George Evans and Hayley Simmonds were fastest male and female riders respectively as the Buxton CC staged the opening round of the Knight Composites Classic Time Trial Series on Good Friday.

Simmonds, the 29-year-old Team WNT Pro Cycling rider from Cambridge, sliced 51 seconds from the old course record held by Katie Archibald, clocking 59.11 as she continues her preparations for the Commonwealth Games where she will ride for England.

And in the men’s race George Evans (Team Bottrill-Vanguard), 20 and from Wrexham, clocked 1-22-16 for the men’s three lap course, coming within three seconds of Stuart Dangerfield’s 2003 course record.

Croston Velo rider Tom Rigby clocked 1-24-00 to take second in the men’s race, while James Bentley (Team Bottrill-Vanguard) was third, another 38 seconds off the pace.

Second in the women’s event was Melissa Lowther, the Team Breeze rider, whose time of 1-01-13 was 1-08

faster than third-placed Nicola Juniper (NJC Biemme), the former National Women’s Road Race Series champion.

“I’m really happy with my ride,” said Simmonds. “I came up here yesterday and did my normal pre-race recce, which really helped. There’s a bit of a descent before the climb starts and then there’s the main descent back to the start, and it’s a big advantage to have practiced that so you can know what speed you can safely go.

“I fly to Australia on Tuesday for the Commonwealth Games which is my main aim, but it does mean that I will miss the next two rounds of the Series and so probably won’t be able to defend my title.”

Welsh time trial champion Evans, who was third in the Buxton CC event 12 months earlier, said: “I’ve had a reasonable build up to the season despite a few cancellations because of the snow. I was hoping for the win today, even though there was some quality riders on the startsheet.

“The first climb from the start really kicks up, but it does ease off a bit on the way to the top. But by the top of the climb I had run out of gears and was really grinding across the top. It was quite windy so it was important to go aero up there.”

Run over a hilly 11-mile circuit, the men and espoirs take in three laps of the challenging J8/3 course while all other categories do two laps.

Starting at Longnor, the riders head north west up an unforgiving climb to the junction with the A53 at Flash Bar. They then head back south along the A53 until just before the Winking Man pub where they turn left again and head east back towards Longnor.

In other categories, Bury Clarion’s Francis Woodcock was fastest junior by more than three minutes from Daniels Kucerjavijs (Mossley CRT), while former Series winner Sarah Storey (Storey Racing) won the paracyclists category with an adjusted time of 56.58, giving her the win by 1-39 from David Murphy (Liverpool Mercury Dolan CC).

Race Hub rider and defending series champion Peter Nicholls was fastest veteran on actual time with 56-39 for the two-lap course, giving him the win by 22 seconds from David Langlands (Team Bottrill).

And defending champion Jackie Field (CC Ashwell) also made a good start to her 2018 with a win in the women’s veteran on actual category. Her time of 1-08-16 was almost two and a half minutes quicker than second-placed Claire Swoboda (VC St Raphael).

Peter Greenwood (Team Swift) was fastest veteran on target time with a plus of 3-04, giving him the win in that category by just two seconds from David Langlands.

The Knight Composites Classic Time Trial Series continues next weekend in Hampshire with 3C Cycle Experience promoting the event. Men will cover a 26.7-mile course, while other categories will tackle 17.8 miles.

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

* A full gallery of images from the Knight Composite Classic TT Series round one is available here

Results:

Men:

1. George Evans (Team Bottrill-Vanguard)    1:22.16

2. Tom Rigby (Croston Velo) 1:24.00

3. James Bentley (Team Bottrill-Vanguard)   1:24.38

4. Carl Donaldson (GS Metro)           1:24.53

5. Rob Walker (Cambridge univ CC) 1:25.36

6. Mike Cuming (Madison Genesis)   1:25.39

Espoirs: George Evans

Women:

1. Hayley Simmonds (Team WNT Pro Cycling)        59.11 (course record)

2. Melissa Lowther (Team Breeze)     1:01.13

3. Nicola Juniper (NJC-Biemme)        1:02.21

4. Kelly Murphy (C2 Racing) 1:03.09

5. Emma Lewis (BowlPhish Racing)  1:04.40

6. Rebecca Durrell (Storey Racing)    1:04.41

Juniors:

1. Francis Woodcock (Bury Clarion)  1:00.11

2. Daniels Kucerjavijs (Mossley CRT)            1:03.15

3. Kieran Morris (Oswestry Paragon CC)       1:05.35

Paracyclists (adjusted times):

1. Sarah Storey (Storey Racing)         56.58

2. David Murphy (Liverpool Mercury Dolan CC)      58.37

3. Nicholas Fairfield (City RC Hull)  1:04.10

Male veterans on actual time:

1. Peter Nicholls (Race Hub)  56.39

2. David Langlands (Team Bottrill-Vanguard)          57.01

3. James Rix (Team Bottrill-Vanguard)          57.58

Female veterans on actual time:

1. Jackie Field (CC Ashwell)  1:08.16

2. Claire Swoboda (VC St Raphael)   1:10.42

3. Sarah Matthews (a3crg)      1:11.03

Veterans on target time:

1. Peter Greenwood (Team Swift)      +3.04

2. David Langlands (Team Bottrill-Vanguard)          +3.02

3. James Cusick (Dooleys RT)            -0.18