Newly-crowned national road champion Swift continues winning streak with Wales Open Crit win

Navigation:
Home » Road racing » British National Road Series » Elite Circuit Series

Connor Swift continued his golden streak on the road as he outsprinted local rider Jonathan Mould to take victory in the second round of the HSBC UK | National Circuit Series in Abergavenny.

The Madison Genesis rider triumphed at the HSBC UK | National Road Championships last Sunday and backed that up with another fine showing in the Wales Open Criterium on Friday.

Both he and Mould, of JLT Condor, never looked back from making an early break, leading after the hour mark of racing before battling it out over the final five laps to the finishing line.

Matthew Gibson (JLT Condor) came home third and leads the overall standings after two rounds.

Early breaks

It was JLT Condor who set their stall out early, lining themselves on the front of the peloton with Mould among their ranks.

With splits appearing in the peloton, an early four-rider break formed, including Mould and Swift as well as Jake Scott (One Pro Cycling) and Charles Page (Canyon Eisberg).

The break was quickly caught but Mould again showed he was in the mood as he started to force the pace.

Mould and Scott on the move

Clearly keen to get away, Mould and Scott made their move, working well together to build up a 27-second lead after 35 minutes of racing.

That then increased to 35 seconds as they brought up 32 laps of racing, as Mould’s JLT Condor team looked to prevent any other moves from the peloton.

It looked to be working as the leaders moved into a 46-second lead with 50 minutes of racing gone with their blistering speed seeing the majority of the peloton pulled after being lapped.

Cat and mouse finish

With an hour gone and five laps to go for the leaders, it was looking increasingly like a two-rider race for the line, despite the peloton trying to force the pace.

With three laps to go, Mould and Swift still had a 36-second advantage although an attack by Graham Briggs of JLT Condor did see that reduced by six seconds.

Briggs was joined by Andrew Tennant (Canyon Eisberg), Matthew Bostock (100% ME) and Tobyn Horton (Madison Genesis) in leading the chase with a lap to go.

But the real action was at the front as Swift and Mould looked to outfox each other – Swift the one to get it right to come across the line first for the win with Gibson (JLT Condor) coming across in third.

Results

1- Connor Swift (Madison Genesis)

2- Jonathan Mould (JLT Condor)

3- Matthew Gibson (JLT Condor)

Results

Overall standings

Gallery

2018 HSBC UK | National Circuit Series: Wales Open Criterium