Kate Allan (Team Bottrill) was fastest female at the Virtual CC 25-mile event in South Wales in her first event back since crashing out of the National 50, while her team-mate Jake Sargent (Team Bottrill) was fastest male.

Allan clocked 51-51 to easily win the women’s prize by five and a half minutes in a time which would’ve put her joint 11th in the men’s field. Second fastest female was Claire Emons (a3crg) with 57-21, while Roxy Woodfield (Ludlow Brewery Race Team) was another 2-37 behind in third.

“I absolutely loved racing this morning, despite it being a very nervy experience, being my first race after crashing at the National 50,” said Allan.

“I paced it fairly conservatively knowing that my legs haven’t seen intensity for a little while and I was harbouring obvious nerves, but am very pleased with the result I pulled together.

“The race itself was a tale of two halves, incredibly fast to the turn and then very gusty on the return leg. It’s filled me with lots of confidence and I hope to build on my form so to see a few more events in before the season is out.”

Sargent clocked 47-41 to secure his tenth time trial win of the season so far and win the men’s prize by just 15 seconds from in-form Paceline RT rival Andy Critchlow who was crowned world champion at the UCI Gran Fondo World Series (45-49) earlier in the week. Third spot went to Chris Gibbard (Bynea CC) with 48-28.

“It was a good day out for me,” said Sargent. “I had a crash a few weeks ago so this was all about getting back in the groove.

“The race itself was good for me, the rain had cleared by the start but it was still windy so the outward leg was really fast and had to hold a lot back for the hard return leg.

“It was also great to see my team-mate Kate Allen back on her bike with such a dominant performance after her crash at the national 50!

“I'm going to be targeting some shorter events for the rest of the season and hopefully some hill climbs so it's all about getting back to full fitness with my coach Matt Bottrill over the next few months.”

On road bikes, fastest was Owen Burgess (UF Rowe & King) in 53-07, while quickest female in that category was Lisa Elliott (Clevedon & Dist RC) in 1-08-08.

The team prize also went to Team Bottrill with Sargent and Allan being joined in the winning trio by Keith Dorling. Their total of 2-32-13 gave them the victory in that category by almost four minutes from the Team Echelon riders Tim Wood, Jon Howard and Martin Lines.

This was Sargent’s tenth open time trial win of the season so far according to his CTT profile, with other victorious including the VC Bristol 10 in June, the National Team Championships alongside Axel Dopfer and Matt Bottrill in May, the Hereford & Dist Wheelers 25 in April on the same course as today and the Bath CC hardriders 24 in March.

The event used the popular R25/7 course which takes riders from the start near Usk, up the A449 and onto the A40 passing through Llandenny, Dingestow, Mitchel Troy and turning near Monmouth.

* All reports are copyright of Cycling Time Trials/Snowdon Sports. Not to be used without permission.

* A gallery of images from this event is available here

Results:

Men:

1. Jake Sargent (Team Bottrill)           47.41

2. Andy Critchlow (Paceline RT)       47.56

3. Chris Gibbard (Bynea CC) 48.28

4. Anthony Jones (VMCC powered by Y Beic)         50.17

5. Karl Norris (360 VRT)       50.31

6. Tim Wood (Team Echelon)            50.55

Women:

1. Kate Allan (Team Bottrill) 51.51

2. Claire Emons (a3crg)          57.21

3. Roxy Woodfield (Ludlow Brewery Race Team)    59.58

4. Emma Wyatt (Hereford & Dist Wh)          1:00.00

5. Bethan Ouseley (Pembrokeshire Velo)      1:01.08

6. Joanne Jago (Performance Cycles) 1:01.55

Road Bikes Men: Owen Burgess (UF Rowe & King)            53.07

Road Bikes Women: Lisa Elliott (Clevedon & Dist RC)       1:08.08