2025 Fort Vale Colne Grand Prix: report and results
Anna Morris racked up third National Circuit Series win of the month, while Dane Matias Malmberg (Airtox-Carl Ras) took a convincing solo victory at the 2025 Fort Vale Grand Prix (22 July)
The slick, shop-front turns of Market Street witnessed another Anna Morris masterclass on Tuesday night as the Welsh world-record pursuiter took to the front on the bell lap to win the women’s Fort Vale Colne Grand Prix women’s race by several bike lengths, her third victory in five National Circuit Series rounds this July.
Denmark’s Matias Malmberg (Airtox-Carl Ras) unleashed a searing late attack to win the Fort Vale Colne Grand Prix open race – his maiden victory on British roads and just his second start in the National Circuit Series.
Featured image: SWpix.com
Report
Women’s race
A dry, mild and overcast evening kept the 830-metre clockwise circuit honest – rapid enough for one-minute laps, unforgiving if you drifted off the wheel. DAS-Hutchinson signalled intent from the gun, with National Circuit Series and Rapha Super-League leader Robyn Clay and last year’s race victor Sophie Lewis taking turns to sting the bunch, while Tekkerz CC’s Olympic silver medallist Josie Knight launched the first solo flyer. It failed to stick, yet the accelerations steadily whittled the peloton.
Image: SWpix.com
Mid-race Anna Morris (Private Member) punched clear with Lewis. The pair carved out eight seconds before Lewis lost contact, leaving Morris alone in the wind. The move was reeled in with half an hour remaining but served as a warning: the individual pursuit specialist was happy to gamble.
Five laps from home the field – down to fewer than 30 riders – was still together. Morris surfed the front, biding her time. At the bell she emerged first across the line. The Welshwoman never looked back. Holding the prime racing line, she opened daylight through the last right-hander and exploded onto the finishing straight, legs beating a track sprinter’s tattoo, gap yawning with every pedal stroke. Lewis led the forlorn chase but Morris’s victory salute came with room – and bike lengths – to spare.
Image: SWpix.com
The result adds Colne to Ilkley and Sheffield on Morris’s July roll of honour. Clay, however, remains in control overall, her fifth place enough to keep the National Circuit Series lead ahead of Friday’s finale at the inaugural Dawlish Grand Prix (25 July). She holds a 29 point lead over Madeline Cooper (Spectra Racing) and her teammate Morven Yeoman, while her team comfortably leads the team rankings.
In the broader Rapha Super-League – the 16-round domestic crown taking in crits and road races – Clay’s consistent points haul still heads the table, though Morris’s hat-trick has pared back the buffer with five rounds to play.
Morris now heads south to Dawlish with momentum and a growing reputation as the rider who can crack Clay’s summer stranglehold. On Devon’s seafront she will need that same finishing kick – and perhaps a little sea breeze – to keep the series burning until the last metres of July.
Open race
The open event, run after the women’s race on a still-mild, overcast Lancashire evening, simmered for half its distance before anything stuck. Early sallies from national circuit race champion Cameron Mason (Alpecin–Deceuninck Development Team) and Tom Martin (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) rider drew brief daylight but were quickly snuffed out by an alert peloton marshalled in turns by Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck and DAS–Richardsons.
The first real break came when Martin sprang away a couple of laps later with Danish rider Matias Malmberg (Airtox-Carl Ras), the pair instantly in tune as Martin’s team-mates sat on and disrupted the chase. Alex Beldon (Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck) and Dan Barnes (Spectra Racing) threw themselves into the pursuit, yet the gap crept wider, the bunch growing ragged under repeated accelerations.
Tom Martin. Image: SWpix.com
Sensing the danger, Rapha Super-League leader Matt Bostock – without any TEKKERZ CC colleagues for company in this race – launched an all-or-nothing bridge with just under ten laps left. His 57.8-second circuit shrank the deficit in a single breath, and by eight laps to go he had latched onto the leaders’ wheels. Frank Longstaff (DAS–Richardsons) repeated the feat three laps later, giving the quartet both numbers and fresh legs as the race tipped into its closing phase.
Two laps from home, however, Malmberg’s track pedigree told. The former European team-pursuit champion punched clear on Market Street’s rise, lowering his shoulders and drilling a metronomic tempo that none could match. The Dane took the bell with an eight-second cushion and never looked back, savouring a statement victory in only his second National Circuit Series outing.
Image: SWpix.com
Behind, Bostock nabbed second ahead of Longstaff, with the ever-active Martin rolling in fourth. The result swells the Manxman’s Rapha Super-League advantage to 84 points over Beldon (who did not finish) with five rounds still to race.
Tom Armstrong (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) finished 9th to retain the National Circuit Series leader’s jersey heading to Friday’s Dawlish Grand Prix finale. His lead is only 14 points ahead of a fast-charging Bostock, however. The team competition is even tighter, with Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck ahead of Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli by just 3 points ahead.
The slick, shop-front turns of Market Street witnessed another Anna Morris masterclass on Tuesday night as the Welsh world-record pursuiter took to the front on the bell lap to win the women’s Fort Vale Colne Grand Prix women’s race by several bike lengths, her third victory in five National Circuit Series rounds this July.
Denmark’s Matias Malmberg (Airtox-Carl Ras) unleashed a searing late attack to win the Fort Vale Colne Grand Prix open race – his maiden victory on British roads and just his second start in the National Circuit Series.
Featured image: SWpix.com
Report
Women’s race
A dry, mild and overcast evening kept the 830-metre clockwise circuit honest – rapid enough for one-minute laps, unforgiving if you drifted off the wheel. DAS-Hutchinson signalled intent from the gun, with National Circuit Series and Rapha Super-League leader Robyn Clay and last year’s race victor Sophie Lewis taking turns to sting the bunch, while Tekkerz CC’s Olympic silver medallist Josie Knight launched the first solo flyer. It failed to stick, yet the accelerations steadily whittled the peloton.
Mid-race Anna Morris (Private Member) punched clear with Lewis. The pair carved out eight seconds before Lewis lost contact, leaving Morris alone in the wind. The move was reeled in with half an hour remaining but served as a warning: the individual pursuit specialist was happy to gamble.
Five laps from home the field – down to fewer than 30 riders – was still together. Morris surfed the front, biding her time. At the bell she emerged first across the line. The Welshwoman never looked back. Holding the prime racing line, she opened daylight through the last right-hander and exploded onto the finishing straight, legs beating a track sprinter’s tattoo, gap yawning with every pedal stroke. Lewis led the forlorn chase but Morris’s victory salute came with room – and bike lengths – to spare.
The result adds Colne to Ilkley and Sheffield on Morris’s July roll of honour. Clay, however, remains in control overall, her fifth place enough to keep the National Circuit Series lead ahead of Friday’s finale at the inaugural Dawlish Grand Prix (25 July). She holds a 29 point lead over Madeline Cooper (Spectra Racing) and her teammate Morven Yeoman, while her team comfortably leads the team rankings.
In the broader Rapha Super-League – the 16-round domestic crown taking in crits and road races – Clay’s consistent points haul still heads the table, though Morris’s hat-trick has pared back the buffer with five rounds to play.
Morris now heads south to Dawlish with momentum and a growing reputation as the rider who can crack Clay’s summer stranglehold. On Devon’s seafront she will need that same finishing kick – and perhaps a little sea breeze – to keep the series burning until the last metres of July.
Open race
The open event, run after the women’s race on a still-mild, overcast Lancashire evening, simmered for half its distance before anything stuck. Early sallies from national circuit race champion Cameron Mason (Alpecin–Deceuninck Development Team) and Tom Martin (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) rider drew brief daylight but were quickly snuffed out by an alert peloton marshalled in turns by Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck and DAS–Richardsons.
The first real break came when Martin sprang away a couple of laps later with Danish rider Matias Malmberg (Airtox-Carl Ras), the pair instantly in tune as Martin’s team-mates sat on and disrupted the chase. Alex Beldon (Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck) and Dan Barnes (Spectra Racing) threw themselves into the pursuit, yet the gap crept wider, the bunch growing ragged under repeated accelerations.
Sensing the danger, Rapha Super-League leader Matt Bostock – without any TEKKERZ CC colleagues for company in this race – launched an all-or-nothing bridge with just under ten laps left. His 57.8-second circuit shrank the deficit in a single breath, and by eight laps to go he had latched onto the leaders’ wheels. Frank Longstaff (DAS–Richardsons) repeated the feat three laps later, giving the quartet both numbers and fresh legs as the race tipped into its closing phase.
Two laps from home, however, Malmberg’s track pedigree told. The former European team-pursuit champion punched clear on Market Street’s rise, lowering his shoulders and drilling a metronomic tempo that none could match. The Dane took the bell with an eight-second cushion and never looked back, savouring a statement victory in only his second National Circuit Series outing.
Behind, Bostock nabbed second ahead of Longstaff, with the ever-active Martin rolling in fourth. The result swells the Manxman’s Rapha Super-League advantage to 84 points over Beldon (who did not finish) with five rounds still to race.
Tom Armstrong (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) finished 9th to retain the National Circuit Series leader’s jersey heading to Friday’s Dawlish Grand Prix finale. His lead is only 14 points ahead of a fast-charging Bostock, however. The team competition is even tighter, with Muc-Off-SRCT-Storck ahead of Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli by just 3 points ahead.
Results
Women’s race
Full results here.
Open race
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