Brett Harwood and Hayley Simmonds were the senior winners as the Knight Composites Classic Time Trial Series moved to Staffordshire for round two on Good Friday.

Using an anti-clockwise looped course from Longnor up to Flash and then down the A53 Leek Road before cutting back across to Longnor, the course was covered three times for a total distance of 33 miles for the men and espoirs, while women, juniors, paracyclists and veterans covered two laps for a 22-mile distance.

Riders mostly got wet apart from a few in the middle of the day, while the winds were strong and blew the riders around on the climbs.

Harwood, 41 and from Peterborough, clocked 1:25.49 to take the win by just 28 seconds from first espoir Jack Rebours (Caesarean CC Jersey). With George Evans third and Daniel Hawksworth fourth, Team Bottrill placed three riders in the top four.

James Gullen was a non-starter owing to his selection for Saturday’s Chorley Grand Prix Road Race, and round one winner Josh Williams was forced to pull out because of a mechanical issue shortly before the start.

But Harwood’s performance was worthy of victory, and he said afterwards: “I was a bit surprised to win, but I’m happy to have done so, especially given that conditions were so hard.

“I’ve ridden it for the last three years and this one was the toughest I’ve ridden. There was drizzle pretty much throughout, and the wind on the tops was unreal.

“I’m in better shape than I have ever been, and was 15 watts up on previous years, but the experience of having ridden the course before really helped too.

“The climb was a huge factor this year because my brake pads were literally disintegrating, and by the finish I had no brakes left, so had to descend very gingerly.”

Harwood, who didn’t ride the opening round two weeks ago, has already tasted victory this season, having won the Spalding CC 18 last weekend. He also placed second in Coalville Wheelers 10 last month, and rode an impressive 47.16 in the Lea Valley CC 25 last Saturday, where he was fifth fastest.

Simmonds (Team WNT) took victory by a far more commanding margin in the women’s event. She clocked 1:01.09 for the 22-mile version of the course, giving her a winning margin of 3-25 over Elizabeth Banks (SunSport Velo), while Elizabeth-Jane Harris (Boot Out Breast Cancer CC) was third, just five seconds slower than Banks.

Round one winner Simmonds, who is targeting the overall series win, beat Banks by around two minutes in the first round, but opened that margin up to 3-25 in the second round at Longnor.

Juggling road racing with time trialling, Simmonds placed fourth in the Women’s Tour of the Wolds last weekend.

The women’s field tackled the course at the same time as the veterans, and fastest of them was Danny Axford (Arctic Tacx RT) with 58.39, fast enough for victory by 35 seconds from Peter Nicholls (Race Hub).

Simmonds was the third-placed rider, while Joe Le Sage (Rutland CC) was third veteran with 1:02.13. CC Ashwell’s Jackie Field was the first of the female veterans with 1:08.30, while David Hargreaves was fastest veteran on target time.

Verulam CC’s Adam Robertson and Thomas Cornwell (In-Gear Quickvit Trainsharp) tied on 1:01.23 in the junior race. The pair could not be split in the provision results, while Harry Buxton (THRE Datawolves RT) was third, more than a minute and a half slower. Rhiannon Gornall (NCC Group-Kuota) was fastest girl.

And Ben Watson (Glossop Kinder Velo CC) won the paracyclists event with a time of 56.57 for the two-lap course, while Rik Waddon (Para-T) was second, 1-49 behind Watson.

At this stage all results are provisional and subject to change.

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