British Elite Road Championships
Kristian House of Rapha-Condor won, Chris Froome was "man of the match" and there was plenty of sunshine.
That's the British Champs in a nutshell; the race story is up on Pez - it really was a great day.
We thought we'd bring you a photo-rich piece from the race, since we took so many pics, and because over 11 hours in a car in one day has somewhat dulled our senses!
Laydeez an Genulmen...your new champ, Kristian House!
Kristian took a very fast downhill sprint through the narrow, barriered streets, from Dan Lloyd and Peter Kennaugh. You can see Chris Froome in the background, disappointed with 4th after all his attacking riding.
Chris Froome checks his computer to see how long a lap of the finishing circuit is taking. It was taking him less than nine minutes to do the four hilly miles!
The Tumble
Before that though, he and Wiggins blasted the race to bits on the Tumble. We couldn't believe how fractured it was this early in the race, and discussed whether it added to the race, or helped it reach it's conclusion prematurely.
20 seconds after Wiggins and Frooms, Millar sauntered past looking like he was on the way to the shops for the rolls. We were convinced that he was the man for today, and Wiggins was doing the "softening up". Later though, he said that it was all "smoke and mirrors".
Ian Stannard and Cav came by, with several others tucked in, including Evan Oliphant.
At this point on the Tumble, Russ Downing was in the group with Cavendish, but looked to us as if he was struggling to stay in contact.
Chris Newton.
Our pal Matt Brammeier chats to Phil Griffiths.
Suddenly, there's Hamish Haynes, and he's going pretty fast! Martin needs to run to make sure he gets his two bottles.
Jon Bellis, here with Deano Downing, found it tough today, and didn't feature in the second half of the race.
Jez Hunt rode well to get in the chase group, but before that, he suffered like everyone else on the Tumble.
Dan Fleeman spots us and pulls across to say hi. We think he was looking for an expresso.
Another returnee from the continent, Ben Swift, found it a brutal race.
Ex-champ and recent Tour Series winner Rob Hayles didn't see the front half of the race again after the Tumble. Two months of riding one hour criteriums aren't the best preparation for this.
Finishing Circuit
Once on the finish circuit, Kristian House (front) and young Peter Kennaugh, fresh from a stage win and third overall at the "baby Giro" made the final selection of four riders.
It was a little odd seeing Mark fend for himself, without a brace of teammates alongside.
Hugh Porter did a great job of whipping up the crowd's excitement throughout the day.
Cav leads Ev, with Ian Stannard still there at this point.
Chris attacked the lead group and got clear three times, building a healthy lead of over 30 seconds with 8 miles to go.
Lap after lap, Chris came past us at the Feed Station on his own, time trialling to the win, or so it seemed.
Riders who had packed today still wanted to help their teammates, rather than slink off to the showers. We liked that.
Here's the lovely Emma Pooley, who finished third yesterday in the Women's Champs, and won the recent Grande Boucle Feminine Internationale, not to mention 2nd in the Olympics last year.
Chris really attacked the circuit, and took a lot of risks with his cornering, trying to stay clear. A very impressive bike rider.
Having said that, House, Lloyd and Kennaugh weren't hanging around either.
Organiser Gary Baker and his team worked on the preparation for this weekend's racing for over nine months, and it showed. It was clear that everything had been thought about, and it all went very smoothly. We anticipated the usual "getting creds" issues, á la Tour de France, but Gary made it very easy for us. We have never seen so many motos on a race outside of the Tour, it was all very thorough and professional, and did British Cycling and the competitors proud.
Cav and Hammond came across the line smiling and resigned to 5th and 6th place.
Cav shows his, er, typical cyclist's physique.
Roger Hammond and the ProTour guys recover from 100 miles in 4 hours pretty quickly.
Dan Fleeman tells Martin all about his new coffee machine.
Dan Lloyd has grown as a rider with the Cervélo Test Team, and rode superbly today for silver.
Hamish Haynes
But in addition to our Pez hats, we had our "Supporter Hamish Haynes" and "VeloResults" bonnets on too.
Hamish takes delivery of his nutritional bits and bobs.
Hamish lives the dream, a wee house in the wilds of Belgium, slugging out it with the big hitters of he kermesse world, week in, week out.
He's had some big wins out there, but ploughs-on, largely forgotten here in Blighty.
Last year VeloResults helped Hamish out with race food and drink and this year Gregor Russell of Velo Ecosse provided us with heavily subsidised food and drink for the man who rides for Yawadoo and has earned the right to wear the red, white and blue stripes of a former British elite road race champion around his shorts and jersey.
Hamish sits tight in the bunch in the early miles.
Hi-5 and Cliff Bar were the precious cargo we carried and Hamish will be advising us how he's getting on with them, as the season progresses.
Hamish gave us his take on the day;
"The Tumble climb was a kilometre too long for me - all my training is geared towards courses like the finish circuit is here - I just couldn't stay with the leaders over the top, but I was riding strongly on the circuit.
"It's difficult for the ProTour riders to get a result on a day like today; there's so much weight of expectation on them.
"I knew Kristian was very well prepared, I saw that he had been getting good results in the Tour of Beauce in Canada - and that's a hard race."
As well as Hamish and the top four, that are up on Pez, we grabbed a few words with some of the other names who mattered in Sunday's epic.
Steve Cummings
Steve grabbed two big wins in Italy last year, this season it's obvious that his morale isn't the best - which is a shame; this is a man who Alberto Contador rated as a top team rider when they shared their tenure at Discovery Channel.
Steve Cummings summed up his recent few weeks in one word - which we can't use here.
Barloworld has the reputation of not being the best organised of teams, Steve has just one race on the calendar for July and 11 for the whole of the rest of the season.
Tired though he may be, Steve takes time to sign dozens of kids' jerseys like a true pro.
Next year will be better, Steve - maybe the Sky will be the limit.
Chris Froome gets cleaned up by the GB soigneur, whilst chatting to Dave Brailsford. Maybe Steve and he will still be teammates next year?
Alex Coutts
Coutsie was one of loads of riders who told us they didn't feel great today, probably something to do with the 26 degree heat!
Alex was down with his dad for the day and did well to finish; he's not had the racing required to build the form to go jousting with the ProTour boys;
"it was a hard race, The Tumble was tough, I tried to go with the front group but started to go backwards when I was three quarters of the way up!"
Ross Creber
Ross was one of those who suffered when Plowman Craven joined the long list of "imaginary pro teams" that have caused us to shake our heads, over the years. Now an Endura man, he took time to chat as he wiped away that Welsh dirt from his legs;
"I crashed before The Tumble, I got back but the birds had flown. I was 30th and top ten in the Under 23's, so it wasn't a bad ride; but I had a better one in me."
Evan Oliphant
Big hero of the day for Scotland was another ex-PC man gone Endura, Evan Oliphant.
Evan cames across the line just behind ProTour riders Roger Hammond and Milan-San Remo winner Mark Cavendish, an outstanding ride for the Scot.
Evan was in the chase group with top riders - a fantastic ride.
" James McCallum looked after me until the Tumble; there was a split just before it but we saw it coming and James ripped me right up to the front; I freewheeled into the lead group!
"Wiggins and Millar smashed it on The Tumble but I rode within myself and stayed close to Dan Lloyd and Roger Hammond; I knew they'd be a safe bet to get back on.
"We drove hard down off the Tumble; I only had a '12' and was revving-out.
"When House went, I hesitated, I thought Wiggins and Cav would bring him back. On the last lap, I attacked but Cav and Hammond countered and I couldn't hold them when they came back at me."
If we were rating Evan out of 10, Gazzetta style; we'd give him 8.5.
Evan tails eventual winner House.
The Tumble is a brute of a climb, as Gary Hand found out.
John Herety
And finally, Kristian House's manager, John spoke to us.
John Herety tells Ed what the Rapha-Condor plan had been, and how it changed as the race progressed.
"Our early plan went a little astray; we had Tom Southam and Chris Newton down as leaders with Kristian and Simon Richardson as "floaters" - meaning that they would either adopt a supporting role for Tom and Chris or fall into a leadership role themselves.
"Half way up The Tumble it became "everything for Kristian" as we saw how things were going. He read the race perfectly; he's been try so hard to get a win - too hard.
"He's been so frustrated at the lack of results; in that respect it was a classic national championship - a good rider who's off the radar comes along and wins it!"
Rapha ask us for a drink on the Tumble.
The Rapha-Condor team are exhausted at the finish, but chuffed for Kristian.
VeloResults knows that self-praise is no praise, but we spotted Mr. House's form way back in March, that's why we interviewed him; and even back then, notice he spoke about winning today. Job done.
Martin - are we nearly home, yet ?
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Martin,
There's some pretty good photos here!
Cheers!