Ethan and Leo Hayter took both the elite and under-23 titles to make it a family affair on the opening day of the HSBC UK | National Road Championships in Lincolnshire, while dominant displays saw Anna Henderson and Anna Shackley also crowned national champions.
Taking place in the picturesque village of Tealby, Lincolnshire, the riders were treated to a challenging course and over 500ft of climbing in each lap, as the county welcomed back the national championships for the first time since 2015.
Elite men
After an eighth-place finish at last month’s UCI Road World Championships in Flanders, Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) was always going to be the rider to beat in Tealby, and he measured his ride perfectly to take the victory by over 36 seconds.
Hayter led throughout but was pushed hard by the Ribble Weldtite duo of James Shaw and British Hour Record holder Dan Bigham, while Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) finished 17 seconds off the podium in fourth place. Reigning champion Alex Dowsett (Israel Start-Up Nation) was sadly forced to abandon the race.
Hayter had arrived in Tealby early to celebrate Leo’s victory, and even had one eye on his little brother’s time while out on the course.
“I think I was kind of the favourite coming into this but I don’t think Leo really was, so that was a really nice way to start the day to come down and see him. It’s a big shame my family couldn’t be here because my Dad’s actually got Covid – he’s all right, he’s just stuck at home, but I’m sure they’ll celebrate!
“I know what time my brother did and as I came around here with a lap to go I checked and was just about up on him, so I thought I must be going all right!”
Hayter now switches his focus to tomorrow’s HSBC UK | National Circuit Championships race, followed by the road race on Sunday.
“I’ll try my best and if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. I just kind of saw it [the circuit race] and thought I’ll enter it for a bit of fun almost as much as anything. I’ll just do what I can – I try to win every race.”
Bigham joining Shaw on the podium capped off an excellent day for British UCI Continental outfit Ribble Weldtite, and the duo were full of praise for the support they have received. Bigham said:
“We’ve had such good support. The partners and the staff and the commitment they’ve put in, that’s why the guys are time-trialling well and racing well, I don’t think we really want for much as a team. Obviously it always helps having a bigger budget and more staff, but on the equipment front I think we’re in a really good spot.”
Elite women
Amongst a high-quality field Anna Henderson (Team Jumbo-Visma) shone brightest to take the victory with a 56-second margin, having won the under-23 title at this event back in 2019.
Just over 30 seconds separated the top six riders at the half-way point, with Henderson enjoying a slender 15 second advantage over Joss Lowden (Drops-Le Col Supported by Tempur).
Leah Dixon (Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank) performed brilliantly to set a time of 44:02.80 and occupied the hot seat until Henderson stopped the clock at 43:04.21, before Lowden’s 44:00.39 soon had her looking nervously over her shoulder with three riders to come. However neither Alice Barnes, Hannah Barnes or Hayley Simmonds could better Dixon’s result to secure a first national championships podium for the Welsh rider.
Speaking afterwards, Henderson was blown away to have prevailed in such a strong elite women’s field at the first attempt.
“I think it’s more shock than anything. I saw the calibre of the British girls at the Women’s Tour last week and they were on fire, so I’m really proud and happy to come away with the win. I made a good plan with my team and they came over from the Netherlands, so I’m really appreciative of them coming over to give me that extra dimension of support.”
After an anxious wait in the hot seat, Dixon was thrilled to take home a deserved medal from her first national championships time-trial. She said:
“I absolutely loved being in that position! It was a much better ride than I was even expecting so to be even sat in that position at all I was ecstatic. As time was dwindling on and there was more and more of an opportunity of getting a medal that’s when I was getting a bit nervous.
“Me, Joss and Anna are great friends, and me and Joss were joking that our first national series podium was at Klondike GP a couple of years ago and it was in exactly the same order then as it is today! To ride with friends and have them supporting you is just a really nice atmosphere.”
Under-23 men
Leo Hayter (Development Team DSM) took the under-23 men’s crown – and his first national champions’ jersey – by a dominant margin of over 50 seconds, stopping the clock at 38:04.485.
A solo winner at Liège-Bastogne-Liège U23 last month, Hayter entered the race in fine form and led throughout, with Ben Turner (Trinity Road Racing) second with 38:57.195 and Oscar Onley (Development Team DSM) rounding off the podium with 39:37.776.
The trio faced a nervous wait as the final riders crossed the line, however the final rider Lewis Askey (GROUPAMA – FDJ) finished just under six seconds slower than Onley, taking fourth place with 39:43.060.
Speaking after the race, Hayter said:
“I’ve actually never been a national champion before. I’ve podiumed five or six times but never won, so it feels really good to finally wear the jersey. It was really interesting – for a time-trial course I was really impressed with it, it had a bit of everything.”
Under-23 women
It was a similarly dominant display in the under-23 women’s category, as Anna Shackley (Team SD Worx) powered to victory by an incredible margin of more than a minute and 34 seconds, finishing in 43:55.84. Well suited to the challenging course, victory capped off a stellar first year as a pro rider for Shackley, following her role supporting Lizzie Deignan at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Following an impressive eighth place finish at the AJ Bell Women’s Tour Pfeiffer Georgi (Team DSM) took second place on the day, finishing with a time of 45:30.37, while Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank’s Abi Smith took third place with 46:25.24.
Reflecting on a landmark 2021, Shackley said:
“It feels really good. I wasn’t expecting that, I’m not usually the best at time-trials but I think I’m starting to enjoy them when they go well! I think that hill in the middle of the lap definitely helped me a lot, but it was a hard course and quite technical with the wind.
“It’s a cherry on top of the cake for this season. It’s been really good, I’ve really enjoyed this year and hopefully next year I can improve as well.”
The championships head to Lincoln city centre tomorrow (October 15th) for the circuit races, with the road races to follow on Sunday (October 17th). Course and rider details can be found in our event preview here, and full results from today can be found here.
