Drag2Zero riders Liz Powell and Matthew Smith were fastest female and male riders respectively at the Lovelo Racing 50-mile time trial in Bedfordshire on Bank Holiday Monday.

Powell, the 44-year-old from Kenilworth who formed part of the winning team in the 2018 national 10, 25, 50 and 100-mile title races, set a new course record for the F1b/50 near Tempsford with a time of 1-55-21.

Emily Robertson (NOPINZ) also broke the old course record with her time of 1-56-11, but only held the record for around nine minutes before Powell crossed the line. And third in the women’s event was Rosamund Bradbury, the Sigma Sports rider who took part on a road bike!

Smith, 41 and from Newmarket, made it two out of two in open time trials so far this season following his win in the VTTA East Anglia 25 last month.

He clocked 1-40-46 to take the win by 1-17 from Ross Clarke (TMG Horizon) while Peter Lawrence was third, another 4-33 off the pace.

The popular course uses a section of the A1 starting at Tempsford to the north of Sandy, and heading south through Sandy, round Biggleswade and down to Stotfold, turning off before it becomes motorway and on towards the village where riders turn and head back up north.

Conditions weren’t perfect, with wind causing a few problems for the riders. And some traffic cones were put up after one of the roundabouts which brought the traffic down to one lane. But the event was still run and the cones were removed later in the morning.

Below the podium places, Kingston Wheelers’ Adam Bidwell clocked 1-47-04, and 29 seconds behind him was Alex Bradley (Cowley Road Condors) in fifth.

Ross Clarke led TMG Horizon to the team prize with the winning trio being made up of himself, Steve Clarke and Tony May. Icknield Road Club were the second team, while Coalville Triathlon Club took third.

While Smith’s time was a good one given the conditions, he was some five minutes away from his personal best which was set last July in Cambridgeshire on the E2/50 course.

He is next due to be in action in a couple of midweek VTTA 10s in June, and has also entered the National 50-Mile Championships on June 30.

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