Havant Grand Prix - 1.5

Hampshire, Great Britain, August 6, 2000

Past Winners    Results

Lovatt wins his second Classic in two weeks

Mark Lovatt
Photo: © Larry Hickmott

Although telling all and sundry that the strongest rider on the day was Ireland's Brian Kenneally, Mark Lovatt showed yet again he is one of the finest road riders in this country with another show of strength and aggression to win the super Havant Grand Prix in Hampshire, UK. Not only did Lovatt win the race in yet another two up sprint, he also took another 15 UCI points to add to his tally and now tops the Premier Calendar table. With the Tour of the Peaks and Gun Hill in Derbyshire to come, who would bet against him being headed?

The day started early again for me, leaving the house in Bedford at 5.45am for the two hour plus drive to Havant (near the port of Portsmouth). This was to be a special day for me because in order to get more of a feel for how big these races are, I decided to take advantage of the 1st category licence and enter the event. The first premier and UCI event for me. The program showed only 84 riders and I had to wonder why so few after my brief but memorable experience in riding the top category race in the country.

Perhaps that special feeling soon goes and such events become ordinary but I don't know how that would be because if you perform well against the best in the country it has to be better than just winning some "chipper". In my case, winning such an event would only happen if all the others fell off but it was important for me to do it to see for myself why these events are special (and hard) for riders. More on why later.

The Havant Grand Prix, starting and finishing outside the sponsors chambers (the Borough Council), has for several years been a counting event in the season long Premier calendar series, the pinnacle series for riders in the UK. For women it's the Bruton series and for Veterans, the Fryer trophy and so on for other categories.

This year, to mark the new millennium, the Havant Grand Prix acquired UCI status, 1.5, which meant that the first 10 finishers scored UCI points. This was only achieved according to the program, because of the generous sponsorship by the Havant Borough Council. To gain UCI status, there had to be international teams and there was with riders from Ireland, Belgium, Scotland, Channel Islands and the UK.

The strongest teams looked to be the Irish team, which has always performed well in UK races this year and ProVision/Planet-X with the national champion John Tanner, last year's runner up Wayne Randle and last week's Tour of the Cotswolds winner, Mark Lovatt. What sponsor wouldn't want that combination?

The course was viscious, very much so as I found out. The riders had to do two loops of 30km which took in the climb of Hydean Hill and then 3 times over Old Winchester, a single lane climb that was well over a mile long. The race then switched to a smaller circuit and the riders had to battle over HMS Mercury, a long climb to be done 5 times. After the riders had done all that in 170km, they had a 10km run to the finish which involved a short climb, then a downhill run to the finish.

At the start, the finish was being erected and the mayor and his princesses (well they were dressed like princesses) were already assembled to send the riders off. I warmed up with Peter Swettenham from the Twickenham CC and he said there were no hiding places on this course. No sooner had you recovered from one climb, another one would appear and it was going to be hard. The start time of 10.00am soon arrived, the moment of truth for me, and the field assembled with the commentator introducing riders and the mayor before the "princess" (she had a title but I forgot to find out what) waved the riders away for the 10km neutralised section.

Shortly after 10.00am, we were flagged away. Now, after having covered many of the Premiers from the sidelines, this was a cool experience. People clapping, outriders, star riders from all over all around me, a real energy in the air around the event. Okay, so I was going to get my legs kicked in real soon. It felt good to be there and you can only get that feeling doing it and not just writing about it. A bit like sex I suppose!

The antics of the riders in the neutralised section were another that needed censoring. It seemed half the field was stopping to attend the call of nature. And then there was ProVision's Mark Lovatt, a very different picture from what I would see later. Chatting away to teammate John Tanner and to use a very apt cliché, as happy as Larry (because Larry - me - was happy at that time). A little further up the peloton, which was doing around 30kph mostly uphill, another of Lovatt's teammates, Wayne Randle was spotted dipping into his back pockets for "snacks", no doubt trying to avoid the dreaded hunger knock that hit him hard last week in the Tour of the Tour of the Cotswolds when he was riding so well. Then there was Irish rider, Eugene Moriarty, banging it into the 11 and on the big ring and flexing his muscles, something the Irish team were to do a lot that day.

All in all, the neutralised section was a joy and it wasn't only me that wanted it to go on for ever but it had to end and when it did, the attacks started right away with 12 riders getting away in small groups. Just because there was another 180km to go didn't deter the attackers and while in the beginning, no-one really took the attacks seriously, when Lovatt attacked from right beside me (and no I didn't attempt to go with him, although I could see it coming) to chase the break a few seconds up the road, everyone knew the race was well and truly on.

So it went and when the field reached the first climb, Hydean, I found out the difference between a Premier event and a normal open road race. These guys did not slow down for the climbs, even long ones like this. The hill for many, was probably not much to write home about with it being a kilometer or so in length and big ring. But the field was strung out, many were suffering and near the top I lost contact as you can only ride at maximum for so long or at least it is in my case.

I had to grin when I think it was the Arctic 2000 team car that came along side and said "dig deep". I looked down and the heart rate monitor which had been reading maximum for around a minute or two was still on max (189) and my legs were filled with that stuff that makes them go pop. I was digging and the hole was getting bigger! Even chasing the bunch at 50kph plus for several miles didn't do any good and I have to say, I was most disappointed with the convoy (a short one at that) which didn't give me a chance to get back on even if that's less than legal.

Anyway, that was the race report from within the bunch over with. Short but ever so sweet! The only thing I gained from it was a knowledge that even if I can go out now (which I couldn't do before) and train at an average speed of 32 kph for 3 hours, it doesn't mean squat in these races. In my last 1st category race, I had no problems, in this, shelled on the first big climb. Climbing long hills fast is everything it would seem if you want survive such races. Next year perhaps...

Anyway, not to worry, the car was close and I made it to Winchester climb in time to learn that the first time over, Lee Finch (Team Cycles Clements/Simincioni) had taken the prime and then second time over, Belgian based Brit, Rob Hurd (Royal Cureghem Sportif-Bioagrico) took that prime when away in a break with Rowan Horner (VC St Rapheal/Waite Contracts).

I was awaiting the race for its third and last time over Winchester before it started the small circuit. It was only around 10 minutes before the small crowd were greeted to the awesome sight of Irish rider Brian Kenneally leading ProVision's Mark Lovatt up the climb around 10 seconds clear of the other 32 riders left lead by Julian Gromett (Terry Wright Cycles), Tim Buckle (Paul Moy and Associates), Gary Baker (Anglia Sport/Condor), Peter Swettenham, Tom Rowan (both Twickenham CC) and John Tanner prominently up the front marking for his teammate out front. This was all that was left of the field of 84 plus riders after the 3rd lap of the circuit, something which showed how hard the race was becoming.

The next time I saw the race was near the HMS Mercury climb when Lovatt and Kenneally had more than a minute over the bunch which was pretty much still altogether. When the race appeared 20 or so minutes later, the picture was starting to change with Lovatt (grimacing in pain) and Kenneally still leading but a small chase group (6 or so riders) was away with John Tanner looking comfortable. It was as if he was awaiting for the moment to go it alone, as he often does towards the end of the race when everyone else's leg are pulp and his are probably as strong if not stronger than they were at the start.

The bunch meanwhile was slipping further and further down and this despite there only being less than 10 riders away. In other words, why sit up when there was a reason for racing? But then perhaps, there were a lot of tired legs because the bunch was split with a gap of 10 seconds between the two groups.

Third time round and it was still Lovatt and Kenneally leading. In the chase group, I spotted local Danny Axford (Real Cost Cars) putting in a good effort along with Patrick Moriarty from Ireland. But it was national champion John Tanner who was looking dangerously comfortable as they started the last kilometre of the climb. The bunch was back together, but now 5 minutes down.

The fourth time around, and the picture hadn't changed up front. I had been expected the chase group to get up to Lovatt and Kenneally but the gap was still growing (2min 38) but instead of a chase group coming into sight, it was the fabulous and predictable sight of the UKs national champion John Tanner, a lone figure powering along a good 10 seconds up on the other four chasers of Heiko Szonn (De Nardi Montegrappa), Robert Hurd (RCS Bioagrico), Danny Axford (Real Cost Cars) and Patrick Moriarty (Ireland). The bunch meanwhile was now 6 and half minutes down and losing riders every lap.

I then made my way to the finish where we saw Lovatt round the corner into the short finishing straight well clear of Kenneally in a scene just like last week when Lovatt crossed the line well clear of Matt Stephens. Not bad for a "non sprinter". A few minutes back, John Tanner came in alone to make it 1st and 3rd for ProVision. As for the king of the moutains, Brian Kenneally took nearly every prime and was the winner of the King of the mountains award and the cash prize to make the effort worthwhile.

After the race, I had a quick word with Mark Lovatt who said that riding with Kenneally was like riding with a motorbike, he was very strong. "As soon as I heard John (Tanner) was chasing alone, I sat on. But John wasn't making much time up so strong was Kenneally. He never missed a beat. I only started tapping through with 10k to go but I think he was still stronger than me. I told him (Kenneally ) that I would rather John got across and he sprinted it out with you and I came third, but I also told him I had to sprint". I jumped coming into the roundabout (200 meters out) and I think he accepted he was beat really. He was during the race, unbelievably strong. If John hadn't been behind and I had to work, then I think he would have dropped me."

What did it mean to him to be on top of the Premier Calendar? "It only means something when you've won it," said the rider who has a strong chance to win the series. "I'm just going to continue riding the premier races," he added.

When asked how it felt being described as a motorbike Brian Keneally said "last week in the Cotswolds he didn't feel too good but this week he felt strong." He added that he was intending on doing the Aussie Sun Tour. Meanwhile John Tanner said "that he had wasted a lot of energy making up for getting caught behind some back markers early on when the bunch split and he had to chase to get across to get back in the race. When in that back group, I didn't think I was going to get round because I thought a lot of them were just riding round and didn't want to race. It took a lot of effort to get back to the bunch."

One of the major surprises was the 7th place of Tom Rowan (Twickenham CC) who according to his "minder", Doug Collins, was off the back on the last climb and not feeling so good. When asked how the result helped his confidence, Tom said it was great. Not only has scored his first result and a major one at that, he also scored UCI points. "Being off Uni has helped. More training with teammate Jez Cox (who also rode the race) and more rest."

Results and report courtesy of Larry Hickmott at www.echelon-velo.co.uk

Results - 180 km

1. Mark Lovatt (GBr) ProVision/Plant-X/Powerbar
2. Brian Keneally (Irl) Ireland
3. John Tanner (GBr) ProVision/Planet-X
4. Rob Hurd (GBr) RCS Bioagrico
5. Danny Axford (GBr) Real Cost Cars
6. Heiko Szonn (Ger) De Nardi Montegrappa
7. Tom Rowan (GBr) Twickenham CC/Stairmaster/Evans Cycles
8. Neil Swithenbank (GBr) Alsager/Adidias MRT
9. ? Scotland
10. Eugene Moriarty (Irl) Ireland
11. Wayne Randle (GBr) ProVision/Plant-X/Powerbar
12. Patrick Moriarty (Irl) Ireland
13. Robby Van Wayenberg (Bel) RCS Bioagrico
14. Peter Swettenham (GBr) Twickenham CC/Stairmaster/Evans Cycles
15. Tim Bayley (GBr) Arctic 2000
16. Grant Bayton (GBr) Total Fitness
17. Mike Harrison (GBr) Tunstall Wheelers/Brian Rourke Cycles
18. Martin Pardaens (Bel) RCS -Bioagrico
19. John Ibbotson (GBr) Gore Bike Wear
20. Dave Clarke (GBr)  Alsys-Bradgate CRT
21. Stephen O'Sullivan (Irl) Ireland
22. Gavin Poupart (GBr) Worcester St Johns CC
23. Chris Spence (GBr) Jersey Caesaean CC
24. Darren Barclay (GBr) Arctic 2000
25. Julian Gromett (GBr) Terry Wright Cycles/Raleigh
26. Rory Wyley (GBr) Thames Velo
27. Tom Barras (GBr) Linda McCartney
28. Eamonn Deane (GBr) Bournemouth Jubliee
29. Flip Pocket (Bel) RCS Bioagrico
30. Ian Bendall (GBr) Pembroke Velo 
31.  Justin Hoy (GBr) Liphook Cycles
32. Gary Willis (GBr) Scotland
33. Paul Dring (GBr) Terry Wright Cycles 

Premier Calendar Overall Standings

1 Mark Lovatt (GBr) Provision Powerbar 			274 pts
2 Julian Winn (GBr) WCU-Private Member 			245 
3 Jon Clay (GBr) SLBM 					242 
4 John Tanner (GBr) Provision Powerbar 			232
5 Chris Newton (GBr) Middridge CRT 			204 
6 Antony Malarczyk (GBr) www.Real Cost Imports 		181 
7 Rod Ellingworth (GBr) Team Mcell 			159 
8 Huw Pritchard (GBr) Linda McCartney-WCU 		148 
9 Danny Axford (GBr) www.Real Cost Imports 		129
10 Andy Lyons (GBr) Terry Wright Cycles 		124 
11 Kevin Dawson (GBr) Pete Reade Racing 		111 
12 Wayne Randle (GBr) Provision Powerbar 		102
13 David Mccann (Irl) Ireland 				100 
14 Martin Ford (GBr) Arctic 2000 			 98 
15 Gordon McCauley (NZl) Equilibrium Oleum RT 		 69 
16 Mike Jones (GBr) Robert Grinsell Travel 		 62 
17 Steve Stoneman (GBr) www.Real Cost Imports 		 56 
18 Paul Manning (GBr) BCF Private Member 		 55 
18 Matt Stephens (GBr) Linda McCartney RT 		 55 
20 Duncan Urqhart (GBr) Pete Reade Racing 		 50 

Races left in the Premier Calendar

>> Next 17. 13th August Glasgow - Dunoon Hayward Tyler Classic 
18. 10th September International Tour of the Peak RR 
19. 17th September Gun Hill Premier Race 

Past Winners

1998 Chris Walker (GBr)
1999 Russell Downing (GBr)
2000 Mark Lovatt (GBr)

Past winners by Mario Stiehl, Berlin