Wiggo wows 'em

Bradley Wiggins, fresh from his Critérium du Dauphiné success, stormed ahead to victory in yesterday's Men's Road Race final in Stamfordham and, with a 35" lead over team mates Geraint Thomas and Peter Kennaugh, proved why it is he's Britain's best hope for the Tour de France in many years. Judging by the cheers coming from the spectators, most people had no uncertainty about that anyway. Thomas, meanwhile, demonstrated the sort of skill that has led to him being a part of Wiggins' Tour team by chasing down and pulling back Kennaugh after an attempt on the leadership within sight of the end.

Wiggins used his respectable time trialing skills to great effect yesterday in Stamfordham - having got up to a high rate of knots, he just kept on turning the gears. When it came to the finish, he had one last reserve where others were spent.

The three formed part of a large breakaway early on in the race and kept the pace high, putting the pressure on the rest of the group and eventually splitting it in two, at which point they began to build up their lead. Various riders dropped away from the second group, finding the effort too much, until it too consisted of just three men -  Rapha-Condor's Kristian House, ex-MTB and cyclocross star Ian Bibby of Motorpoint and the Sky boys' team mate Ian Stannard. They kept chasing, but they didn't have the power necessary to catch up. Meanwhile, the rest of the pack languished some seven minutes further back. Even the Manx Missile Mark Cavendish, one of the fastest cyclists to have ever lived, couldn't keep up and so had no chance of taking the final sprint - he finished outside the top ten. However, it's the sprints at which he excels and we can still expect to see him racking up the points in the Tour, which starts this coming Saturday.


23-year-old Ben Swift, who will be joining Wiggins and Thomas in France, also achieved a good result. He may have been 8'13" off Wiggin's time, but it was sufficient to take 7th place. As he matures over the coming four or five years he may well prove to be the man to take on Wiggins' mantle and become Britain's next cycling star.


Towards the end, there was no way of knowing which of the three men was going to be first over the line until Kennaugh decided to attack. Thomas went after him and while their attention was diverted Wiggins surged ahead, finding one last reserve of strength that after 122 miles the other men simply didn't have, and powered across the line ahead of them in what must have been one of the most exciting finishes many of the spectators have ever had the pleasure of witnessing. The 31-year-old, who was born in Ghent but has lived in the UK since early childhood, will now have the honour of wearing the blue and white National Champion's jersey in the Tour, but don't expect him to do so for long. He'll be wanting to swap it for a yellow one before too long, 
and it's looking more and more like he has the ability to do so.


1st - Bradley Wiggins (Sky) 4h41'08"
2nd - Geraint Thomas (Sky) +35"
3rd - Peter Kennaugh (Sky) received same time
4th - Ian Stannard (Sky) +5'41"
5th - Ian Bibby (Motorpoint) +8'02"
6th - Kristian House (Rapha Condor) +8'05"
7th - Ben Swift (Sky) +8'13"
8th - Yanto Barker (Pendragon) +8'20"
9th - Scott Thwaites (Endura) +8'28"
10th - Andrew Fenn (AN Post) received same time 

Nicole Cooke fails to regain title

Nicole Cooke, who hoped to regain the British Women's Road Race title following a year of disappointing results after illness at today's race in Stamfordham, Northumberland, was beaten by Lizzie Armitstead who came second in 2009 and 2010.

Cooke riding in the 2010 Flèche Walonne, a race she has won on three occasions

Armistead crossed the line just two seconds ahead of the Welsh ex-champion after a high-speed sprint to the finish, having been part of a four-rider breakaway that led the field for almost the entirety of the 65 mile course. Emma Pooley rode well, as ever, and her Garmin team kept things moving along at a high rate. Cooke, who has previously accused her rivals of ganging up on her in order to prevent her winning, seemed content - "I realised there wasn’t much chance of me being able to break away by myself with three strong girls who’d chase me down," she said, "So I just had to go as good as I could in the sprint and cover the attacks that they threw in."

However, finishing ahead of Pooley will doubtless keep her spirits up and second place remains a sufficiently good to guarantee her place for the time being on the Mario Cippolini-Giordana team. With two Tour de France Féminin wins and a host of other trophies including nine previous wins in this race, Cooke is the only female cyclist to have won an Olympic gold and held a National Champion title in the same year. At 28 years old there's no reason to suspect she's past her best yet and she may well be back on form by the start of next year.


Armitstead's victory was deserved - she rode well and has proved herself to be one of Britain's finest. With her, Pooley, Martin and Laws riding together, Garmin have what is probably the strongest Women's British team ever and one that will bring much attention to British cycling and it'd surprise nobody were she now to become leader of the British women's team ready for the World Road Race Final set to take place in Copenhagen this September - an event which should suit the 22-year-old West Yorkshire rider as the region is relatively flat and will feature the sort of sprints at which she has proved she excels.


Lucy Martin's 2nd place in the Under-23 Championship, along with Laura Trott's 1st and Dani King's 3rd, shows just how highly young British female riders are performing currently - if one thing's for certain, it's that women's racing is vibrant, top quality and worthy of far higher exposure than it currently receives. Hopefully, with riders of this calibre emerging and adding their successes to those already achieved by the likes of Cooke, Pooley, Pendleton and others, that'll change in the coming years and events will receive the same attention that men's races do.

Lizzie Armitstead took a deserved first place.

1st - Lizzie Armitstead (Garmin-Cervelo) (2h 28' 40")
2nd - Nicole Cooke (Mario Cippolini-Giodana) (+2")
3rd - Sharon Laws (Garmin-Cervelo) (+4")
4th - Emma Pooley (Garmin Cervelo) (+8")
5th - Laura Trott (Moving Ladies) (1st place Under-23 Champs)
6th - Lucy Martin (Garmin-Cervelo) (2nd place Under-23)
7th - Dani King (Horizon) (3rd place Under-23)
8th - Catherine Williamson (Konica Minolta)
9th - Katie Colclaugh (HTC-Highroad)
10th - Emma Grant (For-Viored-Brookwex)
(5th - 10th place awarded same time)

Cooke's cooking

Twice winner of the Tour de France Feminin Nicole Cooke looks set to do all she can to beat her rival Emma Pooley and regain her Women's road race champion title in a sprint finish at Stamfordham on the 26th of June. Cooke, aged 28, who missed out on much of 2009 due to illness, has a lot to ride for - the illness brought an end to her nine year winning streak and she needs to start bringing in results. There are personal reasons, too, as she believes that Pooley's Garmin team - which features such heavy-hitters as track champion Lizzie Armitstead, the lightning-fast 22-year-old world track champion who will doubtless also be looking for success and probably has the best chance of catching Cooke in a sprint - have deliberately used questionable tactics to bring her down.

Nicole Cooke's past victories are numerous.

Meanwhile, Pooley herself is a force to be reckoned with as she too has won a Tour de France Feminin in 2009 when the race was last held before being discontinued due to lack of sponsorship. Cooke says that team riding is not permitted in National Championships and will be alone in tomorrow's race, whereas Pooley will be backed up by Armitstead, Sharon Laws and Lucy Martin; this being what's worrying for Cooke who refused to shake hands with Pooley when beaten by her in the past, later hinting that the Garmin team had ganged up against her in order to achieve victory.

Much of the cycling press seems to have forgotten Nicole over the last year, during which she hasn't won any races. However, if they've written her off for good they may well be shown to look foolish later. When she was at her best, she was one of the fastest and most skilled female riders the world has yet seen and with her future career to fight for there's a high likelihood that we'll see a return of her trademark grit, determination, speed and excellence in Northumberland tomorrow. The event, featuring a variety of important races over the weekend, is virtually guaranteed a high turn-out with several of Sky's male riders - including Dauphine winner Bradley Wiggins, rapidly becoming as close to a cycling superstar as it's possible to be in Britain and Cooke's countryman Geraint Thomas - making an appearance, but it might be the women who produce the most interesting race.