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Last weekend saw 5 jersey cyclists (Jack Rebours & Rhys Hidrio (CCC), Chris Spence & Jordan Sewrey (CASP) and Dave Le Roux (VSJ)) take on the combined south and central region road race championships in the countryside just outside of Swindon. The flat course took in 20 miles of roads over 4 laps to make 80 miles. A strong breeze on the day made for tough going along the north side of the course, but kept the speeds very high on the south as the riders raced through England's longest village of Brinkworth.
With no hills for riders plan their strategies around, attacks came thick and fast from the gun as a break was attempted to be formed by those eager to get away early. It wasn't until late on the second lap that group of about 15 riders managed to gain some distance from the field. The only Jersey rider to make the break was Spence, using his years of racing experience to his advantage to pick the right move. Hidrio, Rebours, Le Roux and Sewrey all tried to jump across in different groups, but the high speeds and narrow roads made it difficult to move up through the pack.
The gap to the leaders held steady until the last lap when the pace picked up in the chase group again, with Rebours involved in a number of splits that all eventually got absorbed by the bunch. Up the road the leaders group began to split as riders attacked to try and take the podium honours with several riders falling back to the chasing pack. Spence had just lost contact with front group in the last few miles but kept enough of a gap to cross the line in a strong 12thplace overall and 9thin the south region.
Soon after the remaining bunch of 40+ riders came up the final rise for a sprint finish with Rebours in a favourable position near the front. Just as he picked up speed he was cut up by another rider which forced him to have to sit up and finish in 36th. Hidrio managed a strong sprint to finish 21st, just outside the points, with Le Roux and Sewrey close behind in 27thand 33rdrespectively.
Rhys Hidrio and Jack Rebours would like to thank the Caesarean Cycling club for supporting them.
