Le Page digs in for gutsy TT win in the NW gale

CHRIS LE PAGE took victory in the Velo Club's 50-mile time trial held in a horrendous force-six north-westerly wind. Le Page covered the distance in 2hr 5min. 40sec.

The course, based on the west coast, consisted of three 16-mile laps and a two-mile run to the finish and with the direction of the wind providing almost no help or shelter, Le Page rode consistently to take victory from second-placed Tim Holmes by just under five minutes.

Tracey Dowinton rode a strong race in conditions that really did not favour the more slightly built competitors and took third in 2-24-17, six seconds ahead of Paul Jackson in fourth.

Bjorn Staben rounded out the top five.

The fastest time of the day was actually produced by a team effort from Island Games riders Tony Bleasdale and Aaron Bailey, who clocked 1-56-30.

The pair started as a team of four riders attempting to break the 50-mile team time trial record. The previous best time of 1-57-14 has stood for 18 years.

Bleasdale and Bailey, along with Mike Dean and Ironman triathlete Carl Thomson, knew that in the conditions they had their work cut out even to get close to that.

A fast start saw Thomson quickly distanced from the quartet, but with the rules requiring only three riders to finish together, the team continued in their attempt.

However, at around half-distance Dean started to suffer and was soon distanced from Bailey and Bleasdale.

Realising that as a trio their chances of meeting the target were unlikely, Bailey and Bleasdale made the decision to continue as a pair to see how close they could get to their target.

As it turned out their time was almost a minute quicker, but without a third rider with them it would not count as a record.

Dean finished in 2-02-40, with Thompson clocking 2-15-15.

In addition to the 50-mile event, a support race consisted of one lap of the course and the run to the finish, a total of 18 miles.

Oliver Tracey took the honours in 48min. 40sec.