With the bells of beautiful Ampleforth Abbey peeling in celebration, Sky made it a hat trick of Elite British National Road Race Championships; strong man Ian Stannard following on from Geraint Thomas in 2010 and Bradley Wiggins in 2011.
Team mate Alex Dowsett made it a Sky one-two, with Raleigh’s Russell Hampton taking a well deserved bronze after matching the two Sky riders blow for blow until the last lap of the technical finishing circuit in beautiful North Yorkshire.
Stannard’s win was achieved in the grand manner – right there at the start of the five man break; driving it hard; then, when two of his companions cracked he took longer spells; and when it looked like the move might be brought back, he turned up the watts to put more than nearly eight minutes into what was left of the bunch by the end.
When we asked him at the finish what the Sky tactic for the day was, he replied; ‘keep the title in the team, simple, eh?’
Big loser on the day was Endura; they missed the break, chased hard, brought the gap down but couldn’t hold the rampant Stannard when he pressed harder on the pedals.
Last year we brought six spectators down for the National Road Race Championship – but this year it was just four; Callum and Dave joining us for the gig.
That’s down to the disbandment of the Dan Fleeman fan club, Scotland chapter – since our boy turned to the MTB it’s just not the same.
We caught sight of the break in the ladies race – Emma Pooley on the front, three on her wheel.
One girl was in between, then a yawning gap back to a small group and a dawdling peloton.
Our first chat of the day was with Node 4’s James Moss – just back from the Tour de Beauce, straight into the mid-week British Criterium Championship and not sure how he’ll do today.