Lewis Askey has a commanding lead going into the final stage of the Isle of Man Junior Tour after a stunning performance in Saturday’s second outing.
The Zannata Ride Coventry XGear rider won Saturday’s 72km road race stage finishing 49 seconds ahead of Oscar Nilsson-Julien (VC Londres).
Max Walker (Equiom IOM Junior Cycling Team A) was third, 50 seconds behind the stage winner in the latest round of the British Cycling Junior Road Series.
The race took place in sunny but cool conditions on a hilly 7.2km circuit at Ellerslie. Askey started the day in fourth place after Friday’s prologue time-trial when he had finished just four seconds behind winner Leo Hayter (VC Londres).
Walker charges in the early stages
Stage two began with Max Walker making the first significant attack, and as he passed the eight-laps-to-go board he had a lead of around 15 seconds on the peloton. A lap later his lead had grown to 45 seconds on the main field which included Hayter.
Grabbed my first win of the year ‘solo’ at IOM National today Buzzing to take the win on my birthday just got to try hold onto the yellow & green jersey tomorrow now!! pic.twitter.com/gOUiHZJqjA
— Lewis Askey (@LewisAskey) May 4, 2019
By the time the race approached halfway, Walker had been joined by Nilsson-Julien with three chasers at 12 seconds, and the yellow jersey in the main bunch around half a minute down on the leaders.
With three laps remaining the decisive move went clear with Askey in a group of four with Nilsson Julien and Walker, plus Walker’s teammate Will Corkill. By now the yellow jersey group were nearly a minute behind.
Askey takes matters into own hands
Askey attacked on the penultimate lap and took the bell with a gap of about 10 seconds over the three chasers, and extended his lead with an impressive ride on the last lap.
He benefitted from his knowledge of the Ellerslie circuit having raced on it many times since the age of 12. Going into the third and final stage on Sunday, he has a lead of 48 seconds over Nilsson-Julien and 53 seconds over Walker. Corkill is fourth on GC at 1:11, and Hayter fifth at 1:32.
Sunday’s road race stage covers 74.8km comprised of 11 laps of the Billown circuit near Castletown.
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