Saturday was an absorbing day in the Tour de France. Team Sky were excellent, and Chris Froome was marvelous in snatching a well-deserved stage victory on one of the steepest finishes in the tour. Bradley Wiggins now looks comfortable in yellow, and must be the hot favourite to win. Anything can happen in the next 2000 Km, but looking forward to 2013 – Chris Froome may want to become a team leader himself. He may be one most able to challenge Wiggins. I’m sure Wiggins is happy to have Froome as a teammate for 2012. My claim to fame is that I had Chris Froome fly past me during British Time Trial Championship 2010 in Wales. I can confirm he was very fast.
Away from the excitement of the tour, I had a 13 mile time trial around the nice Yorkshire village of Sheriff Hutton. If you had no idea about the time trial scene, this is probably how you would imagine it. Riders completing a circuit on quiet roads. Actually this kind of race is relatively rare. No traffic assistance and hilly terrain make them less popular. I like the course, you don’t get many cars on the road, and it feels a good test. The first 2/3 of the race are fairly fast with some significant downhill and a twisty middle section, which was really quite fast with a tailwind. The last third of the race is a relentless upward drag. Pretty hard work, when you’ve already done a 10 mile time trial.
I did have a bit of luck during the race. On one fast downhill, I saw a group of horseriders turn right just before I got to them. There’s nothing worse than coming up to some horses in a race.
It is currently the British monsoon season, with many big events a complete washout (many fields were waterlogged on drive there). But, we were again lucky with the weather. It was actually quite warm and dry during the race. I believe, the sun made one of those rare summer appearances before disappearing behind some clouds.
I was pleased to go 6 seconds quicker than in 2011. This was good enough for 1st place, in front of Mark Wolstenholme. Thanks to Clifton CC who put on a great event. (and also provided a lot of riders)
- 1st Overall Tejvan Pettinger Sri Chinmoy 29.22
- 2nd Overall Mark Wolstenholme Team Swift Sanyo 29.44
- 3rd Overall Andrew Askwith Bridlington CC 30.51
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