Nally pulls away to secure Monmouthshire Junior Grand Prix victory

Nally pulls away to secure Monmouthshire Junior Grand Prix victory

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An impressive final assault from Joe Nally was enough for him to secure a 33-second win to take a mighty victory at the Monmouthshire Junior Grand Prix.

The HardieBikes.com rider went clear on the fourth climb of Grosmont Hill to take a solo win ahead of Daniel Coombe of Team Wales.

British Cycling Junior Road Series leader Oscar Mingay - also of Team Wales - pulled back almost two minutes on the leaders in the closing lap to take third.

With the heatwave well and truly over, round six of the British Cycling Junior Road Series rolled out of Hilston Park for a 47km lap to the south and west of the finish in Grosmont.

Both sections of the course are relentless and it was almost inevitable that the race would break apart. The big surprise was how early the splits would come.

Halfway round the first lap – heading back to Grosmont from Abergavenny – there were five riders away – Daniel Coombe of Team Wales, James Tillett of Giant Cycles-Halo Films, Alexander Cross of Team Vision Innovative Leisure, Joshua Sandman of Herefordshire Cycling Club and Harrison Wood of Mid-Devon CC – 30 seconds ahead of a rapidly fragmenting peloton.

On the first of three 22km finishing laps up towards the finish at Grosmont, Coombe, Wood, Sandman and Tillett were still away and had been joined by Nally. He pipped Sandman and Coombe to the first of the sprints at 59km and the quintet came through the finish again with two to go.

The result of the second sprint was identical to the first – which meant that only Sandman could catch Nally and the Scot would have to come third or lower.

By the bell the lead group was down to three – Nally, Coombe and Sandman – but all eyes were on Mingay who was heading the chase behind them. Coombe took second in the final sprint ahead of Sandman – with Nally taking the clean sweep.

And with Mingay snapping at his heels, Nally made his move on the descent before the final climb and gapped his two companions. He pulled away on the climb – opening a 33 second gap by the finish line, with Coombe taking second.

Mingay and Ben Healy of Zappi Racing Team overhauled Sandman on the run-in – Mingay taking third just seven seconds behind Coombe and nine ahead of Healy – with Sandman a further nine seconds behind.

The rest of the field started to trail home almost a minute and a half later with Tillett the last of the unlapped riders, some 18 minutes behind the winner.

Mingay's third place - with none of his major rivals scoring significant points - consolidated his overall lead in the series.

"We alI kept working together and the gap just kept going up and up, and then coming into the last lap there was about three minutes on the peloton," said race winner Nally. "So we weren't really worried about then - but then there was a group of a few guys coming across - and, eventually, we could actually see them.

"Over the top of the climb for the last time I started to attack them quite a few times - and I finally got away on the decent - down the main road.

"It took me a while until I was confident - but once l'd finally snapped the elastic to Dan, I was starting to get confident and then I got a time gap with a km-and-a-half to go.

"It was 50 seconds and I knew I was done from there."

Provisional result

1 Joseph Nally www.HardieBikes.com 3:09:33
2 Daniel Coombe Wales @ 33 seconds
3 Oscar Mingay Wales @ 40
4 Ben Healy Zappi Racing Team @ 49
5 Joshua Sandman Herefordshire Cycling Club @ 58
6 Joe Hill Sussex Revolution VC @ 2:19
7 Harry Hardcastle Wheelbase Cabtech Junior RT @2:23
8 Mason Hollyman Bike Box Alan same time
9 Michael Hall Identity Racing @2:23
10 Jordan Reed Bike Box Alan 2:34

Sprints competition

1 Joseph Nally www.HardieBikes.com 15 points
2 Joshua Sandman Herefordshire Cycling Club 7
3 Daniel Coombe Wales 5

Gallery

British Cycling Junior Series - Round 6 - Monmouth