Reports

Helen Wyman claims tenth national cross title; Tom Pidcock wins on under-23 debut

Grant Ferguson claims first men's title while Evie Richards makes it three-in-a-row in under-23 women's race

Helen Wyman (Xypex-Verge Sport) will be back in the red, white and blue stripes of British cyclo-cross champion after outgunning Nikki Brammeier (MUDIIITA Canyon) to claim her tenth national title at Hetton Lyons Country Park.

Wyman powered away from World Cup rival Brammeier – the back-to-back defending champion – in the final stages after a race-long battle between the two.

Wyman’s accelerations, both on the bike and on foot, helped open up a gap and the 36-year-old resisted a late comeback to surge away again and claim victory by 13 seconds.

For the second year running, Bethany Crumpton finished third while, earlier in the day, rising star Evie Richards – already a World Cup round winner at senior level – claimed her third under-23 title.

Helen Wyman celebrates her tenth British cyclo-cross title after triumphing following a race-long battle with Nikki Brammeier (Pic: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

In the under-23 men’s race, Tom Pidcock (Telenet Fidea Lions) added to his rising stock with another national title – his first at under-23 level – after a great display of bike handling.

Pidcock – the world junior cyclo-cross champion, world junior time trial champion and national criterium champion – opened up a gap at the end of the first lap thanks to bunny-hopping over the hurdles and his lead only increased from there on.

Ben Turner and Dan Tulett finished second and third respectively – the opposite way around to how they finished on the world junior podium behind Pidcock last year.

Finally, Grant Ferguson (CST-American Eagle) – who rode the cross country MTB event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games – won his first senior men’s national ‘cross title to deny Ian Field (Hargroves-Ridley-Montezuma) a sixth victory.

Ferguson – under-23 national champion three years in a row between 2013 and 2015, and already a national champion on the mountain bike – attacked Field with two laps to go to claim victory; 2016 winner Liam Killeen (Malvern Cycle Sport) finished third.

Re-live the action through this photo gallery from SWPix.com.