Rose Bikes BDS #3 – Llangollen – Race Report

Fergus Ryan headed out with the rest of the Rideitout Team to Llangollen for BDS #3. Check out his Race Report and photo epic from Sarah Barrett.

The weekend’s action took place in Llangollen in North Wales, notorious for its steep gradient and tight lines. The racers arrived on Friday night to a dusty track primed for racing the next day. There was a definite excitement around the pits that evening.

Saturday:

Racers woke up early and the weather had held off despite warnings of bad rain throughout the weekend. The track was as expected as steep as ever and this took a few riders by surprise causing much excitement for the spectators. A particular area of interest was the infamous log drop in the woods, which had some pretty exciting new lines dug into it. Racers got up to speed and the track was getting pretty blown out as the day progressed.

Sunday:

Sunday morning arrived and there had been rain overnight leaving the track “greasy” and many racers choosing mud tyres for added traction in the woods. However by 12 the Sun was out and the track looked as dry as ever going into seeding runs. Seeding went down and Mike Jones and Manon Carpenter setting the fastest times however the results were very close with 0.3 of a second between mike and second place and a large gap of 9 seconds split Rachel and Manon. Rachel seemed to have taken a big crash in seeding and chose not do her race run.

Race runs and many racers were looking to go faster as the track continued to dry out and ruts were forming down the track. As the elite men came down the times were looking 2 seconds quicker and a blinder of a run from Joe smith Mikes team mate blew the field away. In the women’s elite Manon carpenter continued her fine form from seeding and went on to win by 9.5 seconds to Katy Curd.

Words By Fergus Ryan

Photos By Sarah Barrett Photography