BC Premier Calendar 2013 *SPOILERS*

[Flying_Monkey]

I don't know who else is following the Premier Calendar series this year, but it's already been pretty good racing.

The first round saw the Tour of the Reservoir up on the Northumberland / Durham borders extended to 2 days, and the winner was Evan Oliphant of Team Raleigh, followed by Chris Opie (Team UK Youth) and then, I was really pleased to see, my old clubmate, Peter Hawkins, riding for IG Sigma Sport. He knows the roads up there so it's no surprise to see him doing so well, but he does seem to be on form this year.

Then May 12th was one of Britain's best races, the Lincoln GP, which has everything including a leg-breaking steep cobbled climb. Peter Kennaugh of Sky was riding this 'under cover' for an Isle of Man team, and he really ripped this race apart. He was followed by the much larger Marcin Bialoblocki (Team UK Youth) and the Aussie, Lachlan Norris riding for Team Raleigh. Pete came in 10th, another good result, which means the overall Top 3 remains the same as for the Tour of the Reservoir.

Thre's a bit of a break next before we the series goes back to Northumberland on June 12th, for the Beaumont Trophy, on roads which used to be part of my regular club run, including the climb of the Ryals, which is a lot of fun, but several times... if you're doing the Virgin Money (formerly Northern Rock) Cyclone sportive this year the day before, you get to do this too, but just the once! Actually this will be a great weekend of cycling - there's also the Leazes Park Criteriums on the Friday night and one of the races in the British Women's road series.

 

[montage]

Got some mates riding the prems so following these closer than I have in the past, fantastically aggressive riding!

 

[oldroadman]

Good racing, with much improved teamwork, but the TV highlights on Eurosport are not really doing the races justice, all a bit disjointed and no flow to it. Highlights need to tell a story, and this does not come through, with an awful lot of time used up in a very nice young lady talking to people when there must be miles of footage of actual racing not used.

 

[lyn1]

Certainly far more interesting than last year when Endura were just too strong and removed any uncertainty of outcome in the results. In a way it's disappointing to loose so many quality riders from the British scene, but a reduction in the top end is probably worthwhile to gain a more competitive series. Same goes for the Tour Series which should also be more interesting with the departure of Endura.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Certainly far more interesting than last year when Endura were just too strong and removed any uncertainty of outcome in the results. In a way it's disappointing to loose so many quality riders from the British scene, but a reduction in the top end is probably worthwhile to gain a more competitive series. Same goes for the Tour Series which should also be more interesting with the departure of Endura.

True but since Endura was merged with NetApp, the new team didn't take many of the Endura riders so plenty are still on the scene - except for JTL of course, who went to Sky.

 

[lyn1]

True but since Endura was merged with NetApp, the new team didn't take many of the Endura riders so plenty are still on the scene - except for JTL of course, who went to Sky.

I think you are limiting this to British riders which restricts the big picture ......Endura had a complement of 16 riders last year and used all of them at least once in the Premiers. JTL (SKY) plus a further 8 of the stronger ones went to NetApp-Endura, and 3 others have not signed for British squads..Windsor, Mandri, Anderson. So quite a dilution with only 4 from 16 left on the British scene,

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Was under the impression they took fewer... happy to be corrected!

 

[Strathlubnaig]

I was pretty impressed by the overall speeds they rode at the Lincoln race, especially given the 160km + distance, it was like the last 5km of our club APRs the whole time ! Brutal.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

I was pretty impressed by the overall speeds they rode at the Lincoln race, especially given the 160km + distance, it was like the last 5km of our club APRs the whole time ! Brutal.

I think some of the British races, particularly Lincoln and the Beaumont, are just as distinctive (and hard) as some of the Belgian semi-classics... they could be so much more than they are, and hopefully with the recent rise/revival of British competitive cycling, they might be in the future.

 

[Strathlubnaig]

I think some of the British races, particularly Lincoln and the Beaumont, are just as distinctive (and hard) as some of the Belgian semi-classics... they could be so much more than they are, and hopefully with the recent rise/revival of British competitive cycling, they might be in the future.

I think you may be right, FM, after all a lot of the parcours in the UK can easily rival anything on the Continent, especially the short sharp steep climbs (some, like Lincoln, even have cobbles !) so really we need a sea change in cycle race popularity, but I think the ingrained historical cycling culture in Belgium / Netherland and such like would be very hard to replicate, that will take a long time.

 

[lyn1]

I think some of the British races, particularly Lincoln and the Beaumont, are just as distinctive (and hard) as some of the Belgian semi-classics... they could be so much more than they are, and hopefully with the recent rise/revival of British competitive cycling, they might be in the future.

In the context of the quality of the riders they probably are equally hard. The semi classics are.1 and attract a majority of the top PC and WT teams, so involve a significantly higher standard of rider. However, they are ridden in a far more controlled manner than the Premiers which are often full on for most of the race which makes them hard. PK's comments on winning Lincoln are a good illustration.
" It is the first time I have ridden a Premier Calendar and it was a shock to the system after riding in the pros. It’s every man for himself out there and no-one gives you an inch of room, everyone is knocking into you, taking your handlebars out and moving up when it’s not necessary.”

 

[smutchin]

I saw the highlights of the Lincoln GP on Eurosport. Very enjoyable but completely insane racing. Kennaugh was clearly a class apart from the rest of the field but it certainly didn't look like an easy win.

I'll try to catch more of this series. The only down side of having more cycling covered on TV is not having enough hours in the day to watch it all.