Elite Open
Logan Maclean would take a deserved win in the Elite Open event at the Perth GP after a day of constant attack on the streets of the Fair City.
An early attack by Maclean, and pair of Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT Sam’s – messers Carrotte and Chisholm – who would forge a sizeable advantage of around 25 seconds in the early stages of the criterium.
A concerted effort on the front of the bunch from Ciaran McSherry (Defined CT) would see the trio reeled in, but not before Maclean would take the Sprint Prime – sponsored by Gillies Home Furniture.
The detenté in the bunch would not last long, Evan Marsh (Beeston CC RT) launching the key move that would decide the race.
McSherry and Maclean would bridge across to the junior rider, with the trio building an advantage of over 30 seconds as the race would climax.
Behind, chaos would ensure with Sam Carrotte launching the latest attack clear of the group of chasers including Struan Shaw (Tofauti Everyone Active) who was active on the front, trying to join the party at the head of affairs.
McSherry would pay for his previous efforts and fall just behind his fellow escapees in the closing stages – and have to settle for third place.
The final lap saw the sprint – and true to his form in recent months – Scottish Road Race Champion Logan Maclean would just best the young Marsh in the dash to the line. Marsh would take the accolade of the Petit Yellow Velo Fastest Lap with a 1:09.546 .
Speaking afterwards, McLean said:
“That was so good – you don’t get many town centre crits – what an event, I absolutely loved it! I’m racing on the track next week so I thought I needed a bit more punch, and stop-start effort, so I chose to race here today rather than the National Series round, and I’m glad I did – honestly, what an event. The crowds were good, the course was brilliant, so I loved it.”
Female
The Female event followed a similar pattern with a group of three forcing their way clear. Returning to road racing, Millie Thomson (Solas) would be joined by Rebecca Saunderson (Studio Velo) and Isla Britton (University of Edinburgh).
A group behind would form, mostly filled with riders from Solas Cycling and would be competiting for fifth place, as Harriet Hendry (Solas Cycling) would find herself in between the two groups and produce an excellent performance to come home in fourth place.
Thomson would make amends for her crash in the formation lap and would take the win in the sprint from Britton in second, with Saunderson claiming an excellent third place.
Of her victory, Thomson said:
“That was really good – this is my first road race back in a long time, so it’s a pretty good way to start it off, and hopefully it’ll mean good things for the rest of year as well. Crit races are quite similar to track racing in lots of ways, so the track stuff I’ve been doing definitely helped today.
“I was quite comfortable and confident with it coming down to a sprint finish – I knew from the prime lap that I could outsprint them, so I was happy it came down to a sprint.”
Regional B
Lewis Reynolds (Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT) would take the Regional B support race after a long solo attack, chipping off the front inside the first five rounds of the 1km circuit. Local Perth rider Jackie Chan (Team Andrew Allan Architecture) would win the sprint for second, with Murray Gray (Rotor RT) in third place.
Chan would take the Petit Yellow Velo Fastest Lap with a 1:13.028.