Written by Josh Barber.
This weekend sees the final weekend of the British Cycling elite road series spring cup, and its taking place right here on the streets of Lincoln.
It will be the 59th time that the Lincoln Grand Prix has been raced and it’s a race that every British rider dreams of winning.
After a tough first round at the tour de reservoir where Alex Peters worked his way into the leaders red jersey, the series headed to Wiltshire last weekend for the cycle Wiltshire Grand Prix where Velosure-Girodana rider, Marcin Bialoblocki sprinted to first place which gave him enough points to take the Red leaders jersey, tied on 69 points with Yanto Barker of Team Raleigh.
It certainly will not just be a two man race on Sunday though, with the likes of Graham Briggs and Alex Peters sitting closely behind in third and fourth place respectively.
If the race for the leader’s jersey is enough to whet the appetite, the 8 climbs up Michaelgate will surely get you excited. A 1 in 5 climb something no cyclist looks forward to, let alone the infamous, Roman ‘Pave’ (cobbles) of Michaelgate a leg shaking 8 times.
With thousands of fans lining the climb, there is no room for error, make a mistake or get a mechanical issue on Michaelgate and their race could be over in seconds.
The race is unique to the British Cycling calendar, with the Grand Prix being the only race to feature a cobbled climb.
Having won their bid to host the 2015 British national road and time trial championships the event organisers have decided to use their 2015 circuit, rather than the well-known Grand Prix circuit, the new longer, tougher race is set to be thrilling. Some of Britain’s best cyclists are taking the opportunity to ‘test’ the circuit out a year before they battle it out to become national champion in 2015.
The race will start with two 30 mile loops, before coming back onto the tradition grand prix circuit for 8, 8 mile laps.
Unfortunately due to his success with Team Sky, lasts year’s winner, Peter Kennaugh, who set a new course record, will not be returning to Lincoln this year, as he was set to star for Team Sky in one of the toughest races in the world, the Giro D’Italia starting on Friday in Dublin. However, Kennaugh has had to pull out through injury.
This means there will be no repeat of his ferocious attack as he came up Long Leys road, distancing himself, Martin Bialoblocki and Tom Scully from the peloton. However, we will have a new champion on the top step of the podium come 4pm on Sunday afternoon.
When the Team Sky rider was asked why he came to Lincoln to race he said “I’ve always seen this race and watched it and seen pictures and it always looks such a fantastic race, with the circuits, the big crowds and the cobbled climb.”
Don’t take his word for it, get out onto the streets of Lincoln this Sunday and support the riders.
For more information of the circuit and where you can see the race from visit: www.lincolngrandprix.co.uk