Lisa Davis was two minutes ahead of her nearest rival at the Sussex CA 50-mile time trial near Dial Post, West Sussex, on Sunday morning, while Steve Kane was fastest man by only 13 seconds.

Davis, the 46-year-old Drag2zero rider from Heathfield, clocked 2-08-19 to take victory by 2-14 from Gemma Freeman (Sussex Revolution) while third spot went to Bethan Male (Brighton Triathlon) who was around two and a half minutes further back.

Kane, 32 and from Brighton, took overall victory in the colours of Team TMC in a time of 1-49-57 which was just 13 seconds faster than runner-up Pat Wright (Paceline RT). And in a very closely fought podium battle third went to Matthew Smith (Team TMC) who was only another five seconds back.

Despite a wet forecast of early drizzle before the race and some more rain afterwards, it was actually a dry morning with 16-20 degree temperatures, with a north-easterly wind blowing but not gusting.

Having won the Sussex CA 15 two weeks beforehand by just two seconds, Kane widened the margin to 13 seconds to score his second win in this event – his first was in 2013 when he was seven seconds quicker on a better morning.

Cris Coxon (Brighton Mitre CC) - a recent convert to tri-bars - continued his haul of club records with his third in just 15 days and sixth place overall in this event.

2020’s winner Andy Critchlow (Norwood Paragon CC) - a past Commonwealth Games rider - was five minutes back on his 2020 winning time in fourth spot.

Kane also led Team TMC to the team prize with their victorious trio being made up on himself, Matthew Smith and Kevin Plummer.

This was Kane’s first victory of the 2021 season so far, but he has several good performances. He was fifth in both Brighton Mitre CC hilly events back in April, and went on to place sixth in the Sussex CA 25 in May as well as second in the Sussex CA two-up 28.5-mile event three weeks ago where he teamed up with Matthew Smith.

Kane is next hoping to ride an open time trial in three weeks as he has entered the Southern Counties CU 100 on July 18 as well as the Sussex CA 30 the following Sunday.

This was the first open victory of the season for Davis, but comes after a number of good performances so far in 2021 including second in the Sussex CA 10 on May, fourth in the East Sussex CA 10 and seventh in the Viking 50 last weekend in a strong field.

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Results:

1              Steve Kane                         Team TMC                          1              49           57

2              Pat Wright                           Paceline RT                         1              50           10

3              Matthew Smith                 Team TMC                          1              50           15

4              Andrew Critchlow            Norwood Paragon CC     1              50           47

5              Howard Bayley                  Blazing Saddles                 1              51           59

6              Cris Coxon                           Brighton Mitre CC           1              52           05

Women:

1                     Lisa Davis                     DRAG2ZERO                       2              08           19

2                     Gemma Freeman     Sussex Revolution VC     2              10           33

3                     Bethan Male               Brighton Triathlon            2              13           08

4                     Anouska Greenaway Brighton Mitre CC          2              15           34

5                     Anita Turner               Eastbourne Rovers CC    2              36           14

6                     Harriet Christelow   South London Harriers   2             38           54

Team - Team TMC   Steve Kane, Matthew Smith + Kevin Plummer (1  56  53)  4  37  05