Lancaster Grand Prix: A Day in the Life of A Race

It’s the last weekend in July. The Tour de France finished a week ago and the Olympic Time Trials have just taken place in Paris, but the big news in domestic UK racing is Sunday’s Lancaster Grand Prix. Part of the Lloyd’s Bank National Series, it attracts the elite of the grassroots road racing scene. 

We followed along to see what it takes to organize – and win – an elite-level event. Here’s a day in the life of a race.

Saturday 

18h 

In reality, a day preparing for the race starts many, many months before. However, we join the organizers at Saturday evening’s official briefing, where they discussed communications and how they’ll control the size of the race “bubble” tomorrow, using GPS trackers to monitor the front and rear and certain cars in between. 

The aim is to keep the rolling road-closure compact, so as not to disrupt locals, but decisions have to be made about how to manage riders who get dropped. At what point does a straggler get officially ruled out of the race? The race cordon is topped and tailed by police outriders and a police van to keep everyone safe.

There are no flat sections on the course. “We’re expecting an attritional race with plenty of people out the back," says event director Roy Holmes. The following morning’s open race will be 10 laps of 14.8km / 9.2 mi, while the afternoon’s women’s race takes in six laps of the same circuit.

The Brucciani Ice Cream Climbers’ Competition, meanwhile, is held on Proctor Moss Road, a 0.67km / 0.42 mi climb @ 9.1%.

20h

The start- and finish-line gantry and all the barricades are up and ready to go in Williamson Park outside the center of Lancaster. A beautiful sunset hints at fine race weather tomorrow. 

Sunday

6h

It’s an early breakfast for the race organizers. Sign-on for riders begins in half an hour and by 6h30 team cars and riders are beginning to park up. Bikes are unloaded, wheels retrieved. Tires pumped, gears checked, new bar tape wrapped. Everything has to be dialed in.

There’s a sense of possibility in the soft early morning sun. Nothing has yet been decided. It could still be anyone’s day.

8h

A phalanx of police outriders arrives. Riders wriggle into skinsuits and some warm up on rollers. 

8h45 

The riders in the open race process to the start line underneath Lancaster’s famous Williamson Memorial, and at… 

9h 

They’re off!

By the second lap, the race is blown to bits. There are five in a break, some chasers, a peloton and a rear group, but maybe 20% of the field have been dropped. It’s been so quick that for many the day is already over. 

The break never gets more than two minutes, and as the lap total mounts, the peloton’s attempts to regain ground are neutralized by riders escaping off the front.

Eventually a second break bridges over to the first, and the combined group is never brought back in.

The race is won by Ben Granger (Mg.K VIS Colors for Peace VPM), who bridges to the break and then attacks on the final climb and rides the final kilometers solo. 

Finn McHenry of The Cycling Academy wins the Brucciani Ice Cream Climbers’ Competition, taking first place on the Proctor Moss Road climb every single time.

14h

As for the women, by the time they line up, the day is hot. It will be a very different race. 

In the first laps, solo attack after solo attack ping off the front, but none gets more than 30 seconds before it gets reeled in or another attack goes. 

15h30

By lap five a three-woman break is established, and the peloton subsequently explodes: anyone with good legs deserts it to try to bridge to the break. It’s chaos.

16h30

In the final lap, the two remaining riders out front get joined by Frankie Hall (DAS–Hutchinson–Brother). She works with her team-mate to distance their rival, and wins the race on the climb to the finish line.

It looks almost certain to be a DAS–Hutchinson 1–2, but Lauren Dickson of Edinburgh RC comes back and sprints for second on the line. She takes the Climbers’ Competition too.

17h15

The women take to the podium to receive their bouquets and prosecco. There’s still a big crowd in the park, but the guys in charge of collecting up the barriers have got their truck running and are eager to get home.

For the organizers, there’ll be a lot to do once the riders have departed. The day’s action happened seamlessly, but there are always things to improve on. That’s for later, though. First things first: it’s time for pizza.