Shouldn't the rider who recorded the fastest time at the Gran Fondo Giro d'Italia Northern Ireland been awarded the win? Not so, says the organiser. Above, winner Mark Kane flanked by runner-up David Hamilton (r) and 3rd placed Sean McIntyre.
The second running of the Gran Fondo Giro d’Italia Northern Ireland was a great success at the weekend, with over 4,000 riders lining out for the two main events.
The longest of the events on offer was the Mourne Route
At the end of 175km, Dave Kane Cycles man Mark Kane came to the finish line with David Hamilton. Kane won the two-man sprint to cross the line first and take victory.
And 4½ minutes later, Sean McIntyre of Shelbourne Orchard finished in 3rd place.
On the podium in Belfast's Titanic Quarter, Kane was awarded the win and was interviewed by the media as the victor, with Hamilton and McIntyre presented as 2nd and 3rd.
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However, when the times were released for every rider in the event, it was the second man across the finish line, Hamilton, who had recorded the fastest time.
The timing chips on every bike are automatically started when they cross the start line and stopped when they cross the finish line. The times showed first man over the line, Mark Kane, had clocked a time 9 seconds slower than the second man across the finish line, David Hamilton. This was because Kane crossed the start line 9 seconds before Hamilton and when they ended up together on the road, Hamilton's chip time was always 9 seconds faster.
The timing chip on Hamilton's bike recorded him riding from start line to finish line in a time of 4hrs 56mins 29secs. And while Kane crossed the finish line ahead of him, his chip time was in fact 9 seconds slower.
Some people who participated have taken to social media to question why the person who recorded the fastest time, in what is a timed event after all, was not awarded first place.
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Kane started the event at the front of the field. So the instant the event began he was pushing away from the start line, where the time chips on all the riders' bikes were activated automatically and began timing their rides.
Hamilton was further back and by the time his chip was recorded rolling over the start line to begin his timing, nine seconds had elapsed.
So when Hamilton caught up with Kane, his chip time was always nine seconds lower than Kane’s.
In other words, he had completed the same distance as Kane, but he had done it nine seconds faster.
Following posts on social media querying why Hamilton was not awarded the win based on his faster chip time, stickybottle contacted one of the key people behind the event, Darach McQuaid of Shadetree Sport.
His response was pretty straightforward; first across the finish line is always the winner no matter what the timing chips say.
"The key to this is the difference between a Gran Fondo and a sportive,” said McQuaid.
“With Gran Fondo Giro d’Italia Northern Ireland taking place on fully closed roads this allows riders the rare opportunity to actually race.
"That racing opportunity is not offered by sportives that must remain non competitive as part of their licencing.
“Due to this difference, Gran Fondo podiums are decided on first over the line, or gun time; they are a true race.
“This same method was being used by the UCI Great Britain Gran Fondo event in Peterborough last weekend.
“The abundance of sportives has led riders to rank themselves based on chip time as these are the only results those events are allowed to publish.
“On Sunday Mark Kane went as fast as he needed to be first over the line," continued McQuaid.
"If David Hamilton had started at exactly the same time as Mark I’m sure Mark's chip time would have been faster because he would have been riding to keep pace with David."
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