A race of two winners - Keep takes the win and Shrosbree the British Gravel Champions title
It was double success in the King’s Cup Senior women’s race on Saturday. Tiffany Keep won the race, but home rider Danni Shrosbree won the national title, finishing a very close second to the South African woman.
The two winners were part of a five-woman group which formed early on the first of five laps, working well together to stay away into the final lap. With around four kilometres remaining Keep used her mountain bike skills to attack on a sandy section, taking Shrosbree with her.
Top cyclocross rider Amira Mellor (Spectra-Wiggle) finished third, taking second place on the national championships podium, while Ellen McDermott was fourth, but the Irish woman was ineligible for third place in the championships, which was taken by Abbie Manley.
“This was my first ever gravel race, I decided to do something at the end of the season,” Keep said once she’d caught her breath.
“The final lap was pretty interesting. We got into a break really early on in the race and we were working really well together up until the final lap when people started playing cat and mouse when everyone was watching each other.
“I decided to take a chance at about three kilometres to go around a sandy corner. I come for a mountain bike background so I just railed the outside, attacked and managed to stay away with Danni on my wheel.
“It’s still sinking in really, I wasn’t expecting that.”
For Shrosbree it was bitter-sweet taking the title but not the race win.
“It was a mega race, I knew Tiffany is a very good mountain biker and if you’re a mountain biker you have one up,” she explained. “I was racing her into the corner and she just got in front of me, I knew I had to try and click on but she just gapped me a little bit on the technical sections, but it was such a good race.
“My intention was to go out hard and keep it that way for as long as possible, and within the first lap we had the same five which stayed for the whole race. We were all working pretty well, but I definitely sat on the front a lot, but that’s my nature, I just love drilling it.”
So what’s it like being national champion?
“It’s pretty cool. The gravel sector is growing year on year. I did this last year and I think the field was like triple. But what I like about gravel is the atmosphere. Before and after everyone’s just so chilled out and having a good time, but when the race is on everyone’s racing really hard.”
How it happened
The 76.5km race consisted of five laps of a flat loop of 15.3km around the King’s Forest, north of Bury St Edmunds.
Though firm fast gravel covered the majority of the course, there was some sand as well as hard-packed mud, with the start and finish on grass. Indeed the finish straight was slightly uphill and bumpy, making timing a finish sprint key to victory should a group come to the final 500m together.
Early on the first lap Abbie Manley (Montezuma’s), Danni Shrosbree (CAMS-Basso), Tiffany Keep (LDN-Brother UK), Amira Mellor (Spectra-Wiggle) and Ellen McDermott (Boompods) got a small gap on the rest of the field.
Crossing the line for the first time that group had a lead of around 40 seconds on a chasing group of 10 women, though McDermott was struggling to hold the wheel in front. She hung on though, and over the ensuing lap the five riders increased their lead to 1.30, with two of the five laps done.
Behind them the race was spread across the King’s Forest, with riders getting round in groups or even ones and twos.
On lap three the leaders continued to work well together, first consolidating their advantage, before increasing it again and crossing the line with two full laps remaining leading by 2.30. The next time round that was out to 3.35 and the five women would be the ones fighting for the win on the closing lap.
The junior race only had one entry, Emma Jeffers (JRC-Interflon), the 17 year-old completed the senior race distance to finish 15th overall, winning the junior title by default.
“It was really good, it was something different from the road and I came here to enjoy it and I did enjoy it. It set off really fast and I struggled to keep with that front group. There was no point stopping you might as well do the whole race.
Result
British Gravel Championship - Senior Women, King’s Cup (76.6km)
1. Tiffany Keep (RSA) LDN-Brother UK
2. Danny Shrosbree (GBR) CAMS-Basso
3. Amira Mellor (GBR) Spectra-Wiggle
4. Ellen McDermott (IRE) Boompods
5. Abbie Manley (GBR) Montezuma’s
6. Helen Smith (GBR) Paceline RT
7. Jess Carriage (GBR) Bikestyle
8. Keira McVitty (GBR)
9. Maddy Nutt (GBR) Spectra-Wiggle
10. Jane Barr (GBR) Velocity 44 Racing Team