Solihull teenager Joe Fox (Rapha Condor CC) secured victory in the fourth round of the Waldrons Solicitors West Midlands League, staged at ALdersley Leisure Village in Wolverhampton on Sunday.
The 18-year-old set the pace from the gun, along with Tom Payton (Isla Bikes) and Neil Hayward (unattached).
Hayward soon struggled with pace after feeling under the weather and dropped back, while Fox and Payton continued to duel it out at the front with Fox edging clear in the closing stages to take an emphatic and meaningful win.
Both Fox and Payton have been ill or injured over the summer and it looks like both have returned to form in time for the start of the National Trophy next weekend.
Just like in previous weeks, it was Darren Atkins who used his strength and skill to plough his way through the senior field to win the over-40 category and third in the senior field.
He later said that he didn’t really want to catch Payton and Fox as he felt he may have interrupted with they’re race. He later added: “After all, they are in a separate race and it would be unfair if I got in the way of them.”
Ewan Grivell-Mellor (Mid-Shropshire Wheelers) and Harry Yates (Lichfield City CC) both made it four wins from four rounds in the Under-16 and Under-14 categories respectively.
Phil Roach (Team Jewson) made his first appearance in the league and came home the winner from league leader Mick Davies in the over-50 category.
Hannah Payton took the women's win from Beth Crumpton who retired with a rear wheel problem. Harrison Webb from Malvern Cycle Sport took the junior race.
Results:
1 Joe Fox (Rapha CC)
2 Tom Payton (Isla Bikes)
3 Darren Atkins (Team Jewson)
Veterans: Darren Atkins. Over-50s: Phil Roach (Team Jewson). Women: Hannah Payton (The Kinesis Morvelo Project). Juniors: Harrison Webb (Malvern Cycle Sport).
Youth:
Under-16s: Ewan Grivell-Mellor (Mid-Shropshire Wheelers).
Under-14s: Harry Yates (Lichfield City CC).
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British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs.
