Rutland-Melton Cicle Classic 2015 (possible Spoilers)

Crampeur

Best race in the UK on this Sunday, with a few gravel sectors. Forecast looks rainy, so it could be a bit brutal, like in 2012, where there was just 22 finishers.









Short film from 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3sjcH7DGVY

frenchfighter

Proper hard man race this one. The 2013 video was done pretty well. Love the Madison G kit. Not sure why Ian Wilk is riding for UK Youth though, about 35 years old.

The_Boy

frenchfighter wrote:

Proper hard man race this one. The 2013 video was done pretty well. Love the Madison G kit. Not sure why Ian Wilk is riding for UK Youth though, about 35 years old.

UK Youth are just the sponsor.

edit: I think.

jimmythecuckoo

Forecast is getting worse!

Rode the sportive in the rain once and it was really unpleasant.

Going to be a worthy winner come Sunday I reckon.

phil s

frenchfighter wrote:

The 2013 video was done pretty well.

Cheers, we thought we did a decent job of last year's as well, given the minuscule budget https://vimeo.com/95545524

EnnBee

The_Boy wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Proper hard man race this one. The 2013 video was done pretty well. Love the Madison G kit. Not sure why Ian Wilk is riding for UK Youth though, about 35 years old.

UK Youth are just the sponsor.

edit: I think.

Yes, they were. It's a youth-focused charity; the team was never meant to be a squad of young riders.

talius

phil s wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

The 2013 video was done pretty well.

Cheers, we thought we did a decent job of last year's as well, given the minuscule budget https://vimeo.com/95545524

good stuff, thanks Phil.

Melton's my home town, would have been great if they'd been doing this race 25 years ago when I was riding those roads. Hope it grows and grows.

Pross

Would like to go and watch this. It does make me laugh when it gets compared to Paris-Roubaix though and especially one quote they use in their marketing that it's tougher than P-R. To me it is more comparable to Tro Bro Leon (which is no bad thing) but I guess that doesn't have the same hype.

I'd like to see it covered live and really hope it continues to grow and attract more and more Conti level teams and eventually Pro Conti. To me this is the UK based 1 day race that could really become something, I'd much rather it to the London-Surrey 'Classic'.

phil s

Pross wrote:

I'd like to see it covered live and really hope it continues to grow and attract more and more Conti level teams and eventually Pro Conti. To me this is the UK based 1 day race that could really become something, I'd much rather it to the London-Surrey 'Classic'.

It's a cracking race, but having done the short films and news pieces for 2013 and 2014 I can tell you it would be very complicated and pretty expensive to cover live, especially with the kind of budgets they have. Lovely race though.

tim000

frenchfighter wrote:

Proper hard man race this one. The 2013 video was done pretty well. Love the Madison G kit. Not sure why Ian Wilk is riding for UK Youth though, about 35 years old.

that's like saying none of the tinkov riders work in a bank :roll:

frenchfighter

Eh, not really. I assumed UK Youth was for helping youngsters race who are not with another team. It would be a bit weird having a French guy ride for the British Cycling team. However, having looked into it, it turns out that UK Youth is in fact a charity to help young people generally, so it now makes sense they could have an old guy riding for them.

Crampeur

Steele van Hoff wins from a select bunch sprint. No photos, but as always, a really good day out watching the race.

Crampeur

Top 10:
1. Steele Von Hoff, NFTO
2. Chris Opie
3. Harry Tanfield, JLT Condor
4. Arron Gate, An Post
5. Ian Wilkinson, Raleigh GAC
6. Jurgen van Diemen, Park Hotel
7. Dion Beukeboom, Park Hotel
8. Will Bjergfelt, Sportgrub Kuota
9. Jasper, Ockleloen, Park Hotel
10. Dimitri Peyskens, 3M

dish_dash

A few photos and a write up here: http://cyclingtips.com.au/2015/04/melto ... -classics/

DL1987

Matt Prior was not a happy bunny with @VeloUk for not including the team name in the results. Looks like he's deleted all those tweets though.

lyn1

DL1987 wrote:

Matt Prior was not a happy bunny with @VeloUk for not including the team name in the results. Looks like he's deleted all those tweets though.

Clearly something going on given this comment at the end of Larry's report:

"Note: I did talk to Chris Opie (2nd) but was told I could not use it by his team."

Consequently, maybe he thought they did not want any publicity and removed the team name.

Anonymous

This would make an epic closed-road sportive.

pollys_bott

coriordan wrote:

This would make an epic closed-road sportive.

Yes it would, although it would be tricky to replicate the exact route given the looping around and going over some of the roads in both directions. ITP Events do a sportive the day before the race that covers most of the area, doesn't go off-road although the state of the road up to Cold Overton and especially the bit from Moscow Farm up to Burrough on the Hill give a good idea of what the Somerberg would be like... rode all around there this morning in fact but didn't fancy it on 23mm Corsas...

jimmythecuckoo

Kind of off the overall topic but relevant to the above post.

The sportive is one of the best organised and reasonably priced around this way.

So if you are in or can get (kind of) centrally based in England you will love it.

Launde Abbey closed followed by Belton is a combination of climbing you wont forget in a hurry.

shockedsoshocked

Harry Tanfield one to watch for the future.