Location: Mentmore, Buckinghamshire
Event: 6 October 2012
Report: Craig Nelson /Snowdon Sports

In-form Velo 29 rider Robert Orr secured victory in the History of Sport Road Race, promoted by Leighton Buzzard Road Club in Buckinghamshire on Saturday.

The 32-year-old Leicestershire-based rider sprinted to victory ahead of his nearest rival by around a hundred yards at the end of the 50-mile race, run off over 12 laps of a circuit around Mentmore.

Orr’s victory comes after a string of good performances last month. He rode in the UCI 2.2-ranked Tour of Bulgaria, and secured second and third places in the Leicester Forest CC Road Race and Solihull CC Reg Pee Memorial respectively a fortnight ago.

Once the 51 riders had left the neutral zone in Ledburn the race was on. Immediately a couple of riders went on the attack getting a few seconds on the rest of the field. Over the next couple of laps a group of riders bridged the gap and there was eight riders away steadily increasing the time between them and the rest of the group.

The group of eight riders worked well together to maintain a consistent gap and managed to stay away for the majority of the first half of the race. By lap six the group had a comfortable lead of 1:15 on the rest of the field.

By lap four the main group started working together to bring the time down to 56 seconds. At this point it was evident that if the group could maintain the pressure they would bridge the gap. By lap three the gap had reduced to 40 seconds and the break was now very much in sight.

By the time the second lap came the break was all but caught, however two riders in the break, Robert Orr and Justin Belcher (Banbury Star) pilled on the pressure and got away from the remainder of the break and the fast approaching group.

Once the final bell had sounded Orr and Belcher had a comfortable gap and only had to hang on for the final 4.17 miles. The rest of the group was now together and it was sure to be a sprint finish for third spot onwards.

Orr and Belcher turned the final corner and only had 600metres to the finish line, Orr stole a couple of bike lengths off Belcher in the final sprint and took and excellent win crossing the line with both arms raised, Belcher finishing in a well-earned 2nd place and 1m 16s up on the main field.

As the main group turned the final corner the sprint was on, David Palmer of Spin Rotor Racing put in an impressive sprint with Mike Twelves of Team Jewson/Thule hot on his wheel to take third and fourth spot and Greg Pain of Team Arbis LLP to take fifth. The rest of the field sprinted across the line to take the remaining points in a brilliant display of road racing.

Leighton Buzzard Road Cycling Club would like to thank all riders for a safe but entertaining race and all marshals and helpers for their time without which the event would not have happened.

Results:

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British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs.