Bristol will stage a day-long celebration of cycling this Sunday, with elite men’s and women’s races taking place alongside the HSBC UK Let’s Ride mass participation event.
The men will compete in the fourth round of the HSBC UK | National Road Series – the Circuit of the Mendips.
Series leader Steve Lampier (Saint Piran) will be among those to contest the 95.6-mile course, which will start and finish in Bristol city centre and takes place over three inter-linked circuits across the Mendips.
Ian Bibby took victory at last weekend’s Lancaster Grand Prix, and will be part of a strong-looking Madison Genesis line-up which will also include Matt Holmes and Tom Moses.
Following wins in the opening two rounds of the series, Canyon DHB p/b Bloor Homes are still top of the team standings, and a team including Rory Townsend, Tom Stewart and Alex Paton will be looking to consolidate that position on Sunday.
Also on the start line will be James Shaw (SwiftCarbon Pro Cycling) and Daniel Tulett (Team Wiggins Le Col) who took second and third respectively in Lancaster, and Alistair Slater and Scott Thwaites (both Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK) who currently sit in the top ten of the series standings.
The race gets under way at 10:30am, and is estimated to finish at approximately 2:30pm.
Later on in the day, the first-ever standalone women’s HSBC UK | National Circuit Series begins, with round one – the Bristol Crit.
The peloton will take on laps of a 1.6km, city-centre course, with the likes of Jo Tindley (Campinese-Velo Performance), Ella Barnwell (Liv Cycling Club – Halo Cycles), Sophie Lankford (Team Jadan Weldtite – Vive le Velo) and Gabriella Homer (Cycle Team OnForm) all set to compete.
The Bristol Crit will begin at 3pm, and see riders complete an hour plus five laps of the course.
