VB Crit League Race Report – Round 3

I’ve gone a bone to pick with you lot…  I’m starting to think some of you don’t believe that we’ve booked the weather for the full series. In fact, you even suggested there would be the ‘R’ word at Round 3. We won’t hold it against you and hopefully the perfectly timed clear weather window during the races finally convinced you 😉

Now that’s off my chest, here’s the round up of another fantastic days racing that has shook up the VB Crit League once again. 

We kicked off with the customary Open 4 and W234 races which were both well supported. As the races unfolded, the tone was set for the day. Relatively calm conditions (for Darley) meant the racing was fast, and despite constant attacks, not many were able to get break the elastic of the peloton. 

We were well supported by local Universities Loughborough and Uni of Notts who had multiple riders throughout the field. It’s great to see young talent coming through and based on the results, the future’s looking bright. 

In the Women’s race, both Sprint Primes were scooped up by Nottinghams Tilly Gurney and winner of the overall sprint was taken by compatriot Isabel Ellis. The Podium was made up of Brother UK On Forms Bethany Goodwin who pipped FTP’s Laura Davies by a tyre width into Third.

Notable ride was Zoe Parker who with her 5th place finish to add to her 2nd and 4th from previous rounds jumped her to 1st overall in the series. 

In the Open 4, king of the sprint for the finish line was Loughborough’s Matty Bailey with Tom Harris sandwiched in the middle of another Loughborough student, William Taverener.

Now i’m not saying everyone’s been watching our tips video about closing down breaks, but the Open 34 followed the exact same pattern. Despite another large field with multiple teams, nobody was strong enough to escape the chasing pack despite multiple attempts. 

The balance shifted back to Notts for the bragging rights, with George Cottrell and Barnabas Pickford claiming 1st and 3rd respectively, with on form rider from Train Sharp Roman RT, Xavier Teece-Round, who has never not been on our podium when racing in second. 

If there was ever going to be a group to tear up the rule book, it was going to be the racing snakes of the E123…. A sign of a good rider, is somebody that everyone knows exactly how they’re going to race and yet still can’t be stopped. That rider today was John Archibald. While he may be the second fave Archibald in our house, he was hot fave to break away and the most watched man during the race. 

It was one of the biggest fields we’ve seen for an E123 race, with a number of teams fielding strong squads, notable mentions has to go to Relfex Nopins, Wold Top Pactimo and DAS Ricahrdson who were active throughout. 

The swelled pack made for a great race and the constant attacks kept the pace ridiculously fast. With only a few laps to go, we were expecting another sprint finish until that man Jon finally snapped the elastic and snuck away with PB Performances Welsh Champ, Sam Llewelyn. Once they were away, all that was left was to decided who would with the sprint for first, and who would be best of the rest to round out the podium. Sam pipped John and Derby Arenas Track League superstar (and team GB and DAS Richardson fame) Will Perret who out kicked the bunch. 

All that’s left to say is that if you enjoyed Round 3, then you’re in for a treat for Round 4. We have the VB Crit league races as normal, and we’re also hosting the first round of the National Disability and Para Cycling series in the afternoon. So please do come and race, then stay to cheer on some truly inspirational riders.  

All the info can be found at this link. 

As always, full results below and please do give the youtubers a sub. These guys turn out some great content promoting the scene, so show them so love.