Alex Richardson of Saint Piran continued the UCI Continental team’s excellent start to the domestic season with victory at the 39th Jock Wadley Memorial.

Report

While a good chunk of the men’s domestic peloton was battling it out on on the hills of North Lancashire at the Capernwray road race on Sunday, another cohort was tackling flatter terrain around the Abberton Reservoir at the long-running Jock Wadley Memorial.

With the wind high, the race promised to blow apart early doors on the exposed course, and so it proved. The first serious move of the race came on the first of 12 laps of the race. Two key protagonists were eventual winner Alex Richardson (Saint Piran) and Rowan Baker (London Dynamo); the pair would remain at the head of proceedings for the rest of the race.

By the second lap, the leading group had swelled to ten riders, Richardson and Baker accompanied by riders including former winner Thomas Heal (Stolen Goat), Tim Torrie (trainSharp), David Hird (ROKiT-SRCT) and Matthew Houlberg (Embark Spirit BSS). Behind, the race was split to pieces already.

As the race progressed to the latter laps, Richardson and Baker had forged clear, joined by 2022 national junior cyclocross champion Joseph Smith (Private Member).

Richardson and Baker eventually dispatched Smith, and then, as they took the bell, Richardson made his move, dropping Smith and driving clear to take a trademark solo win, improving on his second place at the same race last year, when he crossed the line together with then-teammate Yanto Barker. The win was Saint Piran’s second national road race win of the early season following Jack Rootkin-Gray’s Perfs Pedal road race win in February.

Baker finished second to cap an excellent start to the season (he was 5th at the Perfs Pedal), while Torrie completed the podium, crossing the line in third.

Results

*Results provided by the race organiser without team names attached to the riders. We have manually updated the team names as far as possible. Last update: 16 March.

Pos	Name	Team
1	Alexandar Richardson	Saint Piran
2	Rowan Baker	London Dynamo
3	Timothy Torrie	trainSharp Elite
4	Joshua Avery	Ride Revolution Coaching
5	Matthew Houlberg	Embark Spirit BSS
6	Ross Fawcett	Orwell Velo
7	Chris McNamara	Sigma Sports – Cannondale RT
8	David Hird	ROKiT-SRCT
9	Thomas Heal	StolenGoat Race Team
10	Joseph Smith	Private member
11	Harold Evans	Onyx Racing Team
12	Jack Rootkin-Gray	Saint Piran
13	Clay Davies	Ride Revolution Coaching
14	Alex Peters	Richardsons Trek DAS
15	Zeb Kyffjn	Saint Piran
16	Samuel Clark	trainSharp Elite
17	Jacob Vaughan	TEKKERZ CC
18	Marcus Burnett	BRUNEI CONTINENTAL CYCLING TEA…
19	James Jenkins	Richardsons Trek DAS
20	Jack Rebours	trainSharp Elite
21	Matt Bailey	Ride Revolution Coaching
22	Callum Slade	StolenGoat Race Team
23	Jody Paxman	Hutchinson-Brother UK
24	George Kimber	Embark Spirit BSS
25	Samuel Asker	Richardsons Trek DAS
26	Irfan Zemen	Embark Spirit BSS
27	Lucas Jowett	Saint Piran
28	Oliver Hurdle	StolenGoat Race Team
29	Edmund Slater	GFTL
30	Andrew Kerr	INFLITE Type One
31	Ian Vagg	Project 51
32	Matt Witts	Kalas Motip Race Team
33	Harry Ives	trainSharp Development Team
34	Jude Chamberlain	Embark Spirit BSS
35	Nathan Hardy	Team PB Performance
36	John Pallot	Casp Racing
37	Alexander Cross	Velo Schils – Interbike RT
38	Simon McNamara	Sigma Sports – Cannondale RT
39	Tom Merry	Wheelbase CabTech Castelli
40	Yanto Barker	Le Col
41	Gary Freeman	Orwell Velo
42	Mark Richards	DAP Cycling Club
43	Isaac Wright	Project 51
44	Will Auty	Private member
45	Tim Allen	Hutchinson-Brother UK
46	Finn Dunton	Project 51
47	Benjamin May	Hutchinson-Brother UK
48	Harley Matthews	DAP Cycling Club
49	Mark Kendernay	GFTL
50	Mark Lightfoot	Tofauti Everyone Active
51	Dominic Schils	Velo Schils – Interbike RT
52	Ryan Klein	Velo Schils – Interbike RT
53	Arron Freeman	Richardsons Trek DAS
54	Cameron Hurst	Velo Schils – Interbike RT
55	Archie Hilder	London Dynamo
56	Ben Chapman	London Dynamo
57	Matthew Brown	Elitecycling Development Team
58	Dexter Mansel-Thomas	Tofauti Everyone Active