Preview: Klondike Grand Prix

Winner in 2017, Chris Latham, will wear number 1 for the 2018 Edition of the Klondike GP in the North East on Sunday (April 28)

 

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Preview: Klondike Grand Prix

Chris Latham sprints to victory in Guisborough in 2017

So far in 2018 we have had two very different major events on the road in Britain; the Chorley GP which saw Canyon Eisberg chase down a very powerful break packed with possible winners, lighting up the race and making for a very different event to the CiCLE Classic which for the majority of the distance, was as controlled as it gets with three riders working out front all day and the peloton largely intact behind until Tom Pidcock’s patience finally snapped and he lit it up on the Somerberg sector of the race.

So what happens in the Klondike Grand Prix is anyone’s guess – not even the riders will know until the action begins, the breaks form out front and decisions are made whether to be aggressive or sit in and leave the effort to the final section of the race where ever that will be.

Last year, despite a 25 per cent ‘berg’ at Saltburn by the Sea, the race finished in a bunch kick won by Chris Latham and that could happen again in 2018? But with Latham’s team having an ever aggressive rider in Karol Domagalski, first at Chorley and second at the CiCLE Classic, the race hopefully will get lit up and the crowds watching this major event will get to see some full gas racing.

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A 25% climb to be done four times is surely enough to split the race yes? Maybe …. 

The race has eight man teams so they will have the numbers to control things but with major events only having just begun in Britain, there are a lot of riders still ‘finding’ their legs whilst there are other teams like Madison Genesis, who have shown such strength in the last two weeks, that there is a good chance we’ll see them and others lighting up the roads of East Cleveland.

Getting clues as to who will be in the mix is difficult because Chorley was quite a different course to Klondike and the CiCLE Classic saw so many riders puncture that just who would have been that final selection is difficult to know.

One rider who looked comfy in the break was Tom Stewart until he punctured as did Connor Swift and Jonny McEvoy and they will be names to look for on Sunday. Another name I expect to see dancing on the pedals on Saltburn Bank, is double Junior world champion Tom Pidcock whilst another rider who likes to go up hill and has been out front of races this year, Adam Kenway of Vitus Pro Cycling.

One thing to put in the equation of the riders entered is whether those who went to the Commonwealth Games have the ability to race 100 miles after a mini break. Tom Stewart has answered that question already – a resounding yes – but the Tanfields, locals sports stars, will be still be looking for their legs especially Charlie who has had a mini break post Games. The same may go for the likes of Ian Bibby but then he is one you can never discount. And I have to mention Steve Lampier of Saint Piran too – outnumbered in the break at Chorley but still banging away on the pedals at the front of the race.

Another you can look for is Gabriel (Gabz) Cullaigh (above) who had his biggest career win on Sunday in the CiCLE Classic. The distance won’t be a problem and he’s raced well in Portugal so the climbing should be well within his grasp too and his rear wheel will be one riders will be fighting for if it comes down to a sprint of any sort.

The course for the race is largely the same as 2017 except for a longer run out to avoid the crashes that happened early on in last years event. The run out is another 6 miles longer that last years event and includes a climb to help the race stay safer in the early stages and give a spring board for a break to go.
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And speaking of spring boards, the climb of Saltburn Bank, to be done four times in the race, comes only 18km from the finish through a lot of lanes and should a breakaway gain 15 to 20 seconds over that, they will soon be out of sight.

Speaking to co-organiser Richard Williamson, he says the event was unbelievably received by the local public in Guisborough and surrounding district. “The amount of people that rocked up to watch it was amazing and the views of the Eurosport coverage were way above any other event. We met with the leader of the council on Friday and he declared it the most important event in the Redcar and Cleveland Borough sporting calendar.”

The reason for that importance is that it’s a free to view event that goes out to the villages in the East Cleveland area and gives the people there a chance to see a major event just the same as those in Yorkshire will have in the same week and so there is a huge buzz around the event being held there.

Of the stars that will be riding the race, and it will have pretty much all the stars of the domestic racing scene there, two of the most high profile will be Charlie and Harry Tanfield who are about as local as you can get the event.

Harry Tanfield (Canyon Eisberg) (above) was racing at the CiCLE Classic and when asked what the race means to the area, he says “it’s massive. There is so much support for the race, all the banners are out now advertising the road closures and the people are getting the bunting out and its being treated like any other major event like the Tour of Yorkshire and so on. You don’t get that in other prems!”

“The course is up and down all the time and the run out has changed and while I don’t think it will change how the race is ridden, it may prevent a crash because last year when the race was flagged away, we were straight into a narrow lane but now they have given us 10ks before we get to the narrow lanes.”

“I come from around five miles away from the start and last year rode to the start and will do so again if the weather is okay.” Harry then finished by saying with One Pro and Madison Genesis having gas, it’s going to be a hard one.

Finally, whilst the main race is on, there will be some youth racing which the organisers say will be popular with the people of Guisborough.
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Details
2nd running of the event
Promoted by Velo29 Primal Events
HQ: Prior Pursglove Collge, Church Street, Guisborough, TS14 6BU
Start: 12 midday
Distance: 98.2 miles (159km)

Riders (changes to come in these on race day)
1 Christopher Latham One Pro Cycling
2 Karol Domagalski One Pro Cycling
3 Emils Liepens One Pro Cycling
4 James Oram One Pro Cycling
5 Alexandar Richardson One Pro Cycling
6 Jacob Scott One Pro Cycling
7 Szymon Tracz One Pro Cycling u23
8 Peter Williams One Pro Cycling

9 Dexter Gardias Canyon Eisberg
10 James Lowsley-Williams Canyon Eisberg
11 Jack Pullar Canyon Eisberg
12 Louis Rose-Davies Canyon Eisberg u23
13 Harry Tanfield Canyon Eisberg
14 Charlie Tanfield Canyon Eisberg u23
15 Andrew Tennant Canyon Eisberg
16 Rory Townsend Canyon Eisberg

17 Seid Lidze Holdsworth Pro Racing
18 Tom Mazzone Holdsworth Pro Racing
19 Leon Mazzone Holdsworth Pro Racing u23
20 Conn McDunphy Holdsworth Pro Racing u23
21 Sean McKenna Holdsworth Pro Racing
22 Damien Shaw Holdsworth Pro Racing
23 Dermot Trulock Holdsworth Pro Racing u23
24 Mattia Viel Holdsworth Pro Racing

25 Ian Bibby JLT Condor
26 Edmund Bradbury JLT Condor
27 Matthew Gibson JLT Condor u23
28 James Gullen JLT Condor
29 Edward Laverack JLT Condor
30 Alistair Slater JLT Condor
31 Thomas Stewart JLT Condor
32 Oliver Wood JLT Condor

33 George Atkins Madison Genesis
34 Michael Cuming Madison Genesis
35 Matthew Holmes Madison Genesis
36 Jonathan McEvoy Madison Genesis
37 Isaac Mundy Madison Genesis
38 George Pym Madison Genesis
39 Erick Rowsell Madison Genesis
40 Connor Swift Madison Genesis

41 Gabriel Cullaigh Team Wiggins u23
42 Dylan Kerfoot-Robson Team Wiggins u23
43 Thomas Pidcock Team Wiggins u23
44 Oliver Robinson Team Wiggins u23
45 Robert Scott Team Wiggins u23
46 Joey Walker Team Wiggins u23
47 Reece Wood Team Wiggins u23
48 Jesse Yates Team Wiggins u23

49 Julio Alberto Amores Palacios Vitus Pro Cycling
50 Joshua Hunt Vitus Pro Cycling
51 Harrison Jones Vitus Pro Cycling u23
52 Deins Kanepejs Vitus Pro Cycling
53 Adam Kenway Vitus Pro Cycling
54 Grant Martin Vitus Pro Cycling u23
55 Timothy Torrie Vitus Pro Cycling u23
56 Ben Walsh Vitus Pro Cycling u23

57 Joseph Clark Cycling Sheffield Giant Sheffield
58 Daniel Pullen Cycling Sheffield Giant Sheffield u23
59 Charlie Renshaw Cycling Sheffield Giant Sheffield u23
60 Kieran Savage Cycling Sheffield Giant Sheffield u23
61 Louis Szymanski Cycling Sheffield Giant Sheffield
62 Harry Yates Cycling Sheffield Giant Sheffield u23

63 John Archibald Ribble Cycling
64 William Brown Ribble Cycling
65 Lawrence Carpenter Ribble Cycling
66 William Corbett Ribble Cycling u23
67 David Hewett Ribble Cycling
68 Gruffudd Lewis Ribble Cycling
69 Alex Luhrs Ribble Cycling
70 Jack Rees Ribble Cycling

71 Matthew Clements Richardsons-Trek RT u23
72 Peter Cocker Richardsons-Trek RT
73 Oliver Maxwell Richardsons-Trek RT u23
74 Joshua Outram Richardsons-Trek RT u23
75 Thomas Power Richardsons-Trek RT u23
76 James Rix Richardsons-Trek RT
77 Luke Ryan Richardsons-Trek RT
78 George Wood Richardsons-Trek RT

79 Jake Alderman Saint Piran
80 Joe Evans Saint Piran u23
81 Alex Fanshawe Saint Piran u23
82 William Harper Saint Piran
83 Cameron Jeffers Saint Piran u23
84 Steve Lampier Saint Piran

85 Marcus Burnett Spirit Tifosi Racing Team u23
86 Thomas Bustard Spirit Tifosi Racing Team
87 Frazier Carr Spirit Tifosi Racing Team
88 Douglas Coleman Spirit Tifosi Racing Team
89 Christopher Dredge Spirit Tifosi Racing Team
90 Rupert Graham Spirit Tifosi Racing Team
91 Jake Hales Spirit Tifosi Racing Team
92 Jordan Peacock Spirit Tifosi Racing Team

93 James Ambrose-Parish TBW Bottecchia Wigmore RT u23
94 Oliver Cliff TBW Bottecchia Wigmore RT u23
95 Fabian Horrocks TBW Bottecchia Wigmore RT u23
96 James McKay TBW Bottecchia Wigmore RT u23
97 Daniel Nieto TBW Bottecchia Wigmore RT u23
98 James O’Connell TBW Bottecchia Wigmore RT u23

99 Kieran Brady Team KTM UK
100 Callum Ferguson Team KTM UK
101 Will Fox Team KTM UK
102 Adam Robinson Team KTM UK
103 Fraser Rounds Team KTM UK
104 David Shackleton Team KTM UK
105 Andrew Turner Team KTM UK
106 Julian Varley Team KTM UK u23

107 Joe Charley Team PB Performance
108 George Kimber Team PB Performance u23
109 Matthew King Team PB Performance
110 Bradley Symonds Team PB Performance u23

111 Daniel Coombe Wales Racing Academy u23
112 Peter Kibble Wales Racing Academy u23
113 Owen Line Wales Racing Academy u23
114 Zachery May Wales Racing Academy
115 William Roberts Wales Racing Academy u23
116 Samuel Tillett Wales Racing Academy u23
117 James Tillett Wales Racing Academy u23

118 Matthew Clarke Wheelbase Castelli MGD
119 Alex Dalton Wheelbase Castelli MGD u23
120 Ryan Fenwick Wheelbase Castelli MGD
121 George Fowler Wheelbase Castelli MGD
122 David Lines Wheelbase Castelli MGD
123 Mark McGuire Wheelbase Castelli MGD u23
124 Alex Orrell-Turner Wheelbase Castelli MGD
125 Jack Stanton-Warren Wheelbase Castelli MGD

126 James Jobber Backyardbikeshop.com
127 Alistair Merry Dundee Thistle RC u23
128 Richie Allen GS Metro u23
129 Matt Clarke Halesowen A & CC
130 Kinsey McIlquham KTM UK Factory MTB Team u23
131 Elliot Harrison Leisure Lakes Bikes.com
132 Declan Hudson Liverpool Century RC
133 Ryan Christensen Oliver’s Real Food u23
134 Stephen Collins Pedal Power RT
135 Joe Swinnerton Swinnerton Cycles u23
136 Freddie Jagger Team B38 / Underpin Racing
137 Daniel Patten Team Merlin
138 Ruari Grant Veloclub Edinburgh
139 Nicholas Cooper u23
140 Samuel Jackson
141 Andrew Brinkley OVB
142R Daniel McDermott FTR Milltag
143R Peter Anderson
144R Robert Mochrie
145R Chris Sleath MTS-Rapid Engineering NE

 

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