Motorpoint masters home round

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Ian Bibby took his second win of the 2010 Halfords Tour Series in Stoke-on-Trent, in so doing taking his Motorpoint - Marshalls Pasta team back to the top of the series standings.

Motorpoint now hold a three point lead with just two rounds to go, as erstwhile leaders Rapha - Condor - Sharp had a night to forget, finishing the night in fourth position to relinquish their brief hold on the orange Halfords leaders' jerseys, and allowing Endura Racing to draw level with them in the standings.

After losing its long-time Series lead in Peterborough on Tuesday night, Motorpoint - Marshalls Pasta had been under pressure to fight back in the face of repeated strong performances by the Rapha - Condor - Sharp and Endura Racing teams.

With Stoke-on-Trent being the home round of Bibby & co, the technical city centre circuit proved just the place to put in an excellent performance that saw them place three riders in the top eight positions.

Once again the pace was high from the start, with the peloton soon strung out around the 1.2km course at the heart of the city centre. The early stages saw the usual game of cat and mouse, as various riders expended energy trying to escape the fast moving bunch.

A lap before the opening Boardman Bikes sprint of the evening, a crash just after the line briefly split the peloton and ended the evening of Sigma Sport - Specialized's Matt Stephens.

With Motorpoint riders ever vigilant at the front of the split, Bibby and then Andy Tennant took the chance to stretch their legs at the sharp end of the action.

The field though soon became one again, with just a few stragglers scattered around the circuit, including Rob Hayles, another crash victim who would end his evening in the pits.

As the race wore on and the peloton stayed stretched out, riders increasingly found it harder to close the gaps in front of them, allowing a duo of riders to go clear - Bibby and Pendragon Le Col Colnago's Dave Clarke, who enjoyed an excellent, but ultimately unrewarded evening's riding.

Bibby and Clarke pulled out around a ten second lead on field, as Endura's James McCallum tried to organise a chase behind. When the chase did come, it caused the peloton behind to split, with Kristian House visible at the front of the first chasing group.

A catch looked inevitable as the field crossed the line within almost touching distance of Bibby's rear wheel, but as Endura's Scott Thwaites jumped across to make it a leading trio, the elastic seemed to snap and the main group quickly went from touching distance to 20 seconds in arrears.

A 25-second lead with two laps remaining ensured that the peloton were fighting for fourth place, but Bibby only had eyes on one spot, and he made sure he took that number one spot by leading the sprint from a long way out up the gently sloping finish straight.

Crossing the line arms spread a couple of bike lengths clear of Thwaites, who came around the tiring Clarke on the drag to the line.

There was some recompense for Pendragon though, as Yanto Barker was at the front of the charge to the line, with Motorpoint's Jonny McEvoy just pippin him to fourth on the line.

With Ed Clancy, who spent much of the evening circulating at the back of the peloton, taking seventh and Malcolm Elliott eighth, there was a wall of Motorpoint jerseys at the front, ensuring their home round, ended with a home victory, and more importantly a return to the orange leader's jerseys for Monday's Chester round.

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