Strong winds and heavy rain curtailed the second day of action at the Peak 2 Day, as concerns over rider safety led to the cancellation of the final road races in both the Women’s and Open competitions, with only the Open time trial able to take place.

The truncated programme meant Anna Morris (private member), who led after a storming Saturday time trial, took the overall honours in the Women’s race, while the TT shook up the order in the Open standings as Jake Edwards (Composite Team 1) powered his way to the top spot.

Featured Image: Joe Hudson

Open race

Stage 2

With strong winds gusting over 30mph, coupled with driving rain, the Sunday morning time trial – taking on the already challenging ascent of Holme Moss – was an even trickier challenge than normal. The 7.6% average gradient, reaching a peak of 10% towards the top of the 221m climb, is one relished by hill-climb specialists but looked on with dread by many more.

Jake Edwards. Image: Joe Hudson

Not that Edwards, who we marked out as one to watch in our Preview, was too concerned. Taking to the course just as the first band of rain blew through, but still obvious on the endless horizon, the 22-year-old made every pedal stroke count as he clocked a time of 8:55 over the 3km course – avenging his defeat by Junior World Champion Harry Hudson and The British Continental’s Domestic Rider of the Year, Adam Howell, 12 months prior.

Behind him, stage 1 winner Jenson Young (Ribble Outliers) crossed the line 19 seconds down and dropped to second on the general classification. His three-second lead after Saturday’s success was transformed into a 16-second deficit as he continued to get to grips with road racing after a two-year absence.

Third went to another rider we had marked out as a potential race-maker in our preview: Henry Hunter. His 9:19 was just five seconds slower than Young’s effort and continued a run of form – second at the Northern Regional Road Race Championships and ninth in last year’s Yorkshire U23 Classic – that demonstrates a clear comfort when the road starts to climb.

Women’s and Open Stage 3

The early morning wind and rain, which had added extra challenge to the TT, proved an insurmountable obstacle to the safe running of the weekend’s final races, which were due to be eight and nine laps respectively of the Hade Edge circuit.

Run on open, exposed moorland roads, the women’s peloton rolled out from HQ to the start line and raced only a handful of kilometres before race radio crackled into life with news that the race was being neutralised. A few minutes later, confirmation came that the commissaires, riders and marshals had made a unanimous decision to abandon the race out of an abundance of caution, with strong crosswinds buffeting riders on the north-south sections of the course.

The women’s peloton just before the Stage was abandoned. Image: Sarah Swinscoe

Eluned King, the ace former racer turned race organiser who was directing the Women’s race for the first time, told The British Continental: “We were aware of the weather obviously before we started so we just wanted to make sure that it was as safe as possible to, first of all, start the race. Then as soon as we started the race, it just became immediately apparent [that it wasn’t safe].

“As a former rider, I know how important it is and I know that everyone wants to race so if it’s a unanimous decision then the riders are completely correct. And, you know, it’s completely up to them if it’s safe or not and we went with the decision of the riders, which was the right one.”

DRAFT Racing’s Lucy Harris, who was sitting second in the Overall standings prior to the Stage 3 cancellation, added that the decision was the right one: “So much work has gone into organising this race, so it’s going to be absolutely heart breaking for El, but I was up there, I felt genuinely unsafe – I thought about pulling out the race on my own.

“I also think full credit to all of the riders who put their ego to one side and cared more about each other and everybody’s safety than trying to win a bike race. It’s hard, we’ve paid money to be here, warmed up, trained, turned up, and your hope of maybe winning vanishes. But everybody put that away and said ‘actually, we don’t feel safe and we care more about each other than we do about winning.’”

With the forecast continuing to show strong winds throughout the afternoon, and the rainfall becoming more intense, the decision was also made to cancel the final race of the Open competition, confirming Edwards as the winner.

The Open Overall podium. Image: Joe Hudson

Women

General classification

Open

Stage 2

General classification

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