RAMSBOTTOM WINS NORTH ROAD HARDRIDERS

Scunthorpe's Julian Ramsbottom (De Rosa RT) took victory in the North Road Hardriders time trial - shortened to 18 miles because of roadworks - with a strong performance in Hertfordshire on Sunday.

Ramsbottom put 1min 11sec into Richard Prebble, the national 100-mile champion who is riding for GS Strada this season - as he covered the course at Northaw, while Chris Birch (East Street Cycles) had to settle for third, his 44-13 being 1-18 slower than Ramsbottom?s 42-55.

Roadworks appeared on the course 48 hours before the start, and after altering the course to avoid that problem another set of traffic lights had appeared on the day, forcing organisers to shorten the race.

Elsewhere, Nik Bowdler (Farnborough and Camberley CC) made a second trip from Surrey to Yorkshire in as many weeks to win the Yorkshire Cycling Federation 10-mile event at Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, on Sunday.

He clocked 21-10 to win by 44 seconds from Joel Wainman, who led Team Swift to the team prize alongside third-placed Ben Roberts and fourth-placed Karl Downes.

See this week?s Cycling Weekly for more details.

North Road CC Hardriders (Northaw, Herts, 18 miles).-
1 Julian Ramsbottom (De Rosa RT) 42-55

2 Richard Prebble (GS Strada) 44-06

3 Chris Birch (East Street Cycles.com) 44-13

4 Matthew Bottrill (De Rosa RT) 44-15

5 Wouter Sybrandy (Sigma Sport RT) 44-22

6 Keith Murray (Wheelspin Cycles) 45-44

Yorkshire Cycling Federation (Tadcaster, North Yorks, 10 miles).-
1 Nik Bowdler (Farnborough and Camberley CC) 21-10

2 Joel Wainman (Team Swift Allsports) 21-54

3 Ben Roberts (Team Swift Allsports) 22-04

4 Karl Downes (Team Swift Allsports) 22-21

Eq 5 Paul Noton (City RC, Hull) 22-22

Eq 5 Jon Surtees (Cherry Valley RT) 22-22