With this years Lincoln GP a dry run for next years National Championships there  were some changes to the tried and tested format. The Junior race was brought back after several years absence with a 30 mile loop north of the city followed by 4 laps of the usual finishing circuit up Steep Hill to the finish in Castle square.
There was some good local interest in the Junior event with Reece Egner (Witham Whs), Karl Baillie (PedalPushers) and Alistair Golby (Vo2Max) but heavy rain throughout most of the event made for some really testing conditions. Karl continued his good run of form in the national Junior series  and although missing out on the early breaks finished well in the bunch finish to take an excellent 11th place overall 41 seconds behind the winner. For Reece and Alistair this was their first ride at national level and they both acquitted them selves well with Reece loosing the main bunch on the run into the finishing circuit and wasn’t quite able to get back through the race convoy before retiring with 2 laps to go. Alistair lost contact with the main bunch with 3 laps to go and then was taken of the course by one of the first aid vehicles and then baulked by another rider on the cobbled climb but persevered to finish a very respectable 39th at 5.04.
In the senior GP Peter Cocker (PedalPuishers) made a big step up in class to tackle his first Premier calendar event with a field of all the top domestic professional riders in the country tackling two of the 30 mile loops before a final 8 laps of the finish circuits up steep hill for a total of 120 miles.
Peter had an eventful race with an excursion into a hedge on the second of the big loops forcing him to chase back through the race convoy for 10 km to rejoin the bunch just as it was splitting under pressure at the front. By the time it hit the first of the finishing circuits Peter had forced his way back to the front of the main bunch with almost half the field already eliminated as breakaway groups began to establish themselves. Peter handled the main climb of steep hill well but gradually lost position as the main bunch split as the distance told and after 100 miles with only 3 laps to go the group of 12 riders he was in was stopped as they were now 9 mins behind the leaders.
The race was run by Raleigh professional Yanto Barker and only 41 riders finished from the 180 who started.
