Despite suffering a puncture on the rough unpaved sections, British Cycling National Junior Series leader James Shaw (Haribo Beacon) took victory in the Junior CiCLE Classic on Sunday to continue his domination of the 2014 series.

The 17-year-old took victory at the end of the 58-mile race in Rutland, continuing his perfect start to the Series following victory in the first two rounds, the Cadence Road Race and the Tour of the Mendips.

Despite the forecasts of wet weather for the inaugural Junior CiCLE Classic, the rain held off and the sun even poked its head out on a couple of occasions – although there was still plenty of mud and puddles on the rough ‘Barrowberg’ section.

In the early stages there were a number of attempts to break the race up with Joseph Donohue of Southern Planning Practice, Gwyn Lovibond of Team Wallis CHH and Sean Noon of Edinburgh Road Club getting a couple of seconds on the bunch through Thistleton. But it was James Shaw of HARIBO-Beacon who led the field through the Barrowberg section on the first run through – essentially single file for most of the semi-paved section – as the race started to break apart.

But it was Leon Mazzone (3LC.tv Europcars) who led the race through the Barrowberg next time round, and the unpaved section proved it has no regard for reputation with British Cycling Junior Road Series leader Shaw suffering a front wheel puncture second time through and losing 40 seconds before chasing back on.

On the run in the 40 remaining riders from 90 starters were still together, but it was Shaw who broke free in the closing stages to take his third win in a row. Oliver Maxwell of Windmill Wheels CC won the gallop for a couple of seconds back from Joey Walker of RST Racing with Jack Escritt of Velocity WD-40, John Didsbury of Lune RCC and Mazzone.

Shaw – who also wrapped up the King of the Hills competition – spoke to British Cycling after the event and revealed that he had an extra incentive to win his third consecutive round of the Series.

“I came in to this race knowing that I wanted to win for my best mate Levi Moody who’s not been well this week. So I came here today and I said myself or Tom (Baylis) we’d go out there and race for him and put all our effort in for him. I really wanted to give him something to feel happy about, something to put him back on his feet.”

In the first two rounds Shaw was very generous in his praise of his team mates who had ridden as a unit to help him to victory. Today he only had Baylis with him; had that changed the way he rode the race?

“It definitely made it harder,” he said. “We had to approach the race slightly differently. We had to go into it and perform to a plan – we had to save when we had to save and expend when we had to expend and go for it when we had to go for it. Obviously we only had two pairs of legs when he normally have four but me and Tom both knew that and we talked about it before and we knew what we had to do. And in the end we performed it well and pulled it off.”

How big an impact did the puncture have? “I was about 40 seconds down. I was in the gravel section, just before the left-hander and I thought ‘Ay up! What’s going on here?” and my front tyre went down. So I pulled over, got a change from the mechanics – nice and fast – and back on the tarmac.

“I didn’t panic too much – obviously there was a lot of racing still to go – and I didn’t want to expend myself over a 3km period and not have anything left. And once I got back in the bunch and got the recovery drink down my neck and a bit of a gel and got back on my feet, then I spoke with Tom and said ‘Right, we’re both here’ – Tom had had a puncture previously, before the gravel.”

And what about the fast run-in? “I didn’t think I was going to do it, to be honest. I kept looking back and they were rapidly pulling me back. I was absolutely on my knees, I was digging deep – really going for it. And obviously the guys were really chasing me and really pulling me back I just had to put my head down and go for it.”

Results

1 James Shaw HARIBO Beacon Cycling Team 02:16:25

2 Oliver Maxwell Windmill Wheels Cycling Club 02:16:27

3 Joey Walker RST Racing Team 02:16:27

4 Jack Escritt Velocity WD-40 02:16:27

5 John Didsbury Lune RCC 02:16:27

6 Leon Mazzone 3LC.tv/ Europcars (IOM) 02:16:27

7 Max Stedman Pedal Heaven Colbornes RT 02:16:28

8 Karl Baillie Pedal Pushers 02:16:28

9 Gwyn Lovibond Teamwallis CHH Racing Team 02:16:28

10 Sean McGovern Teamwallis CHH Racing Team 02:16:29

11 Ethan Lee NFTO Race Club 02:16:29

12 Lewis Stevens Strada-Sport 02:16:29

13 Luke Morgan CC Luton 02:16:30

14 Fabian Brennan Velocity WD-40 02:16:30

15 Alexander Braybrooke Velocity WD-40 02:16:30

16 George Jary VC Londres 02:16:30

17 Preslav Dimitrov MJS Racing 02:16:30

18 Stuart Balfour Spokes Racing Team 02:16:30

19 Aaron Handley Bike Box Alan/Whiston Velo 02:16:30

20 Zak Loney Team LFH 02:16:31

21 Cameron Woolsey Cycle Club Ashwell (CCA) 02:16:31

22 Tom Yiangou Neon-Velo.com 02:16:31

23 Alex Dalton Squadra RT 02:16:31

24 Charlie Tanfield Adept Precision RT/NE Healthcare 02:16:31

25 Charles Walker Halesowen A & CC 02:16:31

26 Christopher Welburn Lichfield City CC 02:16:31

27 Hamish Carrick Speg - Project 51 02:16:32

28 Matthew Mildon Mud Sweat Gears 02:16:32

29 Theo Doncaster Cycle Club Ashwell (CCA) 02:16:32

30 Oliver Payton PH-MAS Cycling 02:16:32

31 Daniel Finnegan Lichfield City CC 02:16:32

32 William Perrett Heanor Clarion CC 02:16:33

33 Matt Clements Cycle Lab. 02:16:33

34 Joseph Donohue Fareham Wheelers Cycling Club 02:16:33

35 Oscar Williamson Marsh Tracks Race Team 02:16:34

36 Ralf Hodgson Marton Race Team 02:16:34

37 Rian Hill Classic Racing Team 02:16:34

38 Nicholas Jones County Cycles Racing Team 02:16:34

39 Oliver Cliff VC Londres 02:16:35

40 Elliott Reynolds Clay Cross Road Team 02:16:36

41 Ricky Parsons Mid Devon CC 02:16:36

42 Sean Noon Edinburgh RC 02:16:36

43 Jack Mattock BH-Solidor-WAM Youth 02:16:36

44 Alexander Foster Border City Wheelers CC 02:16:36

45 Thomas Baylis HARIBO Beacon Cycling Team 02:16:37

46 Sean Dunlea Ciclos Uno 02:16:37

47 Stephen Williams NFTO Race Club 02:16:38

48 Jez McCann Catford CC Equipe/Banks 02:16:40

49 Joseph Wiltshire NFTO Race Club 02:16:43

50 Nathan Draper RST Racing Team 02:16:46

51 Benjamin Manfield-Yorke Wolverhampton Whls 02:18:50

52 Ben Forsyth Spokes Racing Team 02:19:21

53 Nathan Hereward Kingston Whls CC 02:24:02

54 Max Spedding Birkenhead North End CC 02:28:12

55 Andy Brown Glasgow Cycle Team 02:28:13

56 David Bolland Clay Cross Road Team 02:28:14

57 Ben Chapman Team Corley Cycles 02:28:53

58 Harry Thompson Leicestershire Road Club 02:31:02

59 Matt Thorne Paul Milnes/ Bradford Olympic OTL

60 Fraser Martin Spokes Racing Team OTL

61 Joseph Sutton PMR@Toachim House OTL

62 Lewis Grieve Spokes Racing Team OTL

63 Tristan Robbins BH-Solidor-WAM Youth OTL

64 Mike Lear Velo Club Rutland OTL

65 Jonathan Chapman Cycle Club Ashwell (CCA) OTL

66 Harry Craig PH-MAS Cycling OTL

67 Jake Charlton VC Deal OTL

68 Chris Richards 4T+Velo Club OTL

King of the Hills:

1 James Shaw HARIBO Beacon Cycling Team

2 Alexander Braybrooke Velocity WD-40

3 Stuart Balfour Spokes Racing Team

4 Joey Walker RST Racing Team