Cat Ferguson and Oliver Dawson stormed to victories at the National Junior Road Championships, while Imogen Wolff took the women's time-trial title in Newcastle Emlyn.
Time-trial
The women's time-trial saw Imogen Wolff (Shibden Apex RT) storm to the win, clocking a time of 45:59 on the 29.8km circuit in Wales, with teammate Cat Ferguson finishing 25 seconds later to take the silver.
Welsh rider Carys Lloyd (Toufati Everyone Active) finished two minutes and 13 seconds back to claim the bronze on home soil.
Road race
In the open race, it was Oliver Dawson (Fensham Howes - MAS Design) who became this year’s junior national champion.
Despite some early breakaway attempts, the race was still all together at the halfway point. With just over four laps to go, Dawson attacked the peloton alongside Nathan Smith (Prologue Racing Team) and Hamish Hunter (Velo CLub Venta) to form a three rider breakaway.
The trio worked well together to establish a substantial lead of one minute and 12 seconds ahead of the main bunch. With two laps to go, Hunter was dropped from the breakaway and the peloton began to chase hard, rapidly closing in on the two leading riders.
Despite the peloton just about closing the gap, the duo managed to cross the line ahead of the bunch, with Dawson claiming the overall victory, and Smith finishing a close second.
Finlay Tarling (Willebrord Wil Voruit) crossed the line with the same time as Smith, winning the bunch sprint to take third position and complete this year’s podium.
The women’s race was aggressive from the start with Carys Blowers (Liv Cycling Club-Halo Films) and Ella Tandy (Tofauti Everyone Active) attacking early on and working together to establish a 22 second lead over the main bunch after just one lap.
However, by the end of lap three, the leading riders had been caught and a new four rider breakaway had been formed, including last year’s national champion Amelia Cebak (Tofauti Everyone Active) and three riders from Shibden Apex RT.
The breakaway riders worked well together to maintain a lead of one minute six seconds over the rest of the field.
It wasn’t until the final ascent 6km from the finish that Cat Ferguson (Shibden Apex RT) launched an attack, which only Imogen Wolff (Shibden Apex RT) could follow.
Ferguson sprinted to victory ahead of Wolff, with Isabel Mayes crossing the line 48 seconds afterwards, to take the bronze medal, making it a clean sweep for Shibden Apex RT. Cebak narrowly missed out on the podium, finishing in fourth position, with Evie Smith (Shibden Apex RT) leading in the chasing group, one minute and nine seconds behind Ferguson.
