“I hit ’em hard!” was how Pete Williams (Pinarello/Candi TV/ Marshalls Pasta) explained his race winning move in Sunday’s 54th Drummond Trophy, held in bright sunshine on the sinuous back roads west of Eaglesham and the M77.
With a new Scottish sponsor’s name on their jerseys (Marshalls) and the commanding figure of team boss Phil Griffiths there in the flesh, there was never any doubt that Pinarello were going to win.
Although Evan Oliphant might dispute that – but his disqualification for “dissent” means he’ll have to wait another year to get his name on the trophy.
The man himself – Norrie Drummond – was looking tanned and dapper at the start; happy to have the mighty Pinarello squadra on the patch.
In a controversial move, VeloVeritas decided to cover the race by bicycle and after we’d upset some of the locals by not sharing the Oppy caps Phil Griffiths tossed us from the car during the neutralised section, it was time to park up, get the bikes out and pedal.
The ‘old’ A77 was in benign mood as we rolled the big rings south towards the right hander where the race emerged from the ‘wilds.’
In Belgian amateur, ‘training on the circuit style,’ we were going against the race route; all the hard bits for us would be fast in the race – and vice versa.
We were around one mile in from the A77 when the lead car appeared for the first time. Gregor had dropped me on the long drag and I was deep in oxygen debt as I fumbled the Nikon from my bag.
Pinarello had three up the road with a Plowman and a Condor – Pete Williams was already active, trying to bridge across, as was Ross Creber (Plowman Craven).
I dropped Gregor on the technical, gnarly descent but made the mistake of waiting for him – he jumped me, and by the time we got to the reservoir at the circuit’s highest point, I was well dropped. (Gregor has always been jealous of my 80’s hill climb team medal.)
Up there, on the moors it was Evan Oliphant at front of a break of half-a-dozen, with Pinarellos on the way across – but it didn’t look like it was going to ‘stick.’