2025 Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix RACE Report

Courtesy of The British Continental (follow this link to view the original article)

Sun-soaked cobbles, cathedral spires and the rattle of cowbells – Lincoln served up its familiar May pageant, but the script was refreshingly new.

Lauren Dickson (Handsling Alba Development RT) – the 25-year-old Scot we tipped in the preview as the rider most likely to break through – duly delivered, sprinting clear of world individual-pursuit champion Anna Morris to claim her first National Road Series triumph and etch her name into Castle Square folklore.

Later, in the open race, James McKay (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) turned those same cobbles into a launchpad, detonating a last-lap attack on Michaelgate and edging Alex Peters (DAS Richardsons) in a tense finale to seal the biggest victory of his career.

FULL RESULTS - Open Race Women’s Race
 

Women's race

The Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix never really changes – and that is precisely why it matters. 12.9 kilometres of heritage loop beneath the cathedral spires, unchanged since 1987, create a circuit that is equal parts postcard and purgatory. Eight laps for the women meant a relentless carousel past Castle Square, out across the wind-skinned B1398, over the deceptive drag of Long Leys Road and back to the cobbled crucible of Michaelgate – 200 brutal metres that average almost 13 per cent and briefly spike above 27 per cent before funnelling riders along the twisting stones to the line. On Sunday, the sun burned away the last spring chill, the bells rang from the cathedral, and the women’s peloton turned the old city into its amphitheatre once more.

National Road Series leader Alice McWilliam traded Lincoln’s cobbles for Belgian kermesses; Jessica Finney scratched; 111 riders remained when the flag finally dropped. The opening hour ran to familiar Lincoln GP tempo – nervous, attritional and already loud with cowbells – before a fearless quintet slipped free on lap two. Noemie Thomson (Southborough and District Wheelers), barely a fortnight removed from her first road-race – which she won – joined forces with Tamsin Miller (DAS-Hutchinson), Jo Tindley (Smurfit Westrock CT) and Mari Porton (Handsling Alba Development RT), and soon welcomed Olympic team-pursuiter Josie Knight (TEKKERZ CC) for company. Fifty-seven seconds was the biggest gap they saw, but with other big names patrolling the front., the move always felt provisional.

By half-distance, however, the escapees were folded back into an already thinned bunch. Back to square one. The ever-reducing bunch remained intact for the following laps, Lauren Dickson (Handsling Alba Development RT), Lucy Gadd (Smurfit Westrock), defending champion Kate Richardson (Handsling Alba Development RT), Anna Morris (Private Member) and Grace Lister (Hess Cycling Team) among those visible at the head of affairs on successive ascents of Michaelgate.

The race exploded into life on the penultimate ascent of Michaelgate as six riders soared clear. The protagonists were Sophie Wright (Ribble Outliers), Dickson, Richardson, and Lister and 2023 race victor Robyn Clay (DAS-Hutchinson).

The sextet carved out a slender 22-second buffer along Long Leys Road, enough but never certain. Wright slid away before the final approach, leaving five to gamble everything on one last haul up the cobbles.

Dickson honoured our preview billing, rising from the saddle to distance Morris and claim her maiden National Road Series victory. Lister completed the podium, while Clay and Richardson filled fourth and fifth. Thomson, heroic after her early escape, held on for sixth.

The result installs Dickson as the inaugural leader of the Rapha Super-League and, with McWilliam absent, lifts Clay into the National Road Series jersey by a handful of points from Holly Ramsey, eleventh on the day.

Open Race

Lincoln’s cobbles had already witnessed one epic earlier in the day, yet by the time the men lined up for their 13-lap, 168-kilometre ordeal the sun sat higher and the old city’s echo chamber felt hotter than a brick kiln. The script, as ever, was simple: survive 13 ascents of Michaelgate’s medieval staircase and hope the legs were still talking when the cathedral bell tolled for the final circuit. What unfolded was over four hours of barely controlled anarchy that finally distilled into one decisive thrust from Wheelbase CabTech Castelli’s James McKay.

The mayhem began almost as soon as the neutral flag dropped. Tim Shoreman (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli), Dylan Hicks (Raptor Factory Racing) and Peter Cocker (DAS Richardsons were first to light the touchpaper on Michaelgate, but the peloton could smell every move long before it drifted round Newport Arch. Ten riders went; they were smothered. Eight sneaked clear; not long the bunch snarled them back.

The elastic finally stretched on lap four when Jack Crook (Team Bricquebec Cotentin), William Perrett (DAS Richardsons) and Monte Guerrini (Le Col RT) prised open a skinny gap and, crucially, lured strong engines such as Dom Jackson (Foran CT), Joshua Horsfield (Reflex Racing), William Roberts (Dolan Factory Racing), Cameron McLaren (TAAP Kalas) and Isaac Wright (Strada Wheels RT–Lucentsys). They stole 18 seconds through the feed zone, but Wheelbase and MUC-OFF marshalled the chase and the octet were reeled in.

Undeterred, McLaren launched again at the Arch, dragging Tom Armstrong  (Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli), Crook, and – after a short, lung-bursting bridge – Ed Morgan (MUC-OFF–SRCT–Storck) and Will Tidball (Great Britain). Six became four, then six again when Ben Granger (Mg.K VIS Colors for Peace VPM) and Harry Macfarlane (Ride Revolution) threaded across the gap on Long Leys Road. The elastic stretched to half a minute. More was to come as Ollie Wood (TEKKERZ CC) thundered across, bringing Thomas Doig (Primera-TeamJobs) for company; MUC-OFF’s Conor White countered with Dean Watson (Moonglu SpatzWear) and Roberts in tow, and suddenly the front of the race looked like rush-hour traffic rather than a tidy breakaway.

Order arrived – briefly – halfway through lap eight when a powerful new lead group coalesced: Connor Sens (Private Member), Roberts, White, Granger, Charlie Tanfield (Great Britain), Armstrong, Morgan, Macfarlane, Wood, Watson, Aaron King (Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli), Crook and Doig. Thirteen riders, 55 seconds clear and working fluently: the first time all afternoon, the peloton looked genuinely rattled. Behind, a string of counter-moves clawed at their advantage.  Alex Beldon (MUC-OFF–SRCT–Storck), Hicks, Lewis Tinsley (BCC Race Team), Cameron Still (Ride Revolution) and Benjamin Tuchner (TEKKERZ) leapt clear, but cohesion was lacking and they drifted back into the maelstrom.

The was a reformation for sorts before a new sextet moved clear made up of Josh Housley (Primera-TeamJobs), Harry Tanfield (Ribble Outliers), White, Alexandre Mayer (Foran CT), King Matt Bostock (TEKKERZ CC). Behind, the National Road Series leader Adam Howell (MUC-OFF–SRCT-Storck) dragged a counter containing Charlie Tanfield,  James McKay (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli), Henry Hunter (Kendal CC), Bernard Galea (Primera-TeamJobs) and Archie Peet (Reflex Nopinz). Two chasers became one big bloc; the advantage wobbled but held at roughly a minute with four laps remaining.

The fault-lines finally cracked: Mayer, Howell, McKay and Bostock (TEKKERZ CC) powered clear, the penultimate key selection of the day. King sensed danger, countered alone, and spent a brave but doomed quarter-lap dangling at 14 seconds before the cobbles chewed him up and spat him back into the chasers.

Immediately another shuffle: Hicks, Mayer, Granger, Alex Beldon (MUC-OFF) and Tom Martin (Wheelbase) took flight; moments later McKay crossed with George Kimber (Spirit RT), Granger and Beldon on his wheel. As the bell rang, the lead quintet was McKay, Kimber, Bostock, Granger and Alex Peters (DAS Richardsons); Beldon, shed on the cobbles, chased alone.

At the foot of Michaelgate for the last time, McKay uncorked a searing acceleration that scattered his rivals; only Peters could hitch a ride. Half-way up the 27 per-cent cobbles the young Cumbrian rose from the saddle once more, shook Peters for good, and powered on to claim the biggest victory of his career. Peters followed for second, while Mayer’s late surge nabbed third ahead of Bostock and series-leader Howell.