British National Championships: Fred Wright outsprints Lewis Askey and Connor Swift to win elite men’s road title

The 187.1km course around the Ceredigion region of Wales featured a challenging 2586m of altitude gain, and as is typical of British nationals, a large field of 140 riders went into battle from the off.

The race was lively from the get-go, but a nine-rider group was able to forge clear, though they were not given much rope by the main peloton, which held them at 45 seconds with 150km still to cover. A secondary wave of attacks launched after that as more riders sought to bridge to the front of the race, leaving the peloton to allow the leaders to eke out a slightly larger gap as the bunch settled briefly, one minute behind.

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A lead group of six held the front of the race for around 40 kilometres, but with 116km to go, the peloton made contact, and former champion Wright was the first to catch the breakaway. He joined their ranks as the peloton dangled a handful of seconds behind. The race situation remained volatile after that, with riders attacking and dropping, and it was all change again as a large group of favourites moved clear and with 90km to go.

They had built a lead of almost a minute over the chasing bunch, but the race was all over the road, both at the front and in the peloton, with groups strung out into long lines. At the head of the race, the large group split and with 60 kilometres to go, a group of five strong riders had built a significant 1:25 gap over the main peloton. This group featured Wright, along with Lewis Askey (NSN Pro Cycling), Mattie Dodd (Ineos Grenadiers Racing Academy), Elliot Rowe (Visma-Lease a Bike Devo Team) and Jed Smithson (Team Jayco-AlUla).

The group arrived on the local lap in Aberystwyth for five laps of the circuit, but Smithson was struggling with the heat, needing a bottle but unable to get one and dropped from the group. Former national champion Connor Swift (NetCompany Ineos) bridged up to the lead group, and from there, the race entered a steadier state, with the five leading riders working well together and steadily building on their lead heading into the final 50kms.

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A chase group of 7 were the only riders left in contention with the peloton drifting out to three minutes behind the head of the race. The chasers were not able to make an impression on the lead group’s advantage but would continue to work hard for placements and podium spots in the U23 category, which would still be at stake once the lead group had crossed the line.

With 21km to go, the first attack came from the lead group, Mattie Dodd attacking on a gradient to put space between himself and the rest of the group, with only Wright able to stay with him, and Lewis Askey forced to chase. They regrouped shortly afterwards, but the gloves were off, with Swift the next to launch, pursued by Wright and Askey. It was a straight punch-up after that, with Askey the next to strike, as the race headed back into the town centre ahead of the final lap.

The five riders worked well together, pushing the gap to 2:50 with 11 kilometres to go. Games in the front group started on a kilometre later, with Askey launching the first salvo. Attacks continued, Wright on the steep climb which dropped Dodd and Rowe, and then Askey on the descent as he flew past Swift.

But the trio was still together, with Askey pinned to the front with two kilometres to go. In the final kilometre, another Swift attack was shut down by Askey as Wright slotted in the front with 200 metres to go.