Thornton Trophy RR

[AidanMc]

I was joined by Calum McLean for the 60mile Thornton Trophy RR in Northumberland, 3 laps of a lumpy course with an ascent up the brutal 1 in 4 Ryals coming just a few miles from the end of each lap.

The race started with a two man attack going from the gun, amazingly these two riders established what would be the race winning break, building a 2 minute lead over the bunch by the time we reached the end of lap 1.  This came as a bit of a shock to the system as I wanted to go for the primes atop the Ryals and was under the impression the bunch had brought back the leading duo long before!  Numerous attempts were made by riders looking to break themselves free from the peloton and get across to the leaders but nobody was going anywhere, especially with Calum drilling out a fast tempo on the front of the bunch for much of the race, the plan was to set me up for a bridging attempt over the summit of the Ryals, alas each attempt was foiled resulting in a long line of suffering riders hanging on until the comfort of the descent, the Ryals not being quite long enough to break the field... and my legs just not up to the task on the day!  The bunch fragmented into several groups in the final miles of the race, I finished with the first big group after having a go inside the last mile, so my sprint wasn't up to much, I think I finished 15th or thereabouts 

Thanks to Calum for his support throughout the race.