The race for the British Cycling Women’s Road Series continues to be fiercely fought after round five saw the top two in the overall standings finish first and second in the Curlew Cup in Northumberland on Sunday morning.
Second heading into the 63-mile race, Katie Archibald (Pearl Izumi-Sports Tours International) won a sprint finish from Series leader Nicola Juniper (Team Echelon) to narrow the gap in the overall standings to just four points.
Jessie Walker (Matrix Fitness) took third spot to boost her ambitions in the overall Series, but the day belonged to Pearl Izumi who also claimed the Under-23 prize through Archibald as well as all three Primes thanks to Charline Joiner.
There was also a strong victory for Rapha Condor-JLT’s Kristian House in the Beaumont Trophy, run over the same roads but a 116-mile course on Sunday afternoon.
House was part of a 25-strong group which went clear on the first circuit of the smaller circuit around Stamfordham, but the group eventually got whittled down and eight men broke clear on the last lap with around 15 miles left, with the bunch now more than ten minutes back.
The eight leaders established around 45 seconds over their former breakaway colleagues, but House broke away to take the win by around a second from Mark Christian (Team Raleigh).
On Friday evening, former Madison Genesis man Dean Downing (now riding with NFTO Pro Cycling) held off the challenge of three of his former team’s riders to claim a tight win in the Leazes Park Crit.
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38-year-old Downing, in his last season as a professional rider, showed that he still has the ability to win races – but it was a close finish with Downing crossing the line a split second ahead of Madison Genesis riders Liam Holohan, Ian Bibby and Tom Stewart.
In Hertfordshire, 26-year-old Richardsons-Trek rider Rhys Howells took a comfortable victory in the Stockbridge Down Road Race by crossing the line 28 seconds ahead of Catford Equipe’s James Walsby. Alexander Royle of Army CU was five seconds further back in third.
The Rosneath Road Race, hosted by Ivy CC in Garelochead in Scotland, was a much tighter affair with Glasgow Wheeler Jason Roberts winning by just two seconds.
Roberts led from Rigmar Racers Ryan Fenwick and Glasgow Road Club rider Euan Pope was third, eight seconds behind Roberts.
In the Surrey League, Rob Reid won the third event of the Bayeux CT Anniversary Series for London Dynamo. Brighton Mitre’s Ian Robins was second and Peter Allan was third.
The Cycle Live Nottingham event saw a full weekend packed out with various races, the most prestigious being the Nottingham Grand Prix on Saturday evening.
It was won by KTM’s Jacob Tipper with Retford Wheeler Dominic Smith in second and Ryan Davis of Starley Primal Pro Cycling in third.
Snowdon Sports is a long-established independent sports news agency, which supplies editorial to a range of media outlets - such as Cycling Weekly - as well as sports governing bodies. Snowdon Sports often covers results at Cycling Time Trials events in the UK and has long been a source of information and imagery to Cycling Weekly.
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