Philip Lavery of Team Ulster leads the 2010 Tour of Ulster. On his wheel is Malcolm Elliott (Photo: Stephen McMahon – Sportsfile)
Start list Dixon Contractors Tour of North; big climbs await
It gets underway on Saturday and involves four stages over three days. And the only certainty about the Tour of the North this weekend is that a very strong man will win it.
Not only does the race involve a split stage – a TT and road stage on Sunday – there is also plenty of climbing.
The stages are relatively short. But that will simply invite all out racing from the gun each day.
And when the climbs are thrown into the mix, not to mention a quality field of Irish and UK riders, this looks set to be a feast of racing.
As we can see from the stage outlines below; the three road stages pose a climbing challenge. And the final leg, next Monday, looks like a classic.
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Stage 1: Sat, March 31 March
There are two cat 1 climbs and a cat 2 over 65 miles; a short testing effort to get the battle underway. The race will start from the Seven Towers Leisure centre at noon and is neutralised until Broughshane. The riders will climb Glenarm before racing onto the cat 2 climb of Ballyvaddy. It’s a 2.5 mile long haul back up Glencloy, before descending to Carnlough. A fast eight-mile section around the coast takes the race to the start of the cat 1 5.5 mile climb of Glenariffe at Waterfoot. After that it’s down to Glenballyeamon and Cushendall and soon after onto the cat 1 climb of Gaults Road; a long grinding strongman’s incline. Over the top it’s a fast run down into Ballymena and on to the flat out finish on the Fry’s Road, after 4,330ft of climbing.
Stage 2: Sun, April 1
HQ moves for the remainder of the race to the Galgorm Community Centre. Stage 2 is a 4.8 mile individual non aero TT starting at 9am. The riders will start outside HQ and ride through Ahoghill; finishing at the top of Tully. Draggy rather than hilly; the total climbing is only 321 feet.
Stage 3: Sun, April 1
The race will roll out from Galgorm at 1:45pm for 65 miles and the flag will drop at Slatt Bridge at 2pm. A fast run up to Kilnock includes some lumpy terrain before the riders reach the Roguery circuit for five laps. The climb of Roguery is the key challenge. It’s only about three minutes of an effort but it averages 14 per cent and edges above 20 per cent in places. After 5 laps the race will head back down to the finish at Slatt Bridge after 2,600ft of climbing.
Stage 4: Mon, April 2
The race will leave Galgorm at 9:45am and is neutralised through Ballymena and out to and through Broughshane for the start. The first climb is the cat 1 Cross Slieve between Cushendall and Cushendun. It’s a 2.3 mile climb hitting 16 per cent in places. The next climb up is the feared Torr; which has been given a HC categorisation. The Torr is basically four climbs, hitting 24 per cent on hairpins each climb is up to a mile long with sharp technical descents in between. The KOH is at the end of the last section which means the total length of the KOH section is 6.3 miles. After the KOH flag, the race drops down a couple of miles before going onto the 5.3 mile cat 2 climb of Loughareema. An initial short 7 per cent section leads onto a long 3-4 per cent big ring grinder up the vanishing lakes with a short steeper 500m to the KOH. The race then drops down 6 miles and turns right onto the final cat 1 climb of the day; the 8 mile long Slieveamaddy, Orra to the locals. It’s a climb of two sections; the first steeper and the second through the forest, taking the race us over one of the highest roads in the country at over 1,300 feet. The race then drops down to the main Cushendall road and back to Ballymena for the same Fry’s road finish as Monday.
Mar 31-April 2: Tour of the North start list
Sponsored by Dixon Contractors
1 Dale Bonnar Ballymena Road Club – CRC
2 David Dougan Ballymena Road Club – CRC
3 Shane Smith Ballymena Road Club – CRC
4 Martin Robb Ballymena Road Club – CRC
5 Philip Bremner Ballymena Road Club – CRC
6 Kevin McKinney Banbridge CC
7 Peter Hughes Banbridge CC
8 John Buller Banbridge CC
9 Gareth McKee Banbridge CC
10 Roger Aiken Banbridge CC
11 Alistair Robinson Bann Wheelers CC
12 Andrew Robinson Bann Wheelers CC
13 Glenn Howe Bann Wheelers CC
14 Nigel Bradley Bann Wheelers CC
15 Geoff Robinson Bray wheelers
16 Mark McGinley Bray wheelers
17 Mitchell McLaughlin Bray wheelers
18 David Conry Bray wheelers
19 Ali Gribbon Carn wheelers
20 Craig Gibson Carn wheelers
21 Gerard Scullion Carn wheelers
22 Jonny McConomy Carn wheelers
23 Johnny Taylor Carn wheelers
24 Aaron Wade Cycling Ireland
25 Shay Donley Cycling Ireland
26 Conor Gallagher Cycling Ireland
27 Conor Halvey Cycling Ireland
28 Archie Ryan Cycling Ireland
29 Mark McClure Donegal Bay
30 Aaron McBride Donegal Bay
31 Caolem McCarter Donegal Bay
32 Darragh McCarter Donegal Bay
33 Keelan Carberry Donegal Bay
34 Aaron Watson Dromara Cycling Club
35 Gavin Magowan Dromara Cycling Club
36 Jack Ferguson Dromara Cycling Club
37 Nathan Mullan Dromara Cycling Club
38 Stephen Irvine Dromara Cycling Club
39 Cathal Dillane Gerry McVeigh Cars
40 Gerard Forde Gerry McVeigh Cars
41 Tom Regan Gerry McVeigh Cars
42 Dean Burnside Island Wheelers
43 Conor Devlin Island Wheelers
44 John Scott Island Wheelers
45 Martyn Graham Island Wheelers
46 Matthew McAllister Island Wheelers
47 Ethan Downey KD Gas-ClannEireann
48 Thomas Martin KD Gas-ClannEireann
49 Liam Dolan KD Gas-ClannEireann
50 Zeb Kyffin KD Gas-ClannEireann
51 Alan Bingham Newry Wheelers
52 Gareth O’Neill Newry Wheelers
53 Des Woods Newry Wheelers
54 Mark McKinley Newry Wheelers
55 Sean Featherstone Newry Wheelers
56 Andrew Chivers North Down CC
57 Javan Nulty North Down CC
58 Keith Phillips North Down CC
59 Stuart Henry North Down CC
60 Timmy Burns North Down CC
61 Gary Donaldson Omagh Wheelers
62 Gary Jeffers Omagh Wheelers
63 Aaron Wiley Omagh Wheelers
64 Davy McFall Omagh Wheelers
65 Michael McGlynn Omagh Wheelers
66 Matt McLaughlin Phoenix CC
67 Donal Shearer Phoenix CC
68 Jody Wright Phoenix CC
69 Ciaran McVeigh Phoenix CC
70 Niall O’Gorman Phoenix CC
71 Niall Morris Phoenix CC
72 Jack Stanton Pro Vision Race Team
73 Alex Simmons Pro Vision Race Team
74 Sam Beeston Pro Vision Race Team
75 Ben Joughin Pro Vision Race Team
76 John Bourne Pro Vision Race Team
77 Charlie Passfield Spirit Tifosi RT
78 Ed Clemens Spirit Tifosi RT
79 Jordan Peacock Spirit Tifosi RT
80 Marcus Burnett Spirit Tifosi RT
81 Rupert Graham Spirit Tifosi RT
82 Barry Hughes Stamullen Road Club
83 Niall Craven Stamullen Road Club
84 Aureliusz Klus Stamullen Road Club
85 Cian Delaney Stamullen Road Club
86 Colin Robinson Stamullen Road Club
87 Sean Landers Stamullen Road Club
88 Angus Fyffe Team Caldwell Cycles
89 Adam Armstrong Team Caldwell Cycles
90 Calvin Moore Team Caldwell Cycles
91 Craig McAuley Team Caldwell Cycles
92 Darnell Moore Team Caldwell Cycles
93 Andrew McCullough Team Madigan
94 Gary Walker Team Madigan
95 Gary McCullough Team Madigan
96 Richard Maybin Team Madigan
97 Michael Boal Team Madigan
98 Gareth Mccullough Team Sportactive Racing
99 Toni Ballesterllobera Team Sportactive Racing
100 Christopher Birney Team Sportactive Racing
101 Paul Vaughan Team Sportactive Racing
102 Peter Hawkins Termon Wheelers
103 Ciaran Donnelly Termon Wheelers
104 Martin Conway Termon Wheelers
105 Michael O’Kane Termon Wheelers
106 Stephen Daly Termon Wheelers
107 Brandon Douglas West Down Wheelers
108 Paul Wilkinson West Down Wheelers
109 Ian Weir West Down Wheelers
110 Adam Ward Powerhouse Sport
111 Brendan Flannangan Powerhouse Sport
112 Cathir Doyle Powerhouse Sport
113 Lindsay Watson Powerhouse Sport
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