British Crit Championships 2023

Megan Barker and Ollie Wood the champions after a dramatic evenings racing in Redcar – healing vibes to those who crashed out …

British Crit Championships 2023

British Cycling Press Release

Megan Barker powered to her first senior national title and Ollie Wood cruised to a solo victory on the second day of the British National Road Championships in Redcar.

Women’s race
Megan Barker (Team Inspired) outsprinted junior rider Cat Ferguson (Shibden Hope Tech Apex) and Maddie Leech (Lifeplus Wahoo) to claim the title in a hotly-contested circuit race.

A number of riders made attacks in the first few laps with Frankie Hall (Loughborough Lightning) leading the charge with some very aggressive racing, injecting pace into the race and making the peloton work hard from the off. Leech continued to make frequent attacks as the bunch splintered the best from the rest.

Katie Archibald (Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling Team) counter-attacked as she attempted to get away, but DAS-Handsling reeled her back in and controlled the front of the race. Ferguson also had a go but was unable to get away from DAS-Handsling’s control. with just a few laps remaining, Archibald attacked and finally managed to make it stick, racking up a sizeable margin in the closing stages of the race. The victory looked to be hers, but she unfortunately slid out in a corner, ending her race.

At the same time, the chasing bunch were involved in a huge crash as a touch of wheels saw a large group riders go down and caused the race to be paused. The race started up again for 10 more laps, where the pace was extremely high as riders fought for those all-important podium places.

Coming onto the final straight, Leech went long and sprinted with Barker and Ferguson on her wheel. Barker launched her attack and showed incredible speed to hold off Ferguson, while Leech claimed her second medal of the championships after her under-23 win in the time-trial.

Speaking after her win, Barker said: “It’s my first senior national title, so I’m really happy and I’ve always wanted to win, so I’m finally able to say that! “It’s really nice for both Elinor and I to have won something! We have another race on Sunday and I think that suits her even more so hopefully we might get another medal and make it a proper Barker occasion!”

Men’s race
Despite the delayed start and some light rain adding to the nerves, it was a lightning fast start to the men’s race, with Wednesday’s elite time-trial champion Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) again showing his strength. After an early attack from reigning champion Matt Bostock (Black Spoke Pro Cycling Academy), it was the newly-crowned North West and Yorkshire regional road champion Ollie Wood who was the first to break clear, quickly establishing a 20-second lead.

With the peloton unable to organise an effective chase Wood continued to press ahead, and despite the work of Tarling, Bostock and Sam Watson (Groupama-FDJ), he extended his lead as the race’s conclusion came into view. A chasing group spearheaded by Welshman Joe Holt (TEKKERZ CC) at last showed some impetus, but with the rain continuing to fall their progress was halted by a crash on the first corner of the course.

As Wood time-trialled his way to victory and crossed the line with his arms aloft, the bunch sprint for the remaining podium places saw Bostock take second and Tim Shoreman (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) third, with local favourite Harry Tanfield agonisingly missing out in fourth.

Wood said: “It feels really good. Absolutely not the plan to break away, it just happened and I just thought I’d roll with it, and then it stuck to the end. I definitely could feel everyone behind me and the people in Redcar definitely turned out tonight. I don’t think I can remember the last time I won a race like that with a gap and you can just sort of cruise down the finish line and just take it and look at everyone’s faces, everyone’s loving it as well as much as me.”

the British National Road Championships conclude on Sunday with the road races in Saltburn, with flag-to-flag coverage available once again through the British Cycling YouTube channel, GCN+ and discovery+.

Women’s race – 09:00
Men’s race – 13:45

RESULTS

MENS

1 Oliver Wood Unattached 1:03:12.31
2 Matthew Bostock Black Spoke Pro Cycling Academy +25.00
3 Tim Shoreman Wheelbase CabTech Castelli +25.00
4 Harry Tanfield Tour de Tietema-Unibet +25.00
5 Noah Hobbs Groupama-FDJ La Conti +25.00
6 Max Rushby Materiel-Velo +25.00
7 Alec Briggs TEKKERZ CC +25.00
8 David Hird ROKiT-SRCT +27.09
9 William Roberts Saint Piran +28.97
10 Huw Buck Jones Wales Racing Academy +28.97
11 Kieran Riley Team PB Performance +28.97
12 Harry Green Kalas Motip Race Team +28.97
13 William Perrett Embark Spirit BSS +28.97
14 Henry Lawton AG2R Citroen U23 Team +28.97
15 Joshua Tarling Ineos Grenadiers +28.97
16 Joe Holt TEKKERZ CC +28.97
17 Cai Davies Kalas Motip Race Team +32.17
18 Lee Rosie Wheelbase CabTech Castelli +36.03
19 Jacob Smith Wheelbase CabTech Castelli +36.03
20 Harry Macfarlane TAAP +36.03
21 Joseph Smith Unattached +36.03
22 Griff Lewis Wales Racing Academy +36.03
23 Conor McGoldrick Richardsons Trek DAS +38.30
24 Leon Mazzone Saint Piran +41.25
25 Ben Chilton Ribble Collective +45.33
26 George Spooner Race Team + 2:32.19
27 Daniel Barnes Team Spectra Cannondale + 2:32.20
28 Edward Morgan Wales Racing Academy + 2:32.20

WOMEN

1 Megan Barker Team Inspired 1:23:46.09
2 Cat Ferguson Shibden Hope Tech Apex
3 Madelaine Leech Lifeplus Wahoo
4 Sophie Lewis DAS – Handsling Bikes
5 Emma Jeffers DAS – Handsling Bikes +0:02.34
6 Monica Greenwood DAS – Handsling Bikes +0:02.62
7 Emily Proud Race Team +0:02.81
8 Flora Perkins Fenix-Deceuninck Development Team +0:02.92
9 Jenny Holl TEKKERZ CC +0:03.03
10 Samantha Fawcett Hutchinson-Brother UK +0:03.59
11 Isabel Darvill Team Spectra Cannondale +0:03.59
12 Corinne Side Pro-Noctis – Heidi Kjeldsen – 200 Degrees Coffee +0:04.82
13 Robyn Clay Pro-Noctis – Heidi Kjeldsen – 200 Degrees Coffee +0:04.90
14 Millie Couzens Fenix-Deceuninck +0:05.05
15 Imogen Wolff Shibden Hope Tech Apex +0:05.38
16 Lucy Glover Shibden Hope Tech Apex +0:06.99
17 Bexy Dew Pro-Noctis – Heidi Kjeldsen – 200 Degrees Coffee +0:07.22
18 Erin Avill Storey Racing +0:09.05
19 Lauren Robinson Team Boompods +0:09.16
20 Francesca Morgans-Slader AWOL- O’Shea +0:09.20
21 Francesca Hall Loughborough Lightning +0:09.30
22 Alex Morrice CANYON – SRAM RACING +0:09.31
23 Isabel Mayes Shibden Hope Tech Apex +0:09.42
24 Grace Castle Unattached +0:09.75
25 Amy Perryman TEKKERZ CC +0:09.97
26 Xan Crees Team Spectra Cannondale +0:10.01
27 Gemma Mitchell Team Boompods +0:10.27
28 Georgina Oakley Unattached +0:10.77
29 Amy Gornall Pro-Noctis – Heidi Kjeldsen – 200 Degrees Coffee +0:11.19
30 Sian Botteley Hutchinson-Brother UK +0:11.65
31 Arianne Holland Alba Development Road Team +0:11.76
32 Beth Harley-Jepson Jadan Vive le Velo Glasdon +0:11.76
33 Hannah Bayes Saint Piran WRT +0:11.87
34 Sophie Thackray DAS – Handsling Bikes +0:14.92
35 Sophie Enever Alba Development Road Team +0:15.42
36 Jo Tindley Pro-Noctis – Heidi Kjeldsen – 200 Degrees Coffee +0:15.65
37 Suzetta Guerrini Le Col Race Team +1:05.30