2025 National Time Trial Championships: route preview
On Thursday morning (26 June) the Lloyds National Road Championships will burst into life with the national time trial championships on a course that threads the postcard-pretty Aeron valley and then kicks every rider in the ribs on the brutal ramp of Rhiw Goch. The loop runs anticlockwise, starts in the hamlet of Ffos-y-Ffin and drops back to the small coastal town of Aberaeron.
On Thursday morning (26 June) the Lloyds National Road Championships will burst into life with the national time trial championships on a course that threads the postcard-pretty Aeron valley and then kicks every rider in the ribs on the brutal ramp of Rhiw Goch. The loop runs anticlockwise, starts in the hamlet of Ffos-y-Ffin and drops back to the small coastal town of Aberaeron.
Featured image: Elliot Keen/British Cycling via SWpix.com
The essentials
What? The Lloyds National Time-Trial Championships, the opening instalment of a three-day National Road Championships programme that will ultimately award ten British national jerseys across time-trial, circuit and road-race disciplines.
When? Thursday 26 June 2025 – a Thursday start that sets the tone for the Ceredigion championships weekend, which will also take in the circuit race championships (Friday 27 June) and road race championships (29 June).
Where? A coastal-lane loop in west Wales: the clock starts in Ffos-y-ffin, darts along the A487 to Ciliau Aeron, then swings back towards Aberaeron, forcing riders up the punchy Rhiw Goch wall.
Why it matters: These four crowns are the first to be decided; the remaining six titles will follow on Friday and Sunday. Expect the winners here to set both the form barometer and the narratives for the championship’s closing acts.
Route details
The race launches fromFfos-y-Ffin, a hamlet tucked behind low coastal hills and salt meadows that overlook Cardigan Bay. The elite women, under-23 men, and under-23 women tackle one-and-three-quarter laps of the circuit (27 km with 418 m of climbing). The elite men face an additional loop, for a total of two-and-three-quarter laps (41 km and 677 m in all).
From the gun the riders fly east — fast, mostly downhill and usually blessed with a tail-breeze off Cardigan Bay — before swinging inland at Neuadd Llwyd. The opening two kilometres test the legs on a 1–2 % false flat, before a steep plunge on the dogleg that takes riders onto the A482.
From here, riders face 10km of rolling terrain, heading to Cilau Aeron before looping back towards the coast. As the riders reach Aberaeron, they face a sharp left-hander that leads directly to day’s headline act.
Rhiw Goch rises straight out of the valley floor: 750 metres at an eye-watering 11.7 % and briefly rears to a vicious 24 %. It is short enough to tempt riders into red-line territory, long enough to punish anyone who over-gears.
The sting is followed by a false flat that takes riders back through the start line at Ffos-y-ffin. Under-23 competitors and the elite women then repeat most of the circuit, mercifully crossing the finish line just before the left-hander to Rhiw Goch.
The elite men, however, continue you on for another lap, including one more ascent of Rhiw Goch.
On Thursday morning (26 June) the Lloyds National Road Championships will burst into life with the national time trial championships on a course that threads the postcard-pretty Aeron valley and then kicks every rider in the ribs on the brutal ramp of Rhiw Goch. The loop runs anticlockwise, starts in the hamlet of Ffos-y-Ffin and drops back to the small coastal town of Aberaeron.
Here is our look at the course.
Featured image: Elliot Keen/British Cycling via SWpix.com
The essentials
Route details
The race launches from Ffos-y-Ffin, a hamlet tucked behind low coastal hills and salt meadows that overlook Cardigan Bay. The elite women, under-23 men, and under-23 women tackle one-and-three-quarter laps of the circuit (27 km with 418 m of climbing). The elite men face an additional loop, for a total of two-and-three-quarter laps (41 km and 677 m in all).
From the gun the riders fly east — fast, mostly downhill and usually blessed with a tail-breeze off Cardigan Bay — before swinging inland at Neuadd Llwyd. The opening two kilometres test the legs on a 1–2 % false flat, before a steep plunge on the dogleg that takes riders onto the A482.
From here, riders face 10km of rolling terrain, heading to Cilau Aeron before looping back towards the coast. As the riders reach Aberaeron, they face a sharp left-hander that leads directly to day’s headline act.
Rhiw Goch rises straight out of the valley floor: 750 metres at an eye-watering 11.7 % and briefly rears to a vicious 24 %. It is short enough to tempt riders into red-line territory, long enough to punish anyone who over-gears.
The sting is followed by a false flat that takes riders back through the start line at Ffos-y-ffin. Under-23 competitors and the elite women then repeat most of the circuit, mercifully crossing the finish line just before the left-hander to Rhiw Goch.
The elite men, however, continue you on for another lap, including one more ascent of Rhiw Goch.
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