THE LLOYDS National Road Championships continued as Aberystwyth hosted the Lloyds National Circuit Race Championships on Friday, June 26, as Megan Barker and Matt Bostock emerged victorious after thrilling races through the town.
Home favourite Megan Barker (Rapha Cycling Club) pipped fellow Welsh rider Carys Lloyd (Movistar Team) to win in the women’s Lloyds National Circuit Championship for the second time in a sunny Aberystwyth, with Eilidh Shaw (UAE Development Team) taking the bronze.
Fans were treated to a fast, tight race for the majority of the 45km, with various riders attacking throughout, including the likes of Jess Roberts (Private Member), Jenny Holl (Loughborough Lightning), and 2025 champion Kate Richardson (Handsling Alba Development Team).
With ten minutes to go, Robyn Clay (Team Picnic PostNL) broke away from the peloton, with Arabella Blackburn (Handsling Alba Development Team) joining her to be the first riders to successfully maintain a significant gap to the peloton.
However, with four laps to go, both riders were caught, as 24 riders still remained in contention for the closing stages. It was 2022 champion Barker who managed to take the win on the line ahead of Lloyd, while Shaw held on to complete the podium. Riders first to 13th all finished within one second of each other, showing how hard-fought the race was.
A jubilant Megan Barker said: “That was special, it was really unexpected, just like the first time I won.
“It was one of the hardest circuit races I’ve ever done; the peloton just never let off, and there were so many attacks. I just tried to keep in the mix, aim to get my sprint off, and that’s just what I did.”
Matt Bostock (Rapha Cycling Club) won his second Lloyds National Circuit Championship with a convincing win, leading from the front for the majority of the race. Rising stars Jacob Bush (Development Team Picnic PostNL) and Thomas Portsmouth (Guidon Chalettois) completed the podium line-up, finishing second and third respectively.
Much like the women’s race, the Welsh crowd were once again treated to a spectacular contest. The first half of the race saw an intense and competitive battle for the lead, with multiple changes of the lead throughout.
With 22 minutes of the race gone, Manx rider Bostock broke away from the peloton alongside Thomas Armstrong (Wheelbase Cabtech Castell). Eventually, both faded back into the peloton, but Bostock sounded a warning of things to come.
Twenty minutes later, Bostock, alongside Bush, Portsmouth, and Benjamin Bright (ASPTT Nancy) staged another breakaway, which managed to stick.
The four tussled all the way to the finish line for the remaining laps. It was Bostock, however, who outsmarted the others, sprinting to the finish to be crowned national champion again. Both Bush and Portsmouth finished within a second of the winner, to finish off a brilliant day of cycling in Ceredigion.
Newly crowned champion Bostock spoke after the race: “It feels great to be the national champion again.
“I came in with a plan to be offensive and have no regrets at the end of the day, and I did just that. Still, I worked hard for this, and in the end it paid off, so I’m really happy.”
Full results can be found here
You can watch back the races on the British Cycling Youtube channel: Women’s Race | Open Race
Sunday (June 28) sees the Lloyds National Road Championships host the road race, with some of the strongest names in the British road scene battling through the Welsh countryside. After a processional start on the seafront, the road races will head out of town towards Llanfarian as far as Trawsgoed on a picturesque yet testing 23.4km anticlockwise loop, before heading back towards Aberystwyth passing Y Gors.
The peloton will be challenged across three laps for the women’s race and five laps in the men’s race, before action moves onto the finishing circuit.
Racing begins early doors, with the elite and under-23 women kicking things off at 08:45, before the elite and under-23 men close things out at 13:45.
Fans can watch the road race live on the British Cycling YouTube channel, HBOMax and TNTSport.
