ON the back of the successful hosting of a Tour of Britain stage last year, British Cycling is bringing the prestigious National Road Championships to the area this week, with a host of star names set to be involved.
The event starts at Croft Circuit on Wednesday before heading to Redcar seafront on Friday and concluding in Saltburn on Sunday, with the winners of each race receiving the coveted British National Jersey for a year.
Kicking off the event on Wednesday, the time trials start and finish in the pit lane of Croft Circuit. The route, flat and fast, will loop from Croft, into Dalton-on-Tees and then back into the circuit.
The U-23 men, U-23 women and elite women categories will race the course for two laps which equals 27.4km,while the elite men will complete three laps of the course which totals 41.4km.
The course is pan-flat and riders will be looking to set a blistering pace which could mean some of the fastest times the national championships have ever seen.
The time-trial start list is littered with WorldTour riders, including favourite Geraint Thomas who comes with his Ineos Grenadiers squad of Ben and Connor Swift, Ben Turner, Josh Tarling, Ben Tulett and Leo Hayter, who will hopeful of repeating his brother Ethan’s victory last year.
Dan Bingham, who finished second at last year's time-trial and broke the hour record on the track, will be lining up for HUUB Wattshop. Last year's third place finisher James Shaw of EF Education will take to the start line hoping to better his podium place with a win this year.
Local rider and former under-23 time-trial national champion Charlie Tanfield will be lining up with hopes of pulling on the British jersey once again.
Pfeiffer Georgi is looking to repeat her victory in last year’s U-23 category in the women's race. She comes into the championships in great form and is one of the favourites, but faces stiff competition in the form of other WorldTour riders including Anna Henderson of Team Jumbo Visma, rising star Zoe Backstedt of EF Education-TIBCO-SVB and Elizabeth Holden of UAE Team ADQ.
Riders will then head for Redcar seafront on Friday evening for a tight and technical circuit race which starts and finishes on the esplanade. The riders will start on the seafront before heading down the high street and back on themselves. Both the men’s and women’s race will be contested over 55 minutes plus five laps.
British Criterium Champion and Manx-man Matt Bostock is hoping to defend his national title but Charlie and Harry Tanfield are out to spoil the Bostock party as they line up together, not as a team but as rivals.
Ineos Grenadiers’ Luke Rowe and Josh Tarling will both be in the line-up. Tarling finished third at last year’s event, then racing for Wales Racing Academy, when he was edged out in the sprint by winner Bostock and second placed Groupama-FDJ’s Sam Watson, who is also set to be on the start line.
Other notable names that are lining up are local rider Joe Wilson who races for Embark Spirit BSS, who will be looking to light up local roads once again like he did in last year’s Stockton Grand Prix. Alec Briggs of TEKKERZ CC lines up with newly crowned National Scratch race Champion, Joe Holt.
In the women’s criterium race, Emma Jeffers will be looking to add the British Championship to her CV after a successful 2022 which included wins at the National Circuit Series and The Tour Series. Jeffers finished second last year and is hoping to one up her previous result, but the 18-year-old will be facing tough competition in the way of 2021 Champion Jo Tindley, Jenny Holl and Josie Knight.
Tindley comes to the race with bags of experience and a team ready to help her to victory this year. The 36-year-old, who races for Pro-Noctis, comes to Redcar on the back of a fourth place in this year’s CiCLE Classic.
TEKKERZ CC’s Jenny Holl will come into the race as one of the favourites. The 23-year-old Scottish rider is already a star on the track; winning bronze at the 2019 European Games in Minsk.
The championships conclude with a brutal road race around Saltburn and surrounding villages in what should be a fantastic end to the week of racing.
The road race will start and finish around Saltburn Bank. Both the men and women will follow the same 18.8km course, with the women riding seven complete laps of the course, totalling 132km and 2826m of elevation, while the men will take on 10 laps of the course, totalling 189km and 4,073m of elevation.
The course heads into the villages of East Cleveland through Skelton and past Skelton Castle, before heading through Kilton. Riders will then drop back to the coast before tackling Saltburn Bank to the finish line. The last climb tops off at more than 22% and with tight hairpin bends, will almost certainly create some separation between the best riders and the rest of the peloton.
Geraint Thomas is favourite after his remarkable second place at this year’s Giro d’Italia. Thomas will be lining up with a full strength Ineos Grenadiers squad, all looking to get their hands on the famous British Champions jersey. The Grenadiers come to the road race with two-time National Champion Ben Swift, 2018’s winner Connor Swift, Luke Rowe, Ben Turner and u-23 riders Leo Hayter, Josh Tarling and Ben Tulett.
The Ineos riders face hard competition from other WorldTour riders including Team Bahrain’s Fred Wright, Groupama-FDJ’s 2022 u-23 champion Sam Watson and EF Education riders James Shaw, Owain Doull and Simon Carr.
Saint Piran will have a full squad of riders in the road race including Alex Richardson, who finished third last year behind winner Mark Cavendish and Sam Watson.
In the women’s race, Alice Towers will be looking to repeat her effort from last year’s national championships which came from a solo breakaway win in Castle Douglas, but she faces competition from a very strong field of riders including 2021 champion, the aforementioned Pfeiffer Georgi.
The hilly course will be well suited to climbers like Anna Shackley of Team SD Worx and North Yorkshire based, EF Education’s Abi Smith, who will be joined by team-mate Zoe Backstedt.
All the races will be shown live on British Cycling's YouTube channel and the highlights will be shown on ITV4 on Wednesday 28th June at 6pm.
Race timings:
Time-trials, Wednesday 21 June
Under-23 men – 09:10
Under-23 women – 10:15
Elite women – 12:50
Elite men – 14:10
Circuit races, Friday 23 June
Women’s race – 18:30
Men’s race – 20:00
Road races, Sunday 25 June
Women’s race – 09:00
Men’s race – 13:45
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here