On Saturday I raced at the first round of the Colchester Centurion series. There was quite a strong line up with a decent sized field of 18 riders. After racing here before, I knew that this race is going to be quick but it would be also very unlikely for riders to breakaway from the peloton.

As Tim advised me to, I tried a more intense warm up to help my legs get into ‘race mode’ a lot more easily, but without getting tired before the race. I had a good start and was in the top third of the peloton. Nothing really happened in the race until 10 minutes in, where a rider made an attack. The rider only had about a 50 metre gap ahead of us, so there was no threat, especially as there was a headwind as well. We let the rider ‘hang out to dry’ for a few laps and then brought her back in, and it was obvious that this rider had tired herself out a bit. After about 20 minutes into the race, the same rider attacked again, like last time, the gap wasn’t big enough to cause worry so we did the same thing and left her go solo for a little while before bringing her back to the bunch.

Half way into our race we had our first prime lap, so I knew I needed to be at the front to have a chance at winning the prime and because the bunch normally splits up after this. We came round on the last bend before the finish for the prime, and I finished around 5th in the prime (no prize money won!). But the rider who won the first prime continued to put the pressure on, and I knew I needed to follow. The bunch completely broke up. There was me and 4 others getting away from the rest of the peloton. I hoped that we could perhaps get into a breakaway but we got brought back into the bunch. I sat in the middle of the bunch to recover. Before you know it, there was a second prime! I positioned myself better on this one, and I thought “I may as well give it another go” as it was the last one before the finish. I finished 3rd on this prime, bit annoying I was so close but we still had the sprint finish to happen yet! For the last 10 minutes there were riders attacking here and there but they were brought back, and some other riders had got dropped (somehow I’m still feeling pretty good!). We were given the bell for our last lap, and I needed to move up a bit more. With about half a lap to go there was almost a big crash as a rider in front of me cut across the left nearly wiping out half the field. Horrible as it sounds, it worked in my favour, as it give me a large gap for me to wiggle through, closer to the front. Coming into the last bend before the sprint finish, I was 4th from the front. I sprinted as quickly as I could, but my legs didn’t sprint fast enough, and I finished 7th out of 18 starters!

I am happy with how my race went, as it was a very fast and tactical race. It was pleasing to see a massive improvement in my racing, and it’s quite encouraging to see how well I performed just before national champs which is in a few weeks.

Tim Phillips

Colchester Centurion Crit Series, 7 May 2022

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