Jack Escritt took his first national series win for HMT Academy-JLT Condor earlier today at Loughborough in round six of the British Cycling Junior Road Race Series.
He beat Sherwood Pine's Oli Peckover and Mid Shropshire Wheelers' James Ellmore into second and third respectively after the three had made their move mid race.
A nervous opening lap of five saw numerous attacks flick off the front of a full field on the undulating circuit around the village of Stathern.
Zepnat's Kieran Savage tried for an early lead and joined by Robert Gray (York Cycleworks). The pair had a brief period at the head of the race but the break was to be short-lived and were soon back in the fold.
Josh Waters (Sherwood Pines) countered but again the break was short-lived and as the bunch headed towards Belvoir, Savage tried again to get away but to no avail.
As the race approached the first time through Harby and the climb up Harby Hill towards the finish line, a break of three, Louis Modell (Catford Banks), Matthew Walls (Velocity GlobalBike) and Zak Corum had a useful gap to the bunch but as the race got into the second lap, Escritt, Ellmore and Peckover made their move.
The small break looked to be riding well together along the undulating road towards Belvoir Castle, the peloton not looking inclined to chase the three back allowing the gap to steadily increase.
The steady lap that followed allowed the break to increase their lead and as the race approached the penultimate lap, the gap had increased to over two minutes.
Harby was again the trigger for a reaction and a chase group formed. Modell, Matthew Clements (Catford Banks), Charlie Meredith (Giant Halo), Max Williamson (Box Bike/ Envelopemaster), James Ireson (Wolverhampton Wheelers) and VCUK PH-MAS' Max Spedding started to bring the gap down but with no real commitment the chase was short lived.
The break worked well to keep a safe gap back to the main bunch and although the time started to fall, the bunch was well policed by the HMT Academy.
The final climb up Harby Hill towards the finish saw Escritt attack as the road ramped up. Peckover and Ellmore were unable to respond to the jump and Escritt took the win a few metres.
“This was my first National Series win for the team so I’m pretty stoked about that,” said Escritt. “To win after being away with the other two was a good win for me. It was a good break to be in, we worked really well together, it held together well because we worked as a unit.
“I was the strongest today on the last climb [Harby] and jumped about half way up, where it steepens a bit, it was a sprinters climb I suppose - it suited me perfectly today.
“We were getting time gaps and we knew we had about two minutes on the bunch coming into the last couple of laps and we knew it would be hard, but as I said it was a good working break.
“There was a chase group which got to about 1-30 on us but they got reeled back so we got the gap back to about two minutes.”
Result
1 Jack Escritt HMT Academy-JLT Condor 2:49.51
2 Oli Peckover Sherwood Pines SRAM 2:49.59
3 James Ellmore Mid Shrops Wheelers 2:50.00
4 Adam Hartley VCUK PH-MAS Juniors 2:50.50
5 Ethan Haytor VC Londres 2:50.58
6 Nathan Draper RST Racing Team 2:51.00
7 Tom Chandler Sherwood Pines SRAM 2:51.01
8 Joe Fry RST Racing Team 2:51.01
9 Matt Bostock Manx Viking Wheelers 2:51.04
10 Etienne Georgi Giant CC-Halo Films 2:51.05
