21-year-old Jenson Young (ROKiT-SRCT) won the second edition of the U23 Yorkshire Classic on Sunday 7 May, round 2 of the Under-23 Men’s National Road Series. Meanwhile, 4th place for trainSharp’s Sam Clark was enough to propel him into the Series lead.
A packed field of many of the top domestic under-23s gathered in Upper Denby on Sunday to take on the hilly Holmfirth CC circuit.
Under the strong spring sunhine, a break of four animated the early laps of the race, with George Wood (Cycling Sheffield), Joe Shillabeer (Team 05/03), Sam Asker (Richardsons Trek DAS) and Jacques Coates (Team PB Performance) striking out ahead of the main bunch.
Midway through the race, however, Jenson Young (ROKiT-SRCT) kickstarted a counterattack that bridged across to the initial leaders.
“I knew I had good form going into the race and that I wanted to win, so from the start I tried saving as much energy as I could”, Young told us afterward. “The course was pretty hilly and the heat made it even harder. Midway through the race I forced a split up the main climb and managed to bridge across to the break away with a small group.”
Last year’s race winner Sam Clark (trainSharp Elite), Dexter Leeming-Sykes (Wold Top the Edge Pactimo), first-year under-23 Huw Buck Jones (Wales Racing Academy), Matthew Fox (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli), Joseph Smith (Private) and Joe Brookes (Halesowen A & CC) were among the riders to join Young in this enlarged lead group.
“We worked fairly well together until the last couple of laps,” recounted Young. “There weren’t really many attacks on the final lap, I think everyone was pretty tired.”
With the group still altogether on the final climb to the finish, it came down to an uphill sprint. Young launched his effort early, his legs strong enough to take him to the line first. Shillabeer took the best result of his career to finish second, while Wood completed the podium in third.
Clark was fourth, enough to propel him to the top of the Series standings. Wood sits second, just four points behind, while round 1 winner William Truelove (ROKiT-SRCT) is now third,
The next round of the Under-23 Men’s National Road Series is on 9 July in Wales at the JToW U23 Men’s GP.
21-year-old Jenson Young (ROKiT-SRCT) won the second edition of the U23 Yorkshire Classic on Sunday 7 May, round 2 of the Under-23 Men’s National Road Series. Meanwhile, 4th place for trainSharp’s Sam Clark was enough to propel him into the Series lead.
Featured image: Emma Wilcock
Report
A packed field of many of the top domestic under-23s gathered in Upper Denby on Sunday to take on the hilly Holmfirth CC circuit.
Under the strong spring sunhine, a break of four animated the early laps of the race, with George Wood (Cycling Sheffield), Joe Shillabeer (Team 05/03), Sam Asker (Richardsons Trek DAS) and Jacques Coates (Team PB Performance) striking out ahead of the main bunch.
Midway through the race, however, Jenson Young (ROKiT-SRCT) kickstarted a counterattack that bridged across to the initial leaders.
“I knew I had good form going into the race and that I wanted to win, so from the start I tried saving as much energy as I could”, Young told us afterward. “The course was pretty hilly and the heat made it even harder. Midway through the race I forced a split up the main climb and managed to bridge across to the break away with a small group.”
Last year’s race winner Sam Clark (trainSharp Elite), Dexter Leeming-Sykes (Wold Top the Edge Pactimo), first-year under-23 Huw Buck Jones (Wales Racing Academy), Matthew Fox (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli), Joseph Smith (Private) and Joe Brookes (Halesowen A & CC) were among the riders to join Young in this enlarged lead group.
“We worked fairly well together until the last couple of laps,” recounted Young. “There weren’t really many attacks on the final lap, I think everyone was pretty tired.”
With the group still altogether on the final climb to the finish, it came down to an uphill sprint. Young launched his effort early, his legs strong enough to take him to the line first. Shillabeer took the best result of his career to finish second, while Wood completed the podium in third.
Clark was fourth, enough to propel him to the top of the Series standings. Wood sits second, just four points behind, while round 1 winner William Truelove (ROKiT-SRCT) is now third,
The next round of the Under-23 Men’s National Road Series is on 9 July in Wales at the JToW U23 Men’s GP.
Results
Series standings
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