t the weekend Witham Wheelers Adam Egner, Martyn Ludlam and Shaun Culpin all travelled down to Rockingham for the 3/4 category, 2 day stage race. The first stage was a 50 mile road race around a circuit which had a testing climb to contend with on all 5 laps, saw the 80 strong field riding a very fast race, with breakaway attempts being made throughout. The wheelers followed the moves but were thinking more towards the second day and as such didn’t want to exert themselves too much, and eventually 5 riders managed to break free and stay away for the stage. Coming into the final sprint, all 3 wheelers were near the front of the bunch but it was Adam who came in as first wheeler, managing 4th in the bunch and 9th on the stage. Both Martyn and Shaun finished inside the top 20.
Next up was stage 2, a 3 mile TT to set apart the strong from the struggling. It was ex TT national champion Matt Bottrill who took his 2nd stage win of the day, with Adam finishing 40 seconds off in 26th, Shaun 52 seconds off in 42nd and Martyn 56 seconds off in 50th.
Finally came the Sunday road race, a 56 mile race on the gruelling Devil’s Staircase circuit. The 3 wheelers knew that if they wanted to significantly climb up the GC, they needed to be in a breakaway and as such, all three rode an attacking race. They were feeling strong and they were all involved in breakaway attempts, but unfortunately the race winning breakaway of just 3 riders went with 2 laps to go and none of the wheelers were there. As the gap went out to the break, riders’ minds quickly turned to thinking about the finish, on the crest of the horrible climb. Like yesterday, all 3 were in the top 10 of the bunch before the final kick for the line started, and it was Martyn who had the best finish on the stage in 6th place, with Adam next in 18thand Shaun only a handful of places behind. Overall, best placed wheeler was Adam in 21st position, with Shaun in 33rd and Martyn in 36th, and with 2 points finishes in the individual stages it was a good weekends racing for the wheelers.
