Darley Moor No.5, 3/4 cat – 16th June 2012

Race report from Tom Sutton of the We Love Mountains Racing Team for the Darley Moor No.5 3/4 cat race held on the 16th June 2012.

Cold and windy conditions saw me opting for leg warmers in the middle of summer. A relatively small field of 45 riders started the race that would clearly be split apart by crosswinds on the two long straights. A group of 3 riders went clear in the first 5 laps and started gradually building a gap. After being near the front and attacking on a couple of occasions I dropped back down the group for a breather half way through the race to see that there was only about 20-25 riders left in the bunch. At this point another group of 3 went clear. I was annoyed to miss this move as it meant that the sprint would only be for 7^th and I felt that I should have been in it. On the final lap it was clear that the breakaways would stay away so I concentrated on the sprint. I placed myself well going into the final corner and followed all the attacks up to the line as I didn’t want to go to soon due to a block headwind finish. Unfortunately when I came of the wheel and into the wind in the last 150 metres I started to fade and could only manage 10^th. Overall I was annoyed with myself for not getting in the breakaways and being more aggressive as I felt that a top 5 finish was feasible. Despite this it’s my first point since the 31^st March so that’s a big weight of my shoulders.