Ed Clancy wins in Southport
Ed Clancy took the win from a select group of three riders who had escaped early on in this hour-long race.
The intimate surroundings of Lord Street served up a natural circuit-racing theatre in Southport. Thronged boulevards and warm evening sunshine were the order of the day as the 10 teams once again went head to head, barely 48 hours after the battle on Blackpool's seafront.
The traditional Tour Series air raid siren helped the riders on their way as the flag dropped at 7pm. As the Candi TV and Halfords boys hit the front on lap one it was apparent that this was going to be another high-tempo round. However, it was good to see some of the early exchanges being shared by the Sport Beans - Wilier and Endura Racing squads, and underlined the latter's continued improvement as this 10-round series progresses.
Approaching the first sprint of the night round five winner Rob Hayles moved up a gear and took Madison's Jerome Janssen with him, this allowed local-lad Mark McNally to come over the top as the field crossed the line onto the sprint lap. The Team Halfords rider held a 20 metre lead for the duration of the lap to take the first prize of the night, as the clock nudged past 10 minutes.
An attack after 15 mins by a select group of four riders was almost a carbon copy of the Blackpool race on Tuesday night, with the top four teams all placing a rider in the break. The only difference on this occasion was the make-up, of Ed Clancy, Chris Newton, Tony Gibb and Graham Briggs. The 'Iceberg' Will Bergfjelt tried desperately to spoil the party as he aired his Sport Beans-Wilier colours in an effort to bridge the 22 second gap that the escaping four had amassed after 25 minutes of the hour.
However, the relentless pace from the Madison, Candi TV, Rapha-Condor and Halfords team meant that this attempt would fail, and as the second sprint of the night came and went the foursome swapped positions and Tony Gibb took the win.
This was fast becoming a Trojan battle as unlike in Blackpool the main field were not content to sit and watch the four breakway riders disappear into the Southport sunset. Cyclingbargains' Jason White and James MaCullum from Endura ensured that the big four teams were not able to shut things down. Not that the teams of Halfords and Candi TV were happy to just sit and watch, as Rob Hayles, Mark McNally, Russell Downing and Ian Bibby made constant forays of the front, creating mini-break after mini-break.
Tony Gibb made sure of a successful night for the Madison.co.uk by taking the third sprint, and the crown of the king of the Southport sprints, by taking his second win on the night. 50 minutes gone and it was beginning to look like the four riders were not to be caught, as the gap was now at 28 seconds.
Seven laps to go and the four became three as Graham Briggs found the pace too hard. As he drifted back to the chasers, Briggs' demise heralded the Candi TV-Marshalls Pasta to amass at the front and raise the tempo to an average speed above 30mph. With five laps to go the main field began to see some frantic activity at the head of affairs, but it was apparent that the three riders of Clancy, Newton and Gibb would not be caught.
There was no doubting the ferocity of this racing in Southport as with three laps left there were only 30 of the 50 riders left on the circuit as many top quality UK cyclists had found the pace simply too much. Into the last lap the leading trio began to settle themselves for the inevitable sprint. As they came into view for the last time on Lord Street it was Team Halfords' Ed Clancy who simply had too much for Gibb and Newton.
The bunch sprint for 4th was won by Rob Hayles and with Ian Bibby in 6th Halfords secured another great team win on the night.
Candi TV-Marshalls Pasta hold on to the slenderest of leads as the race now moves south on Tuesday (16 June) to the Potteries and Stoke-on-Trent for round seven of the Tour Series.
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