Plowman Craven's Tony Gibbs screams 'four' as he crosses the finish line at Aintree
WITH gales up to 29mph, the 47th Eddie Soens Handicap Memorial Race at Aintree Racecourse proved to be a tough affair for the UK’s top cyclist last Saturday.
More than 150 riders lined up at the starting line, but it was Tony Gibb and his Plowman Craven team-mates that dominated the sprint for him to win the 50-mile race and equal Liverpool cycling legend Doug Dailey’s four impressive wins at Aintree.
Former Liverpool Mercury rider Mark McNally, from Crosby, was presented with the Merseyside Golden Cycle Award the start.
He finished eighth for Great Britain’s trade team 100%ME, while Lydiate’s Tom Diggle finished ninth for Rapha-Condor.
Other Merseyside riders included Southport based Josh James (12th - Kinesis UK), Steve Clarke (42nd - Southport CC), Kit Gilham (44th - Kinesis UK), James Sampson (45th - Kinesis UK), Matt Crenshaw (52nd - Kinesis UK), while Ormskirk rider James Stewart (KFS Special Vehicles) finished 64th.
The Plowman Craven and Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk teams controlled the action during the windswept 30 laps of the Aintree motor racing course, with the finishing time of 1hr 51mins being nearly 10 minutes slower than in 2007.
Early handicap groups were quickly caught as the headwind slowed the weak riders on the back straight towards the Earl of Derby and Lord Sefton stands.
Despite some strong attacks and a dangerous move that included Rapha-Condor-Recycling.co.uk’s Dean Downing, Plowman Craven came out on top by keeping the bunch under control as the laps counted down.
Downing tried to go early in the sprint but Gibb had the inside line and opened up his powerful surge coming out of the last corner to comfortably beat Downing and Pearl Izumi’s Jon Mozley.
Gibb cheekily hinted he might never be back in Liverpool after equalling Dailey's record, but admitted he probably would after picking up the £100 winner's cheque and the Scally Trophy.
He said: “It feels fantastic to win, it’s what we came here for. It went perfect for us today, we knew what Recycling were going to do.
“They tried to attack but the wind just didn’t allow that to happen. We didn’t quite have the full team lead out, but Evan (Oliphant) was a one-man motorbike down the back straight and gave me a perfect line out. As soon as I came off his wheel, I knew that was it.�
McNally said: “It was a bit jumpy with Plowman Craven and Rapha-Condor, but they had power in numbers so they controlled it.
“It came back together for the finish and it was every man for himself. It was a little bit boxy during the finish and I was a bit disappointed, but that’s bike racing.�
Diggle said: “The race was pretty steady until we caught up with the rest of the field and then it was pretty rapid.
“The breaks kept going and forming, but they were pulled back and in the end it was a bunch sprint and I think that I got about ninth. It was a good race and in the end, I am happy.�
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