Location: Holmfirth, Yorkshire
Event: 2 June 2013
Report: Snowdon Sports
Nick Coupland (We Love Mountains) led the way home as he prevailed in the Eric Biddulph Memorial Road Race in Holmfirth, Yorkshire.
The 35-year-old Brough rider made a break from the bunch after three laps and Sam Ward (Dirtwheels Cycles) joined him.
The two leaders managed to open up a minute gap over three chasers who were themselves a minute in front of the main pack.
With no real threat of being caught, Coupland went on to open a small gap on Ward at the end of the race and went on to take victory by around 15 seconds.
The course has no flat road at all and as a result the riders are either climbing or descending and although the sun was out, the route was lashed with a stiff breeze making the exposed sections difficult.
Nick said after the race: “Sam and I got away and worked well together. When we got to the bottom of the main climb, we had a peep over to see if anyone was coming. After we opened up a bit of a gap, we sort of knew there wasn’t anyone there.
“But you can never be certain and so we kept our heads down. On the last lap coming up to the bottom of the climb, I was worried that Sam might spring me and the wind was quite stiff by then. I decided to get my head down and attack.
“I had a little look over my shoulder and noticed I’d broken the elastic and had opened a little bit of a gap.”
Results:
1 Nick Coupland (We Love Mountains)
2 Sam Ward (Dirtwheels Cycles)
3 Ashley Proctor (Bike Box Alan/Whiston Velo)
4 James Allen (Langsett Cycles RT)
5 James Baillie (Langsett Cycles RT)
6 Jake Womersley (Team Sportscover)
7 Nicholas Barnes (www.zepnat.com)
8 Alastair Hepworth (Clay Cross RT)
9 Jake Cowen (Biketreks Racing Academy)
10 Jacob Trotter (Squadra RT)
Please credit www.britishcycling.org.uk and link back if you use any of our race results.
British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs.
