has a strong Rapha Condor team including Olympic Bronze medallist Chris Newton who won the Elite Circuit Series round at Rochdale recently and is also a past Circuit Race champion back in 2001. Fellow Rapha rider Matt Cronshaw who has had an awesome season winning in Britain, Ireland and Canada is also a strong contender.
In Russell Downing’s CandiTV/Marshalls Pasta team there is also the ever competitive Malcolm Elliott while Endura Racing from Scotland will certainly be a handful with the likes of Evan Oliphant and former champion James McCallum. The race could even have a foreign winner with Dutchman Jeroen Janssen of the Madison.co.uk team having shown time and time again, that he has the ability to succeed at this level after winning the opening round of the Elite Circuit Series at Hillingdon.
And for those running a sweepstake, how about Jeremy Hunt who said in Blackburn he is riding as well. AFter his performance on Wednesday night, I do hope so because he was looking very classy indeed.
Circuit Race Championship 2009 Rider List
The race around the town centre of Beverley though will have many more possible contenders such as Simon Gaywood and with so many riders capable of challenging for the victory, the resulting race will no doubt be every bit as exciting as the other circuit races this year if not more so.
Talking to current champion Dean Downing about the championship race at Colne where Dean was third, the Rotherham rider was really enthusiastic about the forthcoming event in his native Yorkshire. “The nationals in Beverly will be fantastic” he told me. The criterium championship has become more important now with the TV crits (Tour Series on ITV4) where you get a lot of publicity wearing the jersey and next year will be the same.”
“There are predominantly more crits now than road races in the UK so to be British Champion again would be fantastic and make it a dream month (which has also seen the birth of his first child to wife Katy).
"I have had some good times in the jersey this year and thoroughly enjoyed it. It has been good as well for my sponsors, Rapha and Condor. I had a tough start to the season when I broke my collarbone right in the middle of my heaviest training month, so I came into the a season a little behind where I wanted to be. My manager John (Herety) though sat me down and said 'don't panic, your major races do not start until June’.”
“The two wins in the Tour Series were fantastic being on television in the champion's jersey so it’s been a great season already for me."
Dean then admitted that with all the circuit racing this year, and a lot of it being on television, the racing has become a lot more competitive. “The racing over the last four races on the Tour Series were fantastic” he went on to say. “You could not have written a better script. All the riders are enjoying it and the racing in all the crits is exciting. You look at how many people are here tonight (Colne) and with races like this, it is helping us get more and more TV. The crowds are fantastic and the racing is exciting for them too and that's what we're into -- making it exciting for them”.
Finally, asked about the circuit in Beverley, Dean says "It's a fast, as well as a hard circuit for the riders. It's predominantly a rectangular circuit with fast flowing bends but then you have the cobbles which are quite bumpy and that makes it hard too. Anything can happen on that circuit. I managed to hang on last year after attacking two laps out and I enjoyed it -- it's my type of circuit."
East Yorkshire Classic & Big G Sportive
The championship race on Friday night is only one of three big days in East Riding (Yorkshire). Over 450 riders have entered the Hull Thursday Road Club’s ‘Big G Cyclosportive’ which will start on Saturday morning with three routes of 60, 100 and 160km to choose from over the beautiful rolling countryside and steep climbs of the Yorkshire Wolds.
Then, on Sunday, there’s the East Yorkshire Classic, a 98 mile Premier Calendar road race that has attracted more than 100 riders from around the country and Ireland. The race is round 11 of the British Cycling Premier Calendar series and with its steep climbs and rolling countryside, the course will make this one of the toughest races of the series before finishing with two laps around Beverley.
Schedule for Friday Night
18.00 Beverley Town Centre 5k Running Race - 4 laps
18.35 Swanland Mortgages, 10 Rider - 1 lap invitation time trial
18.50 Keith Jordan Memorial Support Race - 25minutes + 3 laps
19.40 National Circuit Race riders presented at line
19.45 National Circuit Race Championship - Race start - 70minutes + 5 laps
21.05 National Circuit Race Championship presentations.
Further information
Circuit Race Championship Winners (Professional, Open & Amateur)
