Finsbury Park CC Road Race, 16 Apr 2023

After some tactical errors in my last race, my aim for the Finsbury Park CC road race on the Wendens Ambo course was to stick in for as long as I can and let other riders attack. There was a strong line up so I knew riders, particularly from the Hutchinson team and team LDN were going to go hard from start to finish. The course was relatively flat but it had a long draggy uphill finish, plus a short climb through Littlebury village and another short climb about 1km from the finish. This is something that I would enjoy and would play to my strengths.

We had a fairly long neutralised, and I was happy with my positioning at this point. As soon as the neutralised was over the pace was quick but my legs were feeling good so far. As we reached the first climb, 1km before the finish, the pressure was on and about 10 riders pulled aside or were dropped from the group. I was clinging on to the group for now. As we approached the next climb, there was a second attack from the Hutchinson team, and this immediately broke up the race. I lost the wheel in front so I was just going solo, trying to catch riders in front who were also dropped. I managed to get into a small group of about 5 of us, including one of my teammates. We were working well together and chasing hard. We caught up with 3 more riders in front, including another of my teammates. The group was still working really well and we were going fast, considering we were the chasing group. A rider in the group went on the outside to get to the front, and put the pressure on. Myself and one of my teammates moved up to the front of the group to keep the pressure on, but there was a crash at the back of the group, and unfortunately my teammate was involved and had to retire from the race.

Our group was reduced to six, so we just kept going. We attempted a chaingang but that didn’t work so we went back to doing through and off as it proved to be more effective, as we caught some riders who were up the road. Our group grew again to about 10. We were around 3 minutes behind the leader and I had a feeling that the next lap (fourth lap) was going to be the lap we were going to pulled out, due to the 5 minute rule. My legs felt better as the race went, and each time we went up all the climbs, I could see riders in my group fatiguing and I was getting a slight gap ahead.

About 500 metres from the finish line, my group was notified by the race comms that this was our last lap and we must retire from the race. We managed to catch up with another rider at this point, and there were two riders (including my other teammate) about 50 metres in front. I had to let them go as I knew if I chased them, then my position for the finish would be less ideal. About 250 metres from the finish my teammate was at the front in our group, followed by a Laka Pedal Mafia rider, then I was third. I was happy with my positioning, I just needed to time the sprint well, as it’s a long drag. With about 150 metres to go I saw the Laka Pedal Mafia rider in front about to accelerate, so I had no choice but to go for the sprint. I managed to stay in front and win the sprint in my group. I crossed the line narrowly missing the top 20 mark (finishing 21st!).

Overall, I’m happy with how the race went. The course was enjoyable, and suited my strengths. I’m finding my race legs again, and seeing improvements in every race. Also, a thank you to Tim for watching, supporting and photographing the race!

Amy Harvey