The morning race for Cat3 riders rolled out of Elstead at 9.30 am with 54 riders taking the short transfer from HQ to the circuit. With action pretty much from the end of the neutral zone, a break was established on the first of 7 laps. During lap 2 and up the climb, the group was strung out by Nate Oldfield (Arctic Tacx RT) but coming along the fast main road section of the course, the break was altogether again and working really hard increasing their time gap over the pack in the process.
The lead group of 7 riders also contained Gareth Thomas (Paceline), Ashley Nunn (Addiscombe CC), Mark Nuttell (Farnborough Cambs CC), Matt J Smith (CC Hackney), James Knighton (London Dynamo), Rich Seabrook (Kingston Wheelers), and Richard Pearce (Paceline) – who was dropped on the climb and some point and rejoined the bunch.
By mid-race, the break’s lead was up to 2 minutes on the peloton who seemed to have given up hope of a chase back to the leaders who were now well out of sight. With the laps counting down and the work being done to stay away, the gap closed little to just under a minute and a half, but the break never looked like it would get caught.
In the last km, Nate Oldfield pushed on hard on the climb, making it look much easier than it probably was, splitting the break in the process to eventually cross the line solo for the win. He crossed the line 6 seconds ahead of 2nd, Gareth Thomas (Paceline) and 10 seconds ahead of 3rd, Ashley Nunn. The rest of the break were strung out in 1s and 2s but all crossed the line ahead of the main pack who finished 35 seconds down on the winner.
An excellent ride and win from Nate who is still a junior
1st Nate Oldfield, Arctic Tacx RT
2nd Gareth Thomas, Paceline RT
3rd Ashley Nunn, Addiscombe CC
4th Mark Nuttall, Farnborough and Camberley Cycling Club
5th Matt J Smith, CC Hackney
6th James Knighton, London Dynamo
7th Rich Seabrook, Kingston Wheelers
8th Paul Tomlinson, Sussex Revolution VC
9th Tristin Galloway, VC Meudon
10th Sam Llewellyn-Jones, London Dynamo
11th Conor Clancy, Sussex Revolution VC
12th Sebastian Lea, London Dynamo
13th Steve Coombs, Sussex Revolution VC
14th Joseph Gokmen, London Dynamo
15th Lee Messenger, Abellio SFA RT
16th Anthony Aken, 6AM
17th Shaun King, Kingston Wheelers
18th Joshua Denton, VC Meudon
19th Ed Francis, Paceline RT
20th Tomas Berezniovas, ACME Racing
21st George Kingaby, Addiscombe CC
22nd Damien Lodge, Rapha CC
23rd Richard Pearce, Paceline RT
24th Jamie Turney, Twickenham CC
25th Dominic Wilson, Kingston Wheelers
26th Francis Jago, Paceline RT
27th Robert Ford, Portsmouth North End Cycling Club
28th Andrew Bradbury, Paceline RT
29th Paolo Avagliano, London Dynamo
30th Philip Gallagher, VC Meudon
31st Stephen Looby, Kingston Wheelers
32nd Max Kingdon, Paceline RT
33rd Colin Gunn, Paceline RT