Cycling series goes down to the wire

It's all to play for in the final round of the Friction Hydraulics Series with the top three are split by just 10 points following round 16, the West Cheshire TTCA 25.

Hayley Wells holds the overall Series lead by just five points, while Rob McGregor moved up to second to displace Tomos Hales, again by five points.

All three are guaranteed a medal, but this is the tightest battle for years and going right down to the wire.

The county win came went to Simon Romei on the Tern Hill-Shawbirch-Lostford course after he stopped the watch on 54 minutes, 50 seconds to see off the attentions of Paramount team-mate McGregor, who is on a stunning run of form.

But Romei wasn’t finished there as he also took the Veterans' win with +12:30 - 52 seconds ahead of Hafren CC’s Bryn Davies.

Romei was pleased with his morning’s work, stating: “Super happy to have secured county winner and Vet winner. It felt tough on the outward leg as the wind direction was mixed with a lot of crosswinds, and it didn’t feel to much quicker on the return leg, so I just made sure I was keeping super aero and maintaining a good speed.”

McGregor crossed the finish line in 56:01, 39 seconds ahead of Davies as he makes a late charge for the Friction Hydraulics title in a superb season.

“I really enjoy the D25/23T course, and it can be fast on the right day," said McGregor. "However, conditions didn’t feel favourable: I was expecting a tailwind out and a headwind return, but in reality it felt like more of a crosswind, and I had to adjust my pacing on the fly. I was happy with my ride, and really pleased with taking the runner-up spot.”

Wells did enough to maintain her overall Friction Series lead - just - with a fine time of 58:01, which also took the Friction Female Series win from Thea Osmund-Smith (1:03:19).

“I felt like I had a decent out leg to Shawbirch, however by 30km I was starting to drop off the pace," said Wells. "A welcomed tailwind for around one kilometre off Hodnet helped, then it was a case of holding on till the end."

The final two medals were sealed in the Friction Road Bike Series, with Stuart Proctor taking the silver with a win on the morning with a handicap time of 54:57, consigning John Westhead to bronze even though he chose to ride his time trial bike on the day.

Proctor was delighted to finally encounter slightly cooler conditions than of late.

“After seemingly months of living and riding in a fan oven, it was a pleasure to finally get back to some traditional British summer weather!" he said. "As usual, I wasn’t sure how ready I was for this one, but by the time I got to Espley roundabout I was feeling ‘on it’.

"My initial target was to stay away from my minute man, Chris Riley, until at least Shawbirch, and then back to Espley, which I managed, so I knew it was going to be a good day.

"Even so, I was more than happy to see the finish line just off the A53, and chuffed to get my quickest 25 of the year."