Press Release 27th & 30th June 2013

Sunday marked the running of Lewes Wanderers Open thirty-mile event.  The thirty-mile option is one seldom used, with 25-miles being the preferred racing distance for most testers.  The novelty of the distance sets its own problems with the extra five miles making pace judgement somewhat tricky.

Riders set off in warm pleasant conditions with a mere whisper of a breeze to trouble them.  There were some superb performances on the day culminating in team victory for the fastest three riders from a single club, awarded to the Lewes trio of Nick Dwyer, Pete Morris and Rob Pelham.  The times of Morris (1:06:17) and Pelham (1:06:52) when combined with Dwyer’s time of 1:05:55 managed to improve the trio’s club record , set last year, by over two minutes.  Steve Kane of Brighton Excelsior was the overall winner of the event in a time of 1:04:19.

There were several notable performances by members of the Lewes squad.  Dan Gardner stormed round the course in a remarkable time of 1:08:42, setting a new junior club record, one which will be hard to beat.  What made Dan’s performance so impressive was that he rode the course on a normal road bike as opposed to the customary and faster time trial machine.  Lisa Glandfield stepped into unknown territory in riding this distance and performed heroically to finish in a time of 1:29:13.  The Lewes squad featured heavily on the start sheet and were well represented on the honours board.  Nick Dwyer added the Standard award to his overall second position and teamed up with Tom Glandfield (1:08:55 ) and your correspondent (1:15:42) to win VTTA medals for the highest Surrey and Sussex Veteran team of three.  In the club awards, the top three on Standard were Dwyer, Lloyd and Peter Baker(1:14:02),with the Handicap awards going to Richard Frost (1:23:02), Dan Gardener and Matt Coombs, who had a fine ride in a time of 1:10:03.

Rob Pelham, ably assisted by his band of hard working helpers, ran the event with his customary clockwork precision and was grateful for the generous sponsorship from the Giant store based at Shoreham.

Earlier in the week the Wanderers staged their club event, the Circuit of Earwig.  The course features some testing sections on its 17.68-mile journey from Laughton on a circular route to finish at the top of the Broyle.  With favourable conditions many riders set PB times.  Nick Dwyer was overall winner and first on Standard in a fast time of 38:59, edging out Pete Morris by a narrow seventeen second margin. Tom Glandfield completed the podium places with a fine ride of 40:33.  Your correspondent was second on Standard (43:58) followed by Dominic Lowden (42:44).  First handicap went the way of the fast improving Tom Benjamin (44:05), with the evergreen Pete Baker grabbing second spot (42:54) with the third position being filled by David Beale, who dipped under the fifty minute barrier with a time of 49:10.

Press Release 20th & 23rd June 2013

The final round of the Lewes Wanderers Cycling Club Criterium road race series, sponsored by the Tri Store in Eastbourne took place on the Laughton road circuit last Thursday 20th June.

The average speed was exceptionally high this week due to a calm evening and a highly competitive field.

The early primes were hotly contested with returning rider, Jamie Lowden getting the early points for Lewes with Simon MacNamara of Southdowns Bikes doing enough to gain points in each sprint. The previous week's race leader, Rob Pelham, was unable to contest these high speed battles and one rider at the finish seemed perplexed that his 37.8 mile per hour finishing pace was not quick enough to win him even a minor sprint!

The race was shaped by Nick Dwyer, one of Lewes' top short distance time trial specialists, who set a relentless pace on the front of the bunch and this caused many riders to head back to the race HQ early.

On the last lap a break of four riders formed containing Dwyer, Nigel Langridge of Crawley CC, Nathan Fletcher of ASL360 and Marc Townsend of the Neon Velo team.   In the final sprint, Fletcher took an impressive win from Townsend with Dwyer finishing third.

After some tense inspection of the final points scores, the series overall was won by Simon MacNamara who had done enough on the final night by leading home the bunch sprint for fifth place to edge out Jamie Lowden in second, with first round winner, Lewes rider Rob Pelham completing the podium.

The Lewes team of marshals and helpers did another fantastic job in putting on the race and look forward to next year, which will be the 50th consecutive running of this popular event.  LWCC would like to thank Chris Hough and his large team of helpers for putting on the show.

After his spectacular midweek ride, Jamie Lowden made the long trip home to his base in France and entered a prestigious French Federation race, which featured some of the premier riders in the region.  Jamie sported Lewes colours and did the club proud by grabbing an impressive win.  The first half of the race was largely flat, but ferocious winds meant a grim battle all the way. The thrilling climax to the race unfolded on the mountain top finish on the Col d’Ahusquy where Jamie powered up the final 20% incline to grab victory from a strong bunch of seven riders.

Four Lewes representatives had to content themselves with the slightly less glamorous settings of the A24 to compete in Sunday’s tough SCCU 50 mile time trial.  The undulating course around Dial Post is a notoriously difficult course to master, with the addition of the stiff headwind down the A24 compounding the challenge.

Rob Pelham had another strong ride and made light of the conditions by securing third position in a time of 1:54:42.With Peter Morris (1:57:32) and Phil Allen (1:58:29) both finishing in the top six.  This talented threesome are provisional winners of the team award.  Your correspondent was the fourth rider and I completed my ride in 1:16:49.  The overall winner was the impressive Steve Dennis of East Grinstead Cycling Club who underlined his class by posting a very fast time of 1:51:42.

Press Release 10th, 13th, 15th & 16th June 2013

The second round of the Lewes Wanderers Evening Criterium Series, with Prizes sponsored by the Tri Store, Eastbourne, saw a full field of 50 riders turn out to race on the Laughton Circuit on a dry evening with high winds.

This ferocious headwind for leading riders coming down the Broyle and a tailwind up the Lewes road made for testing conditions on the night.  The first prime saw Simon MacNamara from the Southdowns Bikes team easing clear from LWCC overall series leader after round 1, Rob Pelham, and Shane Pope from the Bayeux Cycling Team.  Two more prime skirmishes saw both Pelham and MacNamara win one each, a testimony to the consistency and strength of both riders.

The organiser was pleased to see several teams fielding junior riders including Lewes, Eastbourne Rovers, VO2 development, ASL360 and riding his first Lewes crit, triathlete, Jago Leckie from Hailsham.  All rode extremely well against their older colleagues.

There were several attempts at a race-deciding breakaway, including a concerted team effort by Team ASL 360 mid race. Lewes riders, Nick Dwyer and Dominic Lowden in particular, did some hard work to protect Pelham’s lead in chasing down attacks. The race ended in a bunch sprint after a hectic fight for position on the final lap.

Unfortunately, Lewes rider John Miller fell heavily and suffered a broken collarbone in the final 500 Metres.  This is rotten luck for John as he is due to attempt the gruelling London-Edinburgh-London Audax at the end of July.

At the front of the race, MacNamara looked almost untouchable as he crossed the line ahead of a frantic sprint, which saw Rob Pelham prevail over the experienced Martin Markowski of ASL 360, in a very close photo finish at the front of a fast moving bunch.

Going into the final week the talented and tactically astute MacNamara goes head to head on equal points with strong man Pelham for the last event, although with double points on the last night, several other riders have sufficient points to put themselves into contention.

On the previous Monday, the LWCC Evening Ten series incorporated the Fixed Wheel event which proved to be a closely fought contest between Paul Gibbons and Dom Lowden, which saw Paul claim victory by a mere two seconds in a fast time of 23:44.

The weekend saw three of Lewes premier riders compete in the Hemel Hempstead 10 mile event held near Tring.  This highly anticipated ride is held on one of the fastest courses in the country and had attracted a full start list of 150 competitors.  Such was the scramble for places that a cut off time of 21:24 was set, which meant that only the top competitors in the country had the necessary qualifying times to compete.  Hopes of super-fast times were dashed with a combination heavy downpours and fierce winds.  However, despite the foul weather, Nick Dwyer, Rob Pelham and Tom Glandfield managed to smash the club Team Record by over two minutes by recording times of 19:54, 20:07 and 20:56 respectively.  Such was the quality of their rides that they managed to finish as second team in this high calibre field. Rob Pears of Bath CC won the event in a time of 19:08.

In the Southborough 25, held on the local Boship based course, the Wanderers had a solid day out with Pete Morris being the first Lewes man home in a time of 55:47.  Other times were Mark Paton 59:21, Sam Ramsey 59:30, Michael Valks 59:39, Micky Turner 1:01:32, your correspondent 1:01:44 and Stephen Gaston 1:07:02.  The overall winner was Steve Kane of Brighton Excelsior in a time of 53:59.

The final rides of the weekend were made by Dom Lowden and Duncan Fuller who took part in the Axiom 25 held on the A3, and both riders had fine rides setting personal best times of 58:33 and 56:03 respectively.

Press Release 3rd, 6th, 8th & 9th June 2013

A dramatic week of racing for the Lewes Wanderers Cycling Club saw some splendid achievements and record setting rides.  The headline event of the week was the first round of the Lewes Crits, splendidly organised by Chris Hough ably supported by members of the Lewes club.

Last Thursday, 49 riders lined up for the opening round of this year’s LWCC 50km Evening Criterium series - 5 laps of a dry but windy Laughton circuit.  The strong easterly wind meant any groups or individuals who became detached from the main field would not regain contact and only the strongest riders would break off the front.  Lewes fielded a strong team, along with ASL 360, Brighton Mitre and Crawley Wheelers, with some smaller, but very capable teams, such as Southdowns Bikes, joining them.

The first lap was the fastest in recent years and Wanderers were quick to show themselves at the front with Jamie Lowden taking the first sprint prime from John Cordner (Eastbound Rovers) and Pete Morris, who is riding for ASL 360 this year.  Lowden and Morris were first and second in the remaining sprints with Rob Pelham (LWCC) making up the trio.

The main group of riders had already split on the first lap, due to a relentless pace set at the front of the bunch, with other Lewes riders, Dominic Lowden, Tom Glandfield, Neil Midgley and Nick Dwyer, helping drive the field. This acted as a springboard for Jamie Lowden, Pelham and Morris to attack off the front and signified an early night for others, struggling to stay with the pace.  Simon MacNamara from Southdowns Bikes, who ominously tucked himself into the group for the remainder of the race, joined the three-man breakaway.

By the penultimate lap there were three groups on the road with a couple of individual riders left to fend for them. Pelham looked increasingly strong as he drove the break on the last lap, but it was unclear who would have the power left for the final sprint.  Pelham and Lowden led home after opening a gap on MacNamara and Morris.  The only un-nerving element in a good evening's work for the Wanderers, was Pelham's near disastrous attempt at a victory salute, the effort he had put in during the race clearly catching up with him.

Last Monday, the LWCC Evening Ten incorporated the Tandem challenge.  It was won by seasoned tandem campaigner Peter Baker and novice rider Micky Turner, who did well on a windy night to record a fast time of 21:53.  Second pair home were the long distance specialists Paul Gibbons and John Miller (23:06), followed by three wheeled aficionado Adrian Hills riding with Simon Yates (31:50) on a precarious looking tandem trike.  After the race an ashen-faced Simon reported that it was his first and last time on said machine.

Jamie Lowden was again a star performer and recorded his first Open win in the VTTA 10, based at East Hoathly and held on Saturday morning.  In blustery conditions, unfavourable for fast times, Jamie stormed round the course in a lightning  time of 21:54, sharing first place honours with Matthew Woods of Eastbourne Rovers.  Other Wanderers times on the day were: Tom Glandfield 22:38, Michael Valks 23:48, Peter Baker 23:51, Dom Lowden 23:58 and Stephen Gaston 25:31.

The following day, four Wanderers headed out to the fast course near Bentley to take part in the Reading CC 50.  The nagging wind suggested that this was not going to be a fast day, though Nick Dwyer, Rob Pelham and Jamie Lowden appeared not to have read that particular script by smashing the club team 50 record by setting times of 1:49:27, 1:52:15 and 1:53:24 respectively.  The three boys also won the team prize.  Dom Lowden (2:06:00) was the fourth Wanderer and the overall event was won by James Gilfillan of Velo Refined in 1:45:59.

Other members of the Lewes team opted to ride in the Crawley Wheelers 41.6, on a hilly course tracing a circular route around Handcross via Henfield.  The Lewes riders had mixed fortunes on the day with Phil Allen being the top finisher (1:42:50), followed by Neil Midgley (1:48:35), Micky Turner 1:51:08 and Sam Ramsey 1:53:10.  Your correspondent was a DNF, puncturing some three miles into the race. Chris McNamara of Pedal Heaven won the event in an astounding time of 1:35:32.

Thursday sees the final round of the Lewes Crits, with riders starting at 7:15pm at Laughton.  With positions at the top being very close, the evening promises thrills all the way in what should again be a gripping and closely fought contest.

Press Release 2nd June 2013

The Eastbourne Festival of cycling held last weekend attracted a large number of participants, offering a wide array of activities for cyclists of all abilities.  Of particular interest to the Lewes Wanderers team was the Third Cat race.  The sinuous course around Eastbourne sea front offered many technical challenges, including some tricky 180-degree bends.  Lewes participants Tom Glandfield and Dom Lowden both had good rides and finished just off the main bunch of finishers, as did Nick Smith who rode in the Fourth Cat promotion.

On Sunday, four Lewes riders headed westward to ride in the Old Portlians 25 mile event around Broadbridge Heath.  Riders were grateful to have a following wind on the outward leg, making the clenched fist descent through Ockley a thrilling experience.  Unfortunately, a heavy toll was levied on the return leg were the friendly wind turned face and became a nagging adversary, making the journey from the Southwater roundabout an unremitting grovel, seeing promising times evaporate into the ether as average speeds dropped exponentially to the finishing line.

Lewes new boy Phil Allen made light of the conditions and stormed round in spectacular fashion to post a very impressive time of 55:26, placing him second, a mere twenty or so seconds behind the winner, Mark Clothier of Southdown Bikes.  Mark Paton (59:43), your correspondent (1:02:30) and Stephen Gaston (1:06:16) all posted times a minute down from their previous excursion around the course, illustrating the significance of the wind in determining fast times.

The Wanderers are promoting their Evening Criterium Series consisting of three 50km road races, run on Thursday the 6th, 13th and 20th of June.  Known as the Lewes Crits, the race is centred on Laughton with racing starting at 7:15pm.

Each event consists of five laps of a circuit up Shortgate Lane, down The Broyle to Kennel Corner and back to Laughton to complete the lap.  Along with the competition for overall glory there is a sprint race point prime competition on each lap on Shortage Lane.  For the seventh consecutive year the Tri Store in Eastbourne are providing generous sponsorship of the prize fund.

Event promoter, Chris Hough, is delighted to report he has a full field for the series with over fifty competitors signed up and we can look forward to some close and thrilling races over the series.

Press Release 25th, 26th & 27th May 2013

A bank holiday bonanza of cycling ensured that members of the Lewes Wanderers Cycling Club made best use of the remnants of a pitiful spring to grab some racing action in something approaching favourable conditions.

The weekend kicked off on Saturday with Nick and Kaye Dwyer heading out to Farnham to compete in the Farnham RC Ten.  With the thermometer scaling the dizzy height of 16 degrees conditions were set fare for some fast rides on this very fast course near Farnham.  Last year, talented Lewes front man Nick Dwyer missed out on the top spot by an agonising three seconds in this event, this year, despite setting a course PB (20:22), was pipped by one second for overall honours by Tejvan Pettinger (Sri Chinmoy CC).  Kaye Dwyer had a splendid outing and managed to slice an impressive minute of her PB in a time of 27:01.  Neil Midgley completed the Lewes line up and had a solid ride finishing in a time of 23:18.

Four members of the Lewes squad opted to compete in Sunday’s Sussex CA thirty mile event held on an undulating course based around Partridge Green. The thirty-mile option is one seldom used, with 25-miles being the preferred racing distance for most testers.  The novelty of the distance sets its own problems with the extra five miles making pace judgement difficult.

All four riders notched up PB performances on the day, a good effort on such a tricky course.  First Lewes man home was Tom Glandfield (1:09:58) followed by your correspondent (1:15:00), Sam Ramsey (1:15:42) and Stephen Gaston (1:19:16).  The promising Steve Kane of Brighton Mitre won the event in a time of 1:06:02.

Bank Holiday Monday delivered atypical weather as the rain held off and the sun shone.  These favourable conditions helped riders set some fast times in a bewildering series of esoteric rides provided by promoter Robin Johnson.  The meeting kicked off with the “flat bling event”.  In this ten miler, riders could race on full TT bikes featuring all the usual time trial accruements.  Nick Dwyer blazed round the course in a time of 20:40 to snatch top billing on the day.  Nick teamed up with Phil Allen (21:57) and Tom Glandfield (22:00) to capture the team prize.  Kaye Dwyer had a solid ride finishing third in the Ladies competition (27:58) which was won by Olympic superstar Joanna Roswell, who smashed the ladies course record setting a staggering time of 21:48.

After riding the first event Nick swapped bikes to ride on his road bike to compete in the second race and posted a fast time of 23:25 to gain second spot in this competition.

After their lung bursting and sinew stretching efforts the last thing most riders would wish to do is to relive the pain and agony.  Several riders elected to subject their bodies to more torture to ride again in the legendary Hilly Ten.  This ride starts off with a flat out sprint of eight miles retracing the start of the flat ten.  This fast start to the race lulls many riders into a false sense of security as the last section of the ride consists of the brutal climb up to the top of Stennying Bostal.  This climb is so steep that some riders have been unable to make it to the top; so to subject your body to this torture requires physical and mental fortitude of the most extreme kind.  Duncan Fuller and Phil Allen were the only Lewes souls brave enough to attempt the ride and completed the course in very respectable times of 25:57 and 27:07 respectively.

Press Release 18th & 19th May 2013

Last weekend a strong contingent from the Lewes Wanderers Cycling Club headed out to Broadbridge Heath to take part in the SCCU 10 and Worthing Excelsior 25 held on consecutive days.

The Saturday ten was run in pleasant conditions over a revised course.  Lewes star Nick Dwyer notched up yet another impressive victory covering the course in a remarkable time of 20:13.  Rob Pelham had elected to ride out to the course and despite approaching his ride as a training exercise he still managed to finish his ride in an impressive time of 22:13.  Kaye Dwyer was the sole Lady representative for the Wanderers clocking a steady time of 28:18.

On Sunday five Wanderers made the increasingly familiar trip to ride the rolling 25 course around Ockley.  Riders must be getting used to the course, as it is noticeable that times have been steadily improving, and this increased familiarity coupled with still conditions saw most of the Wanderers knock a minute or more off their previous ride.  Pete Morris made light of the seesaw course and put in a storming ride to finish in a time of 54:43, a time fast enough to secure second place in the General Classification.  Duncan Fuller (57:42) and Mark Paton (58:58) teamed up with Pete to grab an impressive team victory over local rivals, In-Gear.  Dominic Lowden had an eventful ride, at the start of his efforts he found that he could not engage the big ring, somewhat of a handicap on a circuit that features some very fast downhill sections, and to further add to his woes managed to crack the seat post of his bike, which over a 25 mile course is akin to playing Russian Roulette with valuable assets.  Your correspondent knocked over 1:30 off his previous weeks ride and was pleased to have set a new course PB with a time of 1:01:30. Stephen Gaston went one better by slicing over two minutes of his previous ride on the course, and in the process set a new PB of 1:03:52.

Tim trialling is sometimes referred to as “testing”.  Last Monday’s LWCC Evening 10 put a slight nuance on the word, as it was run in the most demanding of conditions.  Grim overcast weather turned nasty with a sudden increase in wind speed; so strong was the wind that several riders commented after that it was the windiest conditions they had ever ridden in.  Several riders after warming up wisely decided that deep sectioned wheels were the wrong choice for the conditions and swapped to low profile alternatives. Riders who did not make this choice were continually buffeted by fierce sidewinds, which at times made riding on the tri bars an unfeasible proposition.  Lesser riders look to conditions as an excuse for slow times, where class acts seem impervious to such considerations and post incredible times. Pete Morris mastered the elements to sail around the course in a stunning time of 21:49.  Only one other rider, the in-form Peter Baker managed to break the 24-minute mark in a time of 23:55.

Club Run Report - 7th July 2013

Club Run to The Pantry, Hartfield

Sunday 7th July by Paget Cohen

Judging by the amount of sweat dripping from my helmet just from riding back from attempting to marshal the first stage of the Tour de Sussex at Laughton the day before I might have readied a bucket for my Sunday return., but the conditions were too good to waste.  20 degrees as I accepted the 8am tailwind to Uckfield to find someone already waiting.  Turns out he was merely a tourist stopped at the lights to check his map, but Mark L,  #294 Stuart K, Carl M and nice Martyn soon pitched up.

Having paced us up the climbs North through Coopers Green, Burnt Oak, Stone Cross, Whitehill and Rotherfield Martyn peeled off, work done, or perhaps he was regretting the arm-warmers.  Mark assumed the mantle of navigator-in-chief and led us further North past the Bowles Outdoor Pursuit Centre to Eridge and into into Groombridge.  Rather than mix it with the traffic up Groombridge Hill we cut down a recently resurfaced lane for a brief burst along the A264 before ducking into the next valley and Walters Green.  The climb back out was made harder by the broken surface under the shade of the trees, but worth it for the stretch Westwards along the ridge.

At the White Post crossroads we het 2 horse-riders heading South and a stream of sportive riders turning North.  In hindsight we probably should have gone with the flow rather than down the lane they were all emanating from as more than once Stuart & I had to yell, grab the brakes and swerve to the verge to avoid those dodging hazards, overtaking or simply being thoughtless; still we survived unscathed to reconvene at the next junction.

Not quite where Mark intended as it happened, but I know the area well so was able to direct us through Cowden, and up past Holtye Golf Course to cross the A264 again and into Cansiron Lane.  From the far end it was only a short ride to the tea stop and welcome rest and refreshment.  Good job we were early as we were able to order before a mud-spattered Gibbo and the somewhat cleaner Messrs Jeffs and Lloyd and Midgeley rolled in from their own directions.

As such we were able to depart en masse, but I seemed to have left my legs behind on the drag up through Chuck Hatch and onto the forest as Graham and Carl had turned for Crowborough before I caught the others waiting for me.  Downhill was no better as I was cooked, but the guys kindly soft-pedalled from Fairwarp allowing me to join them until the Coopers Green when we went our separate ways with only Midgo to lead me back through the lanes, dodging dogs, horses and chickens, and back to Heathfield.  55 miles at a relatively pedestrian 15.4mph, but satisfying nonetheless.   

Lewes Wanderers CC Evening Criteriums - 2013

Round 1 Report

Round 2 Report

Round 3 Report & General Classification

Wanderers jersey on top of the world

As with previous years Le Tour de France this year has a fantasy cycling game which accompanies it run by Velogames.

With fantasy games of this type each rider is rated & given a value according to ability & likelihood to do well (so Froomes & Cavendish's are higher value than Bodnar & Terpstra for example). Points are scored on a number of criteria, the main one being finishing position on the stage that day.
To stop you selecting all the big names in the same team you are given a budget & have to fill a squad of nine with certain rider types (ie X climbers, X Sprinters, X All rounders etc).

Squads selected a Lewes Wanderers CC mini league was set up with 7 from the club taking part. After 6 days the league looks like this:

As the saying goes 'the Tour isn't won in the first week' or something like that, & I'm sure there is gonna be plenty of shuffling of this order when the high mountains come into play.

Its worth noting however, that after the first 6 stages the Lewes Wanderers CC jersey of the superteam that is Robinoco Flow sits proudly in 1st position. Ahead of the 30,000 other teams from all around the world.

Jamie wins big in France

By Jamie Lowden

Finally stepped up and did an FFC race down. It was 2/3 category but the categories don't really translate all that well - the French have no Elites so it was like a UK 1/2/3 race.
After a bit of messing around getting the right to race (letters from both British cycling and the French Federation not being sufficient) we headed out for 110km with the last 12km up the col d'Ahusquy for my first ever mountain top finish.
Because i was using my UK licence i was in Womble colours - the first LWCC racer on the continent?

The first half of the race was horrible on a flat road with a mean cross-wind and riding in the gutter trying to hang onto the wheel in front. After that there were some hills which were horribly fast and i almost called it a day as we went past my car 30km from the end. Luckily i didn't and a few km after i found myself in a break of 7 with one of the strongest boys in town - this guy Dumont can do 400W for 1h20 and weighs not much more than me and was the massive favorite for the race.

After 20-odd km in the break we had 2 minutes as we hit the climb. The first 5km were at 8% and i managed to stay with Dumont and one other for all of 2km before giving up and dropping back to a couple of other guys. We rode pretty well together and once the worst of the climb was over were not that far back. Some solid efforts over the next 5 flatter kms brought us back to the front two who looked a bit worse for wear.

The last 2km the road ramped up again but this time i was feeling ok and as we saw the last bit to the finish (150m at >20%) I went for it and managed to stay away to take what seems to be a fairly major win.

At the end everyone was proper f*cked but we all had to ride back down this mountain in spitting rain and 8C 

Hopefully get some more pictures of what was a Joaquim Rodriguez-esque win but for the moment i have only the presentation - certainly the hardest 50 euros i have ever earned in my life.



I look happy to be there even if the podium girl doesn't.