When most people imagine a bike race, they picture a peloton crusing along a picturesque road surrounded by Alpine meadows with the lofty snow-capped peaks soaring far overhead. There are plenty of races in which that sort of thing can be seen, and they’re one of the reasons that cycling is the most beautiful sport in the world. There are other kinds of racing too, of course, and if it’s sheer eyeballs-out, high-speed, scrape-yer-knees-off-going-round-the-corners excitement you want then you can’t beat a good city centre criterium style event – and the Sheffield GP is a very good example.

The 2013 edition was an absolute joy to watch with most of Britain’s top female road racers fighting hard throughout the race and leaving the thousands of people that turned up to watch in no doubt whatsoever that women’s cycling is every bit as tough, fast and exciting as men’s cycling. The top five looked like this:

1 Helen Wyman (Kona)
2 Hannah Barnes (MG-Maxifuel)
3 Eileen Roe (Breast Cancer Care)
4 Hannah Walker (Matrix Fitness)
5 Melissa Lowther (Matrix Fitness)

When Neutral Service asked for confirmation of the 2014 circuit, the race organisers sent a link to a Strava segment. Top female riders are Lauren Creamer (2’01”), Eleanor Jones (2’15”), Nicola Soden (2’21”), Keira McVitty (2’28”) and Ruth Taylor (3’31”).

What’s a criterium…?
If you’ve never been to a bike race before, a criterium – or crit, as cyclists usually call them – is an ideal choice for your first. The riders race for a pre-set time rather than over a specified number of laps (usually; at some crits it’s the other way round), completing many laps of a short circuit that will often be located in a city centre. This sometimes worries people who haven’t seen one before, in case the riders take it easy right up until the last few minutes, but in fact the first third tends to be full of attacks as riders who don’t have much chance of winning go on the attack in an attempt to wear down riders from other teams, thus heightening their own chances, while the final third is when the favourites start to pile on the pressure. There might be a quieter time during the middle third – but the lulls in a crit are the best time to make the sort of attack that sometimes results in victory. What’s more, there will be a “prime” prize for the fastest rider every now and again during the race, encouraging them to ride hard.

With the races frequently taking place in the evening, as is the case with this one, they tend to attract large numbers of people and often generate a festival atmosphere that keeps the whole family enthralled – even those who don’t have much of an interest in the sport. Another advantage is that spectators will see the riders pass by numerous times and can walk around the circuit to see it from different angles.

The Parcours

Taking place on the same short 1.374km circuit as used in 2013, the GP features a number of bends that, though wide, become challenging due to the sheer number of riders trying to get around them at the same time – with the high speeds on a parcours that demands sharp bursts of power (which is precisely how Helen Wyman, who specialises in sharp bursts of power combined with the sort of bike-handling skills that cyclo cross riders need in drives, won last year), this can easily lead to complications. The temptation is always to get out in front in an attempt to be well away from danger if anyone does go down and starts off a domino effect, but on a circuit this short there are very few opportunities to get away without everyone else going with you.