Hayley Simmonds (CAMS Racing) took her 14th national open time trial crown with victory in the women’s RTTC National Circuit Championship, which doubled up as round five of the Merlin Cycles Classic Series.

The 32-year-old ended a 19-month wait since her last national title storming to victory by nearly a minute in Northamptonshire.

The NC16N course saw riders complete three laps of a loop around the rural roads of Northamptonshire starting and finishing in Naseby with a total distance of 32.5 miles.

Simmonds, from Bar Hill in Cambridgeshire, who finished third in the National Circuit Championships last season, clocked a winning time of one hour, 17 minutes and four seconds.

Kimberley Morrison (Drag2Zero) had a brilliant 2020 with podium finishes in the National 10 and 50 Championships.

The 33-year-old went one better on this occasion with a lifetime best national finish of second in 1-18-03.

Just 13 seconds back and taking her first ever national open time trial podium finish was Jennifer George (The Independent Pedaler – Nopinz) who took third in 1-18-16.

Meanwhile, quickest veteran on scratch was Angela Carpenter (...A3crg) who recorded a 1-19-41 ahead of team-mate Kirsty McSeveney and Denise Burrows (AeroCoach) in third (1-30-06).

“It was really nice to start the national campaign with a win,” said Simmonds.

“It was a long one and I’ve not actually done that long of a time trial for quite a while. Last season the longest I did was a 25.

“They were also quite dead roads, so the time was quite long. It was a bit of a shock to the system. I’ve done plenty of long training rides and road races but on a time trial bike is different.

“It was more of an interesting course than some of the classing time trial courses. The conditions were really weird as part of the course was wet on the first lap due to very localised rain.

“It’s my 14 CTT National so it’s always nice to get a win.”

Simmonds will now be preparing with her CAMS Racing team ahead of the RTTC National Time Trial Championships in two weeks’ time.

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