Former Stewartry Wheeler Gareth Montgomerie finished 10th on GC (and also 10th on stage 4) in this years Girvan. He was one minute 41 seconds behind the winner (Marcin Bialoblocki) on GC. He was 14th in the mountain classification, but it's noticeable that everyone above him was on big teams. Significantly he was far and away the highest placed rider on GC for his team, Sigma Sport.

The race was EXTREMELY fast - the first hour of stage one covered 27.6 miles, and the average speed for the whole race was 25 miles per hour. I think the pro teams were trying to rip the legs off the amateur teams in stage one; Gareth ended the stage in 40th place, but in the front group. On the evening's criterium stage he stayed in the front group but didn't contest any breaks, and as a result gained five places on GC to 35th. Sunday's stage over to Minigaff saw him gain another twelve places to 23rd (although speaking to him afterwards it was a very tough stage and he was suffering badly from cramp on the run in to the finish), and todays stage saw him gain another 13.

It's been a very mild Girvan, which may account for the speeds - sunny and even quite warm. We had three crashes, two during the crit and one on stage four - not on a tricky section, it seems just wheels touching in the pack - but apart from one collar bone, no significant injuries. 108 riders started on Saturday, 84 finished on Monday.

Glasgow Couriers were the only club who fielded a club team this year; Glasgow Nightingale and Granite City each had a couple of riders in a Scottish composite, and Dooleys Cycles fielded a 'works' team of three riders. There were a lot of individual amateur riders in the composite teams.

A name to watch for the future is Andy Tennant, who took second on GC, having won his only other professional race so far.