A COMBATIVITY prize given each day by judges accompanying the Tour de France is one of the lesser awards which help to make Le Tour such a great sporting event.

Though he missed out on first place twice this week Danny Axford was, without doubt, the man of the race in both the Tour of Hertfordshire and the 11th Goodwood Gallop of the season two days later.

In the first event, the Prestige VC rider was caught within yards of the line after racing ahead of a six-strong group towards the end of the 140 kilometre race, before being passed by Andy Profitt of Stilton RT.

In the second, he succeeded in leaving all but one of a breakaway group no fewer than three times before being left for dead by Paul Pickup, racing for Liphook Cycles RT as the pair swept up the finishing straight.

Axford, who lives at Badgers Farm, Winchester, is the first to admit a finishing sprint is his weakness. But he rarely lets this affect his morale and his rivals know that if they lose contact with him before the finish, their next sight of him will probably be on the victory podium.

That's exactly where Axford will be aiming for in the Swindon RC's Summer Road Race on the edge of the Marlborough Downs tomorrow.

There are plenty of climbs on its 136km course, and that's where the lightly built Axford really excels.

Though he doesn't fight shy of hilly courses, Hedge End time trialist Malcolm Cox (VC St Raphael Waite Contracts) performs better on the flat.

A resumption of racing on the resurfaced A27 east of Chichester should help him im-prove on the 1hr 57min 12sec he took to win the Bognor Regis CC 50 at Fontwell last year.

Cox will almost certainly have to beat that time if he is to win again.

The 67-strong field includes the new Southern Counties 50-mile champion, Keith Coffey of BCC CC, the promoting club's champion, Steve Lenn, who has a 1:51.38 time to his name, and the much improved Steve Walkling of Portsmouth North End CC.

Cox is one of 16 entrants from the Southampton area; others include teams of six and four from Crabwood CC and Sotonia CC respectively.