Jenson Young (Ribble Outliers) and Anna Morris (private member) emerged as the key figures from a cold, snow-dusted opening day at the 2026 Peak 2 Day p/b Velo Edge. Young attacked from a reduced lead group on the final lap of the Longnor circuit to win the open stage 1 – his first road race victory in two years – ahead of Carl Jolly (Schils–Doltcini Racing Team) and Damien Clayton (private member). In the women’s race, Morris had laid the foundations earlier in the day by winning the Warslow time trial in 12:35, then held her place in the front selection on the afternoon road stage as Awen Roberts (CANYON // SRAM zondacrypto Generation) took the stage win, allowing Morris to keep the leader’s jersey overnight ahead of Sunday’s finale.

Last updated 20.45, 14 March.

Featured image: Joe Hudson

Women’s race

Stage 1

There was a dusting of snow on the road to greet the riders who made the 9am start for the road bike time trial, with temperatures reportedly at 3°C at the time trial start and dropping to -1°C at the elevated finish. The Warslow course was 7.1 kilometres, with the road remaining largely flat for the opening four kilometres before rising to the finish at an average of 3.9% over the final three kilometres – 130 metres of elevation in total, with a maximum gradient of 8%. On snow-dusted, grippy roads, this was a test of pacing and sustained effort rather than raw climbing power.

The question the preview had posed – how cleanly Anna Morris’s track pedigree would translate to the opening TT – was answered with some authority. Morris put down the kind of sustained effort the course rewards. Her time of 12:35 was 8 seconds faster than anyone else would manage.

Anna Morris. Image: Joe Hudson

Behind her, Lucy Harris (Draft Racing) – the 2025 Women’s CiCLE Classic winner and one of the strongest performers on the current domestic circuit – clocked 12:43 to take second, with Katie Scott (Paralloy RT) a further 8 seconds back in third at 12:51. Lily Martin (Loughborough Lightning) was fourth in 12:52, and Awen Roberts (CANYON // SRAM zondacrypto Generation) and Morven Yeoman (DAS-Hutchinson) – DAS-Hutchinson’s sole entry – both recorded 13:04 to share fifth.

Kate Richardson (Handsling Alba Development Road Team), one of the pre-race favourites, finished in 13:29 – 54 seconds down on Morris. That gap is not insurmountable over two further stages, but it does mean Handsling’s game plan for Stage 2 will need to change. Richardson had spoken pre-race to The British Continental of training through the weekend – she’s aiming to peak “end of April, start of May” and described the race as part of that process

The women’s race headed into Saturday afternoon’s two-lap, 66.2-kilometre road stage on the Longnor circuit with the GC genuinely open.

Stage 2

If stage 1 had established the first hierarchy of the weekend, stage 2 began the process of testing it properly. Anna Morris started the afternoon road stage in the leader’s jersey after her convincing ride in the morning time trial, but the Longnor circuit offered a very different examination: less about measured pacing, more about repeated pressure, positioning and the ability to respond as the race continually stretched and split.

The signs came early. As the race approached Longnor for the first time, the bunch was still broadly together, but riders were already beginning to lose contact at the back. By the first Queen of the Mountains point, the front of the race had become markedly more active and only around two-thirds of the field remained in the main bunch.

Image: Joe Hudson

What had been a larger lead group soon resolved into a more select front group featuring Morris, Harris, Awen Roberts (CANYON // SRAM zondacrypto Generation), Yeoman, Grace Ward (RedChilli Bikes O’Shea Racing), Amy Henchoz (Paralloy RT), Katie Scott (Paralloy RT) and Lily Martin (Loughborough Lightning), with Kate Richardson (Handsling Alba Development Road Team) and Lili-Keau Juntakereket (Paralloy RT) also in the mix as the race continued to split.

The decisive move was established gradually rather than with one sharp attack. The lead group was cut to eight riders and began to draw clear, first by around 20 seconds, then by 35, and soon by more than 50. Roberts told The British Continental that the course itself made that kind of selection almost inevitable: “the first lap it stayed a bit together, but then by the second lap the girls, they really pressed on”. Once the split had formed, she said, “we all really worked together, and there was a really good cohesion in the group”. 

Morris admitted afterwards that the road stage had been “hard. Actually really hard,” adding that “there’s a really strong group of women there, and they really pushed up the climb the second time. So yeah, that formed the front group of eight.” Crucially for the overall, she was able to stay there: “pleased to have stayed up there and maintained that lead”.

In the end, the stage was decided from that reduced front group. Roberts, having taken both KOM points, judged the finish well. With the wind strong and no obvious reason to force a solo move, she felt “there’s not really going to be an individual, it’s going to come as a group”. In the sprint itself, she said she was careful “not to go too early”, adding: “I think I timed that pretty well.” 

Image: Joe Hudson

Roberts proved fastest in that finish, taking the stage win after a race that had steadily worn the field down from the first lap onwards. Henchoz took second, with Yeoman third.

Morris remained at the centre of the race and, after winning the morning time trial, did enough again here to remain the overnight leader ahead of Sunday’s final stage.

Open race

Stage 1

The open race began in the kind of conditions that give this event its edge. The wind was strong on the higher ground and, on the exposed roads around Longnor, it shaped the race almost from the gun. Riders faced three laps of the 33.1-kilometre circuit, with 566 metres of elevation per lap: 99.3 kilometres in total, and approximately 1,698 metres of climbing. For a National B, it was a serious test, one that again gave the stage the feel of something harder than its classification suggests.

The racing was aggressive early without settling into anything decisive. Small groups repeatedly forced clear, only to be brought back. Josh Housley (Ride Revolution Coaching), Oliver Snodden (YBC Composite Team) and Finn Mason (Hubo-Scott Cycling Team) were among those prominent in the opening moves, but by the time the race reached Longnor the bunch was together again.

Image: Joe Hudson

The first meaningful selection came when a larger move finally gained traction. Damien Clayton (Private Member), George Peden (Team PB Performance), Carl Jolly (Schils – Doltcini Racing Team), Housley, Jack Crook (Composite Team 1), Patrick Clark (Schils – Doltcini Racing Team), Oliver Dawson (JAKROO Handsling Racing), William Perrett (DAS Richardsons) and Lewis Tinsley (BCC Race Team) all featured as the race at last began to stretch. What had been a nervous, punchy opening became something more serious, with the front group edging towards 20 seconds and the bunch beginning to fragment behind.

Even then, the shape of the race kept changing. Matthew King (Atom 6 – Cycleur de Luxe – Auto Stroo Continental Team) briefly sat off the front before the composition shifted again. A reduced group containing Clayton, King, Perrett, Peden, Dawson, Housley and Jolly opened a gap that was beginning to look significant. Clayton then took the first KOM from King and Perrett, underlining his intent on terrain that suited his ability to keep pressing on repeated rises.

Image: Joe Hudson

Behind, the race was still trying to re-form. A chase group containing Matthew Lord (DAS Richardsons), Jake Edwards (Composite Team 1), Harrison Dainty (JAKROO Handsling Racing), Tinsley, Thomas Armstrong (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) and Jenson Young (Ribble Collective) bridged across, swelling the front of the race and changing its balance again. Armstrong had been the standout name on the startlist, but this was fast becoming the kind of stage in which hierarchy mattered less than resilience and the capacity to keep responding when the race kicked once more.

The front selection did not stay intact for long. Sam Walsham (Colina x Ciovita Racing) hovered just off the back before regaining contact; King later appeared to slip away; Peden too was distanced, rejoined, then faded again. By the middle of the stage, what remained was a fluid lead group that at various moments included Clayton, Dawson, Edwards, Housley, Jolly, Lord, Samuel Nisbet (Composite Team 1), Perrett, Tinsley and Young. Behind them, a chase group of around a dozen riders was now more than a minute down.

What decided the stage was not one grand move but the accumulation of pressure. The lead group reduced again as the race approached the finish. Hail began to fall. Clayton briefly edged clear, then the race reset with five riders at the front and two more chasing. Housley and Nisbet were among those trying to get back on. Then Young made the decisive move.

Young wins. Image: Joe Hudson

Attacking from the front group in the closing phase of the stage, the Ribble Collective rider forced the split that finally held. After a day in which almost every move had been brought back, his was the one that stuck. He committed fully, held his advantage to the line, and crossed alone for his first road race victory in two years.

Behind him, Jolly took second and Clayton third.

Women’s race

Stage 1

Stage 2

Open race

Stage 1

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