LIVERPOOL Mercury’s Phil Thomas has been crowned the 2011 TLI National Crits champion after winning his category by 10 bike lengths in an out-and-out sprint at Hatton Park.
Thomas, whose race was one hour and three laps, jumped away from the main group with two other riders – Steve Jonhson and Alan Stubbs – and proceeded to clock up a gap of more than two minutes from the peloton.
On the last lap, Stubbs tried to jump away from the small breakaway group but eagle-eyed Phil followed the move. Alan was on Thomas’ wheel with 200yards to go, but Phil managed to accelerate hard enough and leave Stubbs in his wake by 10 lengths to claim first place and the national champs jersey.
In the ‘E’ category and women’s race, which was 40-minutes and five laps, the Merc’s Pete Matthews suffered an ill-timed puncture with only a kilometre on the clock. Luckily, the commissaire allowed him to take a lap out and he was able to quickly rejoin the lead group.
Meanwhile, Vicky Thomas – the wife of newly-crowned champ Phil – was back in the second group, which was busy working hard to reel in the leaders. Sadly, they were unable to close the gap until with a lap to go Alan Kemp jumped free of the leaders to win on his own.
Matthews, who is a ‘F’ category rider, managed to hold his own in the bunch sprint to take fifth place and the bronze medal overall, while Vicky finished sixth and third in the ‘E’ category, but due to her being the best place woman, she won the gold.
During the TLI National Road Championships the following day, the Merc had a strong showing in the form of  Ron Plumbley, Simon Ardual, Chris Edwards, Peter Mathews, Ricky Gracia, Vicky Thomas, Ray Pugh and Phil Thomas.
The 40-mile course near Stamfordham covered much of the same countryside that witnessed Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins take the National Road Race Champions jersey back in June, including the dreaded climb over the Rydals.
Ron Plumbley, Simon Ardual  and Chris Edwards all managed to finish in the main group of their respective categories, while in the seniors section Phil managed t get in yet another decisive break with Alan Kemp, Ray Pugh and Ste Jolly.
In the second group, the Merc’s Vicky Thomas, Pete Matthews and Ricky Garcia were joined by Joey Williams, Ken Jones and Dave Thomson.
However, an error by the officials resulted in both groups being taken on two laps of the course instead of just one – forcing the judged to award joint gold to both Phil and Steve Jolly. The mistake also meant that the chasing group had the same problem, ensuring the yet another gold was picked by a Thomas – this time Vicky.