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TransScotland Challenge - NE
Great Britain, May 27-June 2, 2007
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Race 4 - May 30: (Day 4) Team Time Trial at Dalbeattie & Dalbeatte Forest to New Abbey, 15km/46km
Second special stage team time trial shuffles standings
By Matt Skinner
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Racers started day four with a 15km team time trial in Dalbeattie Forest before heading out for a leisurely 59km linking stage that would take them to New Abbey.
Campers awoke to blue skies and crisp sunshine for a perfect start to the second special stage - a team time trial at Dalbeattie Forest. After the monster haul yesterday, this was slated to be a much welcomed "easy day." But the flat out time trial on Dalbeattie's fine trails meant that it was going to kick off with a high octane intensity to grill the riders until they were truly well done.
The course was both long and sustained with no real space to hide or rest. It was pedal to the metal big ring stuff with little margin for error. The flowing singletrack was folded with rocky and rooty tech sections, steep power climbs, and speeder raised boardwalk. It was fast and challenging at a redlining race pace, a test of both the body and the skills of each rider.
Unlike the first special stage at Drumlanrig where riders raced in relay, the Dalbeattie special stage was a true team effort from the gun: both riders completed the full 15km distance at the same time. Results were decided by averaging the two riders' times. Seeded in the order of the last stage's results also meant that riders would have clear runs with few stragglers to encounter, so they could charge cleanly all the way to the finish. Leading pair and defending TransWales champions, Ryan Bevis and Jonathan Pugh (RAM Bikes/Scott UK), stormed round the 15km course in an average time of just 38 minutes and 15 seconds, and underlined in no uncertain terms their seriousness of intent in securing the overall crown.
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Although some riders flew, others had the wind sucked from beneath their wings as the course bared its teeth and intimidated them into making mistakes, un-ceremonially dumping them onto the dirt. Mechanical gremlins also played their part and influenced a change in the overall standings, as yesterday's veteran women's solo leader Hilary Bloor (Team Planetfear) suffered mashed gears and a snapped chain that relegated her from first to third in one instant.
Fusion Bike's Mansour Youssef showed that his third in the open men's category at last year's TransWales as part of a team was no flash in the pan. Solo this year, he clinched second in time trial in the open male solo category, just behind Whyte Bikes' Andy Barlow. This second place saw him move up to second in the overall standings, displacing Ben Thompson (Nevis Cycles) into third. But with just seven seconds between the two, this promises to be a battle that will continue all the way to the line at Selkirk on Saturday.
Elsewhere, in the veteran women's solo race, following the mechanical gremlins scuppering Hilary Bloor's transmission mid-race, Tatjana Troll's strong performance earned her enough time in hand to move her up to the top spot in the overall classification one minute and 17 seconds up on Julie Dinsdale.
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Following the blood and guts efforts of the time trial, the linking stage itself was a more leisurely affair. Retracing part of the singletrack employed for the special stage, the route then hit the coast road to run parallel with the picturesque Mersehead Sands before diving on to the dirt once more to traverse the flanks of Boreland Hill and Meikle Hard Hill up to a height of 300m. The trail then descended for five kilometers before it headed upwards on a severe gradient up a gravel climb. But then the pay off: a snaking, natural, and constantly accelerating wooded singletrack descent that spat riders through mossy boulder slots, weaving through purple bloomed rhododendrons, and rushing headlong into New Abbey and its fine selection of public houses.
Tomorrow dawns with the third special stage which takes place at the 7Stanes' Mabie Forest, just a short spin from New Abbey. The trails will offer thrills aplenty with fast and flowing progressive singletrack, berms and techy rock sections to get the red mist descending. It will be a key stage for all the overall classifications and the warm up to the rest of the day's linking stage. The route will return the riders to Moffat, 64km north east and 1,200m of climbing away to the north via Ae Forest and the exposed Lowther Hills. With the weather turning from blessed blue skies to damp and squib, the going may be tougher and harder than the distance suggests. For although there are only three days left, the last two are monsters as the event heads back into the big hills.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by TransScotland
- A rider negotiates a slot between mossy rocks.
- Gotta love the light coming through this wooded singletrack.
- A 7Stanes rider negotiates some singletrack.
- The Flying Italian goes so fast, it's almost a blur.
- Keith Bontrager riding in the TransScotland.
- Keith Bontrager sets off for another day of racing and riding.
Results
Special Stage 2 Results Women Solo Open 1 Meggie Bichard (Extreme Endurance) 48.17 2 Helen Lambert 3.58 3 Jane Chadwick 28.25 Men Solo Open 1 Andy Barlow (Whyte Bikes) 38.25 2 Mansour Youssef (Fusion Bikes) 1.31 3 Ben Thompson (Nevis Cycles) 2.31 Veteran Women Solo 1 Julie Dinsdale 58.07 2 Tatjana Troll 1.31 3 Hilary Bloor (Team Planetfear) 19.09 Veteran Men Solo 1 David Piper (Team Chodskis Indians) 33.32 2 Rob Waller (ERC One Week Younger) 8.11 3 Antony Green (G A Cylces/gonebikinmad) 9.55 Mixed 1 Maddie Horton & Jay Horton (XC Racer.com/Trek) 45.53 2 Alice Crook & Neil Hamblin (Cakemonsters) 5.14 3 Yolande Wase & John Singleton (Laurel & Hardy) 8.01 Veteran 1 Bryan Singleton & Peter Strong (Global/Torq/Buff) 44.51 2 Robert Barker & Mark Langdon (Sportstest.co.uk) 1.12 3 Arthur Rijk & Tim Snyder (TNT) 7.41 Female 1 Julie Cartner & Renel Brennan (7Stanes) 48.22 2 Sally Lee & Kate Chappell (Extreme Endurance) 7.37 Male 1 Ryan Bevis & Jonathan Pugh (RAM Bikes/Scott UK) 38.59 2 David Preston & Chris Herraghty (Hoop Troop) 2.22 3 Rick Featherstone & Steve Heading (Hadrian & Beyond) 3.08 General Classification after Day 4 Women Solo Open 1 Meggie Bichard (Extreme Endurance) 27.31.12 2 Helen Lambert 10.27 3 Christie Boucher 45.09 Men Solo Open 1 Andy Barlow (Whyte Bikes) 27.13.52 2 Mansour Youssef (Fusion Bikes) 2.39 3 Ben Thompson (Nevis Cycles) 2.46 Veteran Women Solo 1 Tatjana Troll 27.57.13 2 Julie Dinsdale 1.17 3 Hilary Bloor (Team Planetfear) 14.25 Veteran Men Solo 1 Rob Waller (ERC One Week Younger) 27.18.49 2 Antony Green (GA Cycles/gonebikinma) 4.40 3 Matt Scrase (MTB Marathon.co.uk) 6.07 Mixed 1 Maddie Horton & Jay Horton (XC Racer.com/Trek) 27.26.03 2 Alice Crook & Neil Hamblin (Cakemonsters) 9.35 3 Yolande Wase & John Singleton (Laurel & Hardy) 15.54 Veteran 1 Bryan Singleton & Peter Strong (Global/Torq/Buff) 27.22.59 2 Robert Barker & Mark Langdon (Sportstest.co.uk) 4.21 3 Arthur Rijk & Tim Snyder (TNT) 13.16 Female 1 Julie Cartner & Renel Brennan (7Stanes) 27.31.00 2 Sally Lee & Kate Chappell (Extreme Endurance) 13.41 Male 1 Ryan Bevis & Jonathan Pugh (RAM Bikes/Scott UK) 27.12.23 2 Andrew Wardman & Steven Halsall (7Stanes) 6.53 3 Rick Festherston & Steve Heading (Hadrian & Beyond) 7.42
