Emulating his teammate, Finlay Pickering, the previous year, Jacob Bush left it until the final climb to the finish line to out sprint the breakaway bunch and claim Fensham Howes – MAS Design Team’s second successive victory at the prestigious Bath Road Club Junior Road Race.
With the weather in the UK on amber alert due to the swelting conditions and temperature’s hitting the low 30 degrees, Bush produced a powerful final burst to claim victory and join recent Tour de France stage winner Tom Pidcock as a winner of the event.
It was an exciting day of racing on one of the hottest days of the year so far, with several attacks and breakaways allowed to get away straight from the off as the race headed out of the village of Wing.
Harry Codd (Cero – Cycle Division Racing Team), Ben Etherington (Manilla Cycling), and Ben Marsh (BCC Race Team) were the first to get away, opening up a small gap as they entered Cublington for the first time.
This break was soon pulled back and by the second climb to Cublington, it was the trio of Matthew Brown (Elitecycling Junior Team), Nathan Hardy (Tofauti Everyone Active) and Griff Lewis (FlandersColor Galloo) that were off the front, opening up a 20 second gap on the main bunch.
Several riders tried to bridge the gap over the next lap, eventually forming into a breakaway of 10 riders as they passed through the village of Whitchurch for the third time. Despite splintering several times over the next two laps, the group managed to maintain a gap over the peloton with the lead changing constantly as riders struggled to stay hydrated in the stifling heat.
As in last year’s instalment of the race, it was on the last steep climb to the finish that Bush made his move and attacked. Tyler Annis, (Utmost IOM Junior Cycling Team) and Alex Galpin, (Bourne WheelersCC) tried to go with Bush, but the Fensham Howes rider had enough in the tank to hold off the attack and sprinted across the line several bike lengths ahead of Annis in second and Galpin in third.
It was another good race for the Utmost IOM Junior Team with three riders in the top 10, with Ralf Holden and Junior Men’s National Champion, Zac Walker in 6th place.
