If the recent announcement of the 2023 National Road Series calendar provided a winding gut punch to fans of domestic road racing, British Cycling’s publication of next season’s programme for the national youth, junior and under-23 series offers a gentle hug, albeit with an uncomfortably tight squeeze thrown in.
Here are all the details…
Featured image: Joe Cotterill/The British Continental. The 2022 Yorkshire Under-23 Classic.
Youth Circuit Series
A fulsome Youth Circuit Series of stage races and one-day hit-outs opens with the first round of eight on the weekend of 18-19 March with the Pembrey 2-Day in Wales, before heading to Scotland for another stage race at Spokes 2-day on 8-9 April.
Having hosted the national championships in 2022, Oliver’s Mount circuit will host round six at the Scarborough Cycling Festival on 18 June, while round seven at the London 2-Day will give riders another opportunity to test themselves in a stage race on the weekend of 24-25 June.
Riders will also have the opportunity to take to the start line at two three-day stage races in the North West, with the Sleepwell Hotels Isle of Man Youth and Junior Tour from 29-30 April, and the series finale at the 360cycling North West Youth Tour on the Bank Holiday weekend of 26-28 August.
The addition of a queen stage to some of the stage races in 2023 will provide an interesting new dynamic to the series, where riders’ best six of the eight events will count towards their overall series standings.
The Youth National Circuit Championships will take place on Saturday 8 July in Bradford, Yorkshire.
| Date | Round | Region | Race |
| 18-19 Mar | 1 | Wales | Pembrey 2-Day |
| 8-9 Apr | 2 | Scotland | Spokes 2-Day |
| 16 Apr | 3 | North West | 360cycling Oulton Park |
| 28-30 Apr | 4 | North West | Sleepwell Hotels Isle of Man Youth and Junior Tour |
| 28 May | 5 | East Midlands | Loughborough Cycling Festival |
| 18 Jun | 6 | Yorkshire | Scarborough Cycling Festival |
| 25 Jun | 7 | South East | London 2-Day |
| 26-28 Aug | 8 | North West | 360cycling North West Youth Tour |
Junior Men’s National Road Series
The Junior Men’s National Road Series contains a packed programme once again, and will begin with riders tackling the ANEXO/CAMS 9th Junior Men’s CiCLE Classic on Sunday 26 March, in what will be a tough and technical opening to the series.
Riders will have the opportunity to do battle over three tours in the series, with the Sleepwell Hotels Isle of Man Youth and Junior Tour 2023 from 28-30 April, the Junior Tour of the Mendips from 18-20 August and the iconic Junior Tour of Wales from 25-28 August. Each rider’s best seven of the nine events will count towards their overall series standings.
The Junior National Time-Trial and Road Race Championships will take place over the weekend of 1-2 July in Clitheroe, Lancashire.
| Date | Round | Region | Race |
| 26 Mar | 1 | The ANEXO/CAMS 9th Junior Men’s CiCLE Classic | |
| 28-30 Apr | 2 | Sleepwell Hotels Isle of Man Youth and Junior Tour 2023 | |
| 14 May | 3 | Cadence Road Race | |
| 28 May | 4 | MAS Design Yorkshire Classic | |
| 18 Jun | 5 | Hatherleigh Road Race | |
| 16 Jul | 6 | Bath RC Road Race | |
| 18-20 Aug | 7 | Junior Tour of the Mendips | |
| 25-28 Aug | 8 | Junior Tour of Wales | |
| 10 Sep | 9 | 360cycling North West Junior Race |
Under-23 and Junior Women’s National Road Series
Having launched in 2022 as a combined under-23 and junior women’s series, the format will continue in 2023. British Cycling says it received positive feedback on this combined competition from riders.
We have some reservations about whether a category that can theoretically combine 16-year-olds with elite 22-year-old is ideal for rider development, so we’d be interested to hear from riders, teams and fans whether this is truly a good idea.
The calendar is slim too, when compared with the nine rounds, including three stage races, for the junior men, as well as five rounds for the under-23 men. In contrast, the junior and under-23 women instead get five rounds in total, with the best four events counting towards the riders’ overall series standings.
The series kicks off with the established Witham Hall Grand Prix on Sunday 8 April in the East Midlands – the longest-running junior women’s event on the calendar – and will finish on Sunday 10 September at the 360cycling North West Junior Race.
The Junior National Time-Trial and Road Race Championships will take place over the weekend of 1-2 July in Clitheroe, Lancashire.
| Date | Round | Region | Race |
| 8 Apr | 1 | East Midlands | Witham Hall Grand Prix |
| 28 May | 2 | Yorkshire | MAS Design Yorkshire Classic |
| 18 Jun | 3 | South West | Hatherleigh RR |
| 8 Jul | 4 | Wales | TBC |
| 10 Sep | 5 | North West | 360cycling North West Junior Race |
The 2022 Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix. Image: Joe Cotterill/The British Continental
Under-23 Men’s National Road Series
The Under-23 Men’s National Road Series was run as a pilot in 2022 and was brutally curtailed. A planned five-round series, including an under-23 Junior Tour of Wales which we were particularly excited about, was reduced to just two rounds after a series of race unfortunate cancellations.
So we’re glad to see British Cycling bringing it back in 2023. With a much-reduced National Road Series, this series will provide an important outlet for young riders looking to continue their development at home rather than abroad. Let’s hope all five rounds can go ahead this time around, especially as two rounds are TBC.
The series will see one of British Cycling’s Elite Development Teams, PB Performance, host the first round in the East Midlands on Sunday 16 April. Huge kudos should go to the team for putting this on (and indeed, all race organisers); the more teams can help to host races like this, the better off the sport is. The series then returns to the Yorkshire Under-23 Classic on Sunday 7 May for round two.
There is no under-23 version of the Junior Tour of Wales on the menu this time around, alas, but there is a Wales race planned nonetheless. The series winner will be crowned in the final round at the Stars of the South West race on Sunday 28 August, which returns to the calendar for a second year.
The British Continental was honoured to provide coverage of the series in 2022 for British Cycling; we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed we can cover the 2023 series too.
| Date | Round | Region | Race |
| 16 Apr | 1 | East Midlands | PB Performance Espoirs Road Race |
| 7 May | 2 | Yorkshire | Yorkshire Under-23 Classic |
| 18 Jun | 3 | TBC | TBC |
| 9 Jul | 4 | Wales | TBC |
| 28 Aug | 5 | South West | Stars of the South West |
The article asks for comments on the combined U23 and Junior women’s series and quotes that the organisers / BC have said they had positive feedback from riders. That’s a pretty imbalanced view having been to all of the races last year. It certainly has discouraged level junior riders as they knew they were going to get spat early doors by a group of super fast riders (some exceptional juniors and some U23’s). It could be argued that t ended up being a chaingang with not a lot of tactics going on.