Four Sigma Sport riders (Gary Dodd, Steve Golla, Wouter Sybrandy and myself Andrew Bye) signed on as part of a good quality field for the 85 mile Hounslow Road Race on Sunday 16th March on a course around Chobham held in wet and windy conditions.

A small break got away early on in the race, and the main group behind was neutralised over the first 50 miles, this was despite plenty of efforts from the Sigma riders to try and spark life into the race and form a chase group. After 50 miles the course moved onto to a smaller finishing circuit that included Staple Hill that was to be ascended 7 times before the finish. 10 miles to go a small group formed off the front of the main pack which included the pre-race favourite Tony Gibb (PCA). Gary put in a strong attack to get across but was well marked, I used his attack to help me jump across to the break, and after one more rider got across the elastic between the group and the bunch snapped. I put in a few hard turns to help establish a gap but then settled into a comfortable pace once it became clear that the winner would come from this break. With one lap to go I attacked at the bottom of the short climb and didn't look back until I got to the top at which point the rest of the group were just about out of sight. I continued to ride hard to the finish, and put a fair bit of distance to the rest of the break.

In the run in to the finish Sigma Riders Steve and Wouter jumped away from the pack, whilst Gary sprinted in with the pack to finish 12th, placing the whole of the 4 man team in the top 12 - a really great result for the team on a challenging day for bike racing!

Steve missed out on the post race photo as he had to rush off home. Nice photo of us in our smart casual clothing, Wouter will have to remember to look at the camera next time. I also had to rush off as was working in the afternoon, thankfully my work is very understanding as I was a little late!