3 of Gloucester City’s CC road racing squad headed west for their season’s opener in the Betty Pharoah Memorial RR at Cowbridge, Wales. Led by road Captain, Justin Di Tommaso, Tony Martin Lake and Matt Wellings were keen to test their legs after a hard winters training. Organised by Cardiff Ajax, it resulted in a bit of a home coming for Di Tommaso, being his former club, so he was familiar with the course, which was 55 miles and consisted of 3 laps which were ridden at speed for the duration. Able to stick with the early pace, Gloucester’s riders adjusted well to the rolling terrain which saw the field struggling with a large contingent falling off the back, their race over Di Tommaso and Wellings were riding comfortably in the bunch and Lake took his chances in the latter part of the field. Nervous riding saw a clash of wheels and a crash which Gloucester riders were fortunate to avoid.
Wellings was riding well and managed to get clear with a number of other riders before his race was cruelly ended by another touch of wheels. He was philosophical about things but was clearly rueing his chances as he was feeling strong and looking good. This left Di Tommaso and Lake in the field and the pace was driven on by some young and experienced riders alike encouraged by the excellent racing conditions. Di Tommaso took advantage of his local knowledge and his strength kept him at the head of the race and out of trouble. Lake struggled with early season lack of form and the inevitable occurred on the significant climb of the day which resulted in a ride back to race HQ, Lake was out of the race. Di Tommaso however was in fine form, making light work of the terrain, the bunch being ever stripped down and the final selection being made on the last lap. An intelligent finale saw Di Tommaso finish the race in what remained of the bunch. The City riders took away and encouraging start to the Road Race season and will be hoping to make an impression in the local Cotswold Racing league which commences at the end of April.