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2010 RIS Junior Tour of Wales
August 28-30, 2010 | Wales
World Madison Champion, Dan McLay (Hargroves Cycles) has won the 2010 Tour of Wales after an attacking final stage which finished up the Tumble and was won by Joshua Edmondson (Motorpoint Marshals Pasta). McLay managed to limit his losses to his nearest rival, Sam Harrison, and clung on to the final overall by seconds. Harrison was second and Joshua Edmondson third.
L-R: Stage 5 podium, Matt Hill (2nd), Joshua Edmondson, and Simon Yates (3rd).
Stage 5 Tour of Wales
With a finish on top of the Tumble, and only a few minutes separating the first three on the overall, there was a lot to play for on the final stage of this prestigious stage race. Dan McLay, the British Junior Road Race Champion led Welshman Sam Harrison by just over a minute and Tom Moses by over two minutes. On a three mile climb like the Tumble though, those sort of times can be easily lost and so it was a climb that was expected to be decisive.
The stage saw a group of nine go away early on and were then joined around 10 miles later by an equally sized group making a leading break of 20 or more riders.
They included Luke Cornish (Wales), Richard Seymour (Wales), Mathew Myers (Central), Paul Fostun (East Midlands), Tom Lackenby (East Midlands), George Pearl (Eastern), Alex Murrison (Glendene CC), Paul Young (Glendene CC), James Dunlop (Herbalife Wheelbase), Jake Martin (Onelife Development Squad), Jack Barrett (Scotland), Matthew Hamilton (Scotland), Matt Hil (South West), Tom Mazzone (Isle of Man), Jack Bowyer (Team Wallis/CHH Racing Team), Jack Green (VC St Raphael), Josh Cole (Sportscover).
Simon Yates (Max Gear) and Jamie Shirlaw (Herbalife/Wheelbase) had to make a big effort to get across to them, as did former race leader, Joshua Edmondson who crossed to the break before they got to the Moors which is known to be a tough part of the stage. Edmondson also stayed clear of a crash in the group when a sheep ran into Cornish and put him into hospital as well as taking down the two Scottish riders.
Joshua Edmondson, 4th in the Junior Worlds, shows his climbing ability on the Tumble.
With the Tumble approaching, Joshua and another rider, Matt Hill, went clear of the leading group and they both rode strongly to the foot of the Tumble where Edmondson gave it full gas, shedding his former breakaway companion and raced up the mountain as hard as he could to take his second stage win in the race.
Chasing him up the climb was another rider who at one stage was in contention for the overall too, World Madison Champion Simon Yates (Max Gear) and he netted yet another third place, his third of the race.
It was on the climb of the Tumble where the overall was to be decided as well. First into a sight a kilometre from the finish line, Sam Harrison (Wales) came charging up the mountain slopes giving it his all as always and going for the overall win. He’d attacked the race leader lower down the slopes on the hairpins in the trees and he already had around a minute on the yellow jersey, McLay who was also giving it his all to keep his position at the head of the race.
After they crossed the line, the riders could be seen chatting but at the same time, were alsovery keen to know the result and a quick time check with the judges confirmed that McLay had done enough to keep his jersey by a handful of a seconds from Harrison.
Sam Harrison gives it full gas to try and make time on the Yellow jersey Dan McLay.
Post race reactions:
Joshua Edmondson (Stage winner): “I had to close a gap of around two minutes to the break by myself so it took a while in the headwind! I wanted to do it before the Moors though. I caught them on a cattle grid as it started to get hard and I had a while resting and sitting on and then there was a crash when some riders hit a sheep. That shook everyone up a bit but then we started to get some good time checks like 3.15.”
“It was a bit disorganised though but then it after while things got better before riders starting to chip off and I got away with Matt Hill with about 8k to go. He was really strong on the flat so we worked quite well together and then when I got to the climb, I caned it.”
“I wanted to win the stage so I could say I had won both mountain stages as I really like to climb and after winning here last year, its good for bragging rights.” Asked what happened on day 2 when he lost a lot of time when wearing yellow, Joshua explained “I got a bit cocky with it all really. I thought I could mark every move but everyone took advantage. On the dual carriageway, I spent a lot of time chasing into the wind and once I started to feel weak on those roads, I cracked completely. Everyone was expecting me to chase so I just died I the end.”
Dan McLay : Overall winner “During the early bit of the stage there was a bit of attacking going on between the guys who were up there so I tried to mark out Sam and Moses mostly and roll with the other stuff. A couple of times I had a dig when I thought there was a chance to go with something but in the end it all settled down.”
“These seemed to be a lot of people who wanted to ride today on the front like Team Wallis who were trying to pull some time back and then Andy and Doull did a good job for me (Hargroves Cycles teammates) and Andy really hurt himself to bring the break closer.”
“Joshua was in the break who had lost a lot of time yesterday but you can’t know what is happening up front and I knew he was capable of pulling time back so it wasn’t such a worry but we had to stay in control.”
“When we hit the Tumble and it went steep, I went to the front to ride my own tempo all the way up because on something so steep I can’t really make the accelerations not being a natural climber. Sam went away at the first hairpin and he was gradually going away but over the flatter bits I was able to find some rhythm.”
“It looks like it has been close but I’m really chuffed to have won it especially as it’s a race I never really expected to do anything in. My climbing though was okay. I never expected to be as good on this as I was on the climb yesterday because this is steeper but I’m really chuffed as well with how I have improved. I think a lot of it is learning to suffer on the climbs”.
Sam Harrison “I had a bit of a bad day yesterday. I was on my knees all race on stage 3 and in the afternoon, Dan just rode me off his wheel up the climb and I had nothing left. Today, it was steeper climb so I fancied my chances so I thought I’d go as easy as possible to the bottom of the climb and did that. I got to the hairpin where it’s the steepest, attacked and never looked back.”
“Everytime I started dying, I got out of the saddle and dug a bit deeper. I definitely could not have got any more out. Dan held by a few seconds (16) which is a bit disappointing but he’s done a good ride.”
Asked how he can come to the hardest Junior road race in the season after so much track work including the Junior Worlds and Junior Nationals, he replied “We have done a lot of track preparation all summer really so to come to this was a bit of a shock. But you do feel fresh because you have been doing the legs and have quite good form so its always good racing. I think I’ll have a couple of days off now as I’m pretty tired!”
Simon Yates (Junior National Series Winner): “I tried to get away with the break but the GC contenders wouldn’t let me go but I got away with a lad from Herbalife who was real strong and we worked real well together to catch the break. Joshua had already got away with the fella who was second (Matt Hill). When we got to the bottom of the Tumble, I rode as hard as I could.”
Asked for a highlight from the series “I think the win at Somerset was the highlight for me just because I was on my own when I won it instead of say the Tom Simpson where it was a sprint. I had the series in the back of my mind but knew if I could do well overall here, the series would take care of itself.”
Stage 5
1. Joshua Edmonson MPM 2:31:45
2. Matt Hill TSW 2:34:02
3. Simon Yates MAX 2:34:10
4. Christopher Sherriffs BGB 2:34:22
5. Sam Harrison WAL 2:34:29
6. George Pearl EST 2:34:34
7. Paul Young GLN 2:34:41
8. Adam Yates MAX 2:35:03
9. Jamie Shirlaw HLW 2:35:04
10. Matthew Holmes TWC 2:35:05
11. Jonny Knox HLW 2:35:30
12. Daniel McLay HAR 2:35:37
13. Tom Stockdale QOR 2:35:37
14. Josh Cole SSC 2:35:49
15. Brennan Townsend TSW 2:35:50
16. Matt Bailey KU 2:35:54
17. Tom Moses GLN 2:35:54
18. Rob Yeatman BCR 2:35:54
19. Jack Bowyer TWC 2:35:58
20. Alistair Slater EMR 2:36:00
Final Overall
1 Daniel McLay HAR 7:22:52
2 Sam Harrison WAL 7:23:08
3 Joshua Edmonson 7:25:09
4 Matthew Holmes 7:25:32
5 Simon Yates MAX 7:25:35
6 Tom Moses GLN 7:25:41
7 Jamie Shirlaw HLW 7:25:45
8 Adam Yates MAX 7:26:17
9 Oliver Rossi LRJ 7:26:47
10 Owain Doull HAR 7:27:26
11 Conor Dunne GLN 7:29:13
12 Jonny Knox HLW 7:29:45
13 Matt Hill TSW 7:30:53
14 Alistair Slater EMR 7:30:59
15 Josh Cole SSC 7:32:51
16 Matt Bailey KUO 7:32:51
17 Paul Young GLN 7:33:05
18 Tom Stockdale QOR 7:33:43
19 Christopher Sherriffs BGB 7:33:55
20 James Dunlop HLW 7:33:59
21 Lewis Balyckyi TWC 7:34:21
22 George Pearl EST 7:35:22
23 Josh Papworth CUL 7:36:19
24 Martin Woffindin SCV 7:36:23
25 James Lowsley-Williams AGV 7:36:48
26 Jack Wilson IRL 7:36:55
27 Taylor Johnstone SCO 7:36:56
28 Nick Avery TSW 7:36:57
29 Alex Bottomley NEJ 7:37:09
30 Brennan Townsend TSW 7:38:12
31 Joe Charley WOL 7:38:35
32 Joe Page QOR 7:39:39
33 Jess Wieckowski NEM 7:40:17
34 Richard Seymour WAL 7:40:25
35 Mike Gregg MAX 7:41:16
36 Conor Ryan VCM 7:41:27
37 Rupert Denny NEM 7:41:31
38 Andy Hargroves HAR 7:41:37
39 Gavin Keane IRL 7:41:40
40 Mathew Myers BCR 7:41:44
41 Alec Briggs LRJ 7:42:13
42 Matthew Woods NEJ 7:42:21
43 Tom Mazzone IOM 7:42:22
44 Ewen McDonald IRL 7:42:59
45 Jack Bowyer TWC 7:43:13
46 Paul Fostun EMR 7:43:26
47 Sam Connelley EST 7:43:44
48 Robert Crampton WIL 7:43:52
49 Jack Cousins WIL 7:44:03
50 Dan Harris HAL 7:44:26
51 Jack Penrice MAX 7:44:28
52 Rob Yeatman BCR 7:44:36
53 James Wagner SSC 7:44:55
54 Felix English IRL 7:45:08
55 Jordan Hargreaves TWC 7:45:22
56 Jonathan Cregeen TMT 7:45:52
57 Matthew Faulkner SOL 7:46:41
58 Max Webber VSR 7:46:44
59 Lawrence Carpenter VCE 7:46:46
60 Christopher Dredge BCR 7:47:19
61 Jake Martin OLD 7:47:20
62 Matt Clarke HAL 7:47:30
63 Alex Murrison GLN 7:48:05
64 Hugo Humphries LRJ 7:48:14
65 Jack Barrett SCO 7:48:25
66 Mathew Haase WAL 7:48:27
67 Ben Kellett VSC 7:48:34
68 Jim Lewis LRJ 7:49:35
69 Joe Holloway VCE 7:49:56
70 Jack Green VSR 7:50:19
71 Tom Lackenby EMR 7:50:25
72 Finlay Young SCO 7:50:45
73 Ben Roff ORM 7:51:07
74 Andrew Leith DOO 7:57:48
75 William Brown NEJ 8:00:23
76 Tom Neale EMR 8:01:47
77 Charles Fletcher DOO 8:02:58
78 Charlie Fawke OLD 8:04:52
79 Callum Grieve NEJ 8:04:56
80 Samuel Anstice CPR 8:06:45
81 Brock Ducombe-Rogers OLD 8:07:38
82 Owen Lake EST 8:08:31
83 Alex Cogswell HAL 8:13:35
84 Peter Robinson TSW 8:16:07
85 Josh Stewart VEL
King of the Mountains
1. Joshua Edmondson
2. Simon Yates
3. Matt Hill
Points
1. Owain Doull
2. Conor Dunne
3. Dan Mclay
Team
1. Hargroves Cycles
2. Glendene CC
3. Herbalife/Wheelbase
