Ben Stancombe led Team VeloVelocity to a clean sweep of the podium at the CC Breckland 10 in Norfolk on Sunday, while Cindy Berry (Pedal Power Ipswich) was fastest female.

Stancombe, 29 and from Ely in Cambridgeshire, clocked 20-33 to win by 44 seconds from team-mate Stuart Fairweather, while another colleague at VeloVelocity, Daniel Bloy was third, just a second further off the pace.

Meanwhile, Cindy Berry was fastest of the females, the 24-year-old from Norwich covering the slightly amended course in 24-26 to win convincingly with second-placed woman Denise Hallahan (Wisbech Wheelers) more than ten minutes back.

The B10/19 course took riders from Hingham to the outskirts of Watton and back, starting on Hingham Green and finishing nearly a mile short of the start.

With a south westerly wind creating a mix of headwind and crosswind on the 5.5-mile outward leg, times generally were a little bit down on what riders expected, although the weather was warm for the time of year with sunny intervals.

Berry’s last victory was in last month’s Ely and District Hardriders, where she battled through cold, wind and rain, so this victory would’ve been a welcome change for the trainee teacher at the University of East Anglia.

Stancombe’s win is his first open victory of the season, but if 2018 is anything to go by it surely won’t be his last.

He won the District 30-mile Championship staged by CC Breckland last September, and was also victorious in the Diss & District CC 10 in July, the CC Breckland 25 and Ely and District CC 10 in June.

Earlier in the year he won the CC Breckland 10 on this same course in April where he clocked 20-56, thereby showing an improvement of 23 seconds on his time from ten months ago.

* Reporting and photos by Fergus Muir.

Results:

1. Ben Stancombe (VeloVelocity)      20:33

2. Stuart Fairweather (VeloVelocity) 21:17

3. Daniel Bloy (VeloVelocity)            21:18

4. Mark Richards (DAP CC)  21:33

5. Dan Blackburn (VC Norwich)        21:41

6. Nick Partridge (VC Baracchi)        21:45

7. Graham Rudd (Redbridge CC)      22:20

8. John Bradbury (CC Sudbury)         22:26

9. Andrew Knowles (North Norfolk Wh)      22:35

=10. Simon Scott (Anglia Velo)         22:36

=10. John Swindells (Iceni Velo)       22:36

Women:

1. Cindy Berry (Pedal Power Ipswich)           24:26

2. Denise Hallahan (Wisbech Wh)      34:53

Veteran on Standard: Stuart Fairweather       +4:55