The Cambridge Criterium returns this Sunday (24 August) for its second edition, with the city’s Jesus Green once again transformed into a high-speed, closed-road circuit. Free to attend and broadcast nationwide, the event features both open and women’s National A races with one of the biggest prize funds on the domestic scene.
As the penultimate round of the Rapha Super-League – and the final criterium of the series – it’s set to be a pivotal day in the battle for overall honours, ensuring the racing will be as tactical as it is fast.
What is it?
The Cambridge Criterium returns on Sunday 24 August 2025, following the success of last year’s inaugural edition. Run by Monument Cycling, the event transforms the city centre into a festival of racing and community activity, combining world-class sport with a family-friendly day out.
Free to attend, the criterium again features both open and women’s National A races, with one of the largest prize funds on the domestic scene helping to draw top-level fields. It also carries extra significance in 2025 as the penultimate round of the Rapha Super-League and the final criterium of the League, ensuring the racing will be as tactical as it is intense. Alongside the elite contests, there will be community rides, amateur races, a cargo bike competition, and a lively event village on Jesus Green packed with food, entertainment, and industry stalls. For those unable to make it in person, the elite races will be shown nationwide on a free-to-air live broadcast.
Route
The route remains unchanged for 2025: a 2.6 km traffic-free circuit around Jesus Green in the heart of Cambridge.
The lap links some of the city’s most recognisable streets and features a mix of long straights and tight 90-degree corners, making bike handling and positioning crucial. With little elevation change, the course lends itself to fast, aggressive racing, and while on paper it favours a bunch sprint, the intensity and technical nature of criterium racing could easily see a breakaway upset the script.
Timings
The elite open race begins at 14.25, with the elite women’s race starting at 15.30. There are races on from 12.15, however, and even a ‘Let’s Ride’ event before then, so make a day of it if you’re coming along.
How to follow
The event will be broadcast on Monument Cycling, with the programming beginning at 1pm.
Joe Hudson will be on the ground for us for both races, providing interviews and updates on our Instagram.
Rapha Super-League: what’s at stake?
The Cambridge Criterium is the penultimate round of the Rapha Super-League and the final criterium of the series, offering a decisive chance for the crit specialists to make their mark before the Wentwood Grand Prix brings the League to a close.
Women’s Super-League
With 55 points on offer for the winner (down to 1 point for 15th), the standings could shift — but crucially, only two of the current top ten are on the startlist here: Madeline Cooper (Spectra Racing) and Sophie Lewis (DAS-Hutchinson).
Cooper, 3rd overall on 225 points, is best placed to capitalise. A win in Cambridge would lift her to 280 points, potentially cutting her deficit to leader Robyn Clay (328) and Anna Morris (311) to within one race’s reach. Even a podium could consolidate her grip on the overall podium before Wentwood.
Lewis, 6th on 161 points, has more ground to make up but is well suited to this circuit. Victory would take her to 216 points, catapulting her into the mix for a top-three finish. With no other top-ten riders in action, any result inside the points could see her leapfrog several rivals.
Open Super-League
The Cambridge Criterium is also pivotal in the open Rapha Super-League, serving as the penultimate round and final criterium before Wentworth Woodhouse’s 70-point road race finale.
Matthew Bostock (TEKKERZ CC) leads the table on 271 points and lines up in Cambridge. Already a proven crit specialist with multiple wins this summer, another strong result would all but lock in his place on the overall podium, and possibly stretch his lead to near-insurmountable levels before Wentwood.
William Truelove (MUC-OFF–SRCT–STORCK) sits 2nd on 228 points and is also on the startlist. A win here would cut Bostock’s advantage to as little as 16 points if the Tekkerz man misses the top placings, setting up a dramatic final-round showdown.
Behind them, several riders in the current top ten also feature. Alex Beldon (147 pts) and Thomas Armstrong (137) are 3rd and 4th overall and both strong in criteriums; a podium could elevate either into striking distance of 2nd. Frank Longstaff (113) and Dylan Hicks (96) are further back but with no points cushion between mid-table rivals, a top finish could propel them into the top five.
Riders to watch
Women’s race
Defending champion Samantha Fawcett was on fine form 12 months ago as she stormed to the inaugural win around Jesus Green, and she will be looking to emulate that performance again in 2025. But the Spectra Racing rider has plenty of competition to snatch the title away — including her own teammate Maddie Cooper. Since pulling on the green, white and gold in July, Cooper has continued her sparkling run of form, taking wins at the BUCS and Regional Road Race Championships, as well as podiums in the National Circuit Series at Ilkley and Guildford.
Sophie Holmes (CJ O’Shea Racing) was on the podium last year, and if it hadn’t been for a season-interrupting injury, she would surely have carried on the form that saw her win the Banbury Star Women’s Road Race and the Performance Cycles – South Cerney Kermesse. Top 20s at the Colne and Dawlish Grands Prix suggest Holmes is back on the up and hunting for a positive result to cap her return to the roads.
Sophie Lewis has a great opportunity to shine in Cambridge. The up-and-coming track racer is also a rising star in criteriums. She won two National Circuit Series races in 2024, with second places at Colne and Dawlish this year surely motivating her to target the top step this weekend.
Injury has meant 2023 National Circuit Race Champion Megan Barker (TEKKERZ CC) hasn’t had the opportunity to race as much as usual, but she’s always a threat and will be looking to continue her return with a strong result. Sixth last year shows she’s familiar with the course — but will that be enough to improve this time round?
Lastly, Mari Porton (Handsling Alba Development Road Team) was third at last weekend’s Curlew Cup, and the 19-year-old has been growing in confidence every time she takes to the start line. There’s a lot of firepower alongside her, but Porton has been demonstrating all season that she’s experienced beyond her years — so don’t be surprised if she causes an upset.
Open race
Just like in the women’s contest, the defending champion returns. Frank Longstaff (DAS Richardsons) held off the might of Matt Bostock (TEKKERZ CC) last year, and the pair are back again to resume their battle.
In their last encounter, at the Dawlish Grand Prix, it was victory to Bostock with Longstaff rolling in second. For Longstaff, success in Cambridge would cap a string of ever-improving results since the start of the National Circuit Series — progressing from just outside the top five, to third in Colne and second in the South West. It would also make the perfect, albeit slightly belated, wedding present.
But don’t look past Bostock. Despite missing a round, the TEKKERZ rider took the National Circuit Series title fight right down to the wire. With wins at Dawlish and Sheffield, plus runner-up spots in Otley and Colne, he has added to an already sparkling palmarès on the crit scene — and fuelled the sense that the WorldTour is missing a trick by not signing up another Manx missile.
Thomas Armstrong (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) pipped Bostock to the Series crown with a textbook demonstration of consistency, his Devon podium securing him the jersey. His results this season aren’t an accurate reflection of a rider who knows when to push and when to let the race come to him. Don’t be surprised if he once again puts that tactical nous to work and walks away with his first British success of the season.
A rising star could upset the equilibrium, though. At just 19, Alex Beldon has hit the ground running in his first season at MUC-OFF-SRCT-STORCK. A battling second behind teammate Adam Howell at the Tour of the Reservoir in June demonstrated that the sky is the limit; indeed, Beldon’s performances this year are said to have earned him a contract with a professional development team next season. That said, he’ll have competition within his own team, with Edward Morgan and Will Truelove joining him on the start list and looking to use the squad’s strength to muscle out the opposition.
Morgan took a remarkable win at the Ronde van Wymeswold, having already bagged a second and two thirds across the three stages. After a limited programme in recent months, he’ll be keen to come back with a bang.
Truelove arrives in Cambridge in strong form, with thirds at the last two National Road Series races and a hatful of top fives in the Circuit Series. Surprisingly, he’s yet to take a win at Nat B level or above this season — so expect him to be even more determined than usual to put that right over the bank holiday weekend.
Riding high after securing his, and his Raptor Factory Racing squad’s, first Nat A glory in a thrilling Beaumont Trophy, Dylan Hicks will look to use those attacking legs for a repeat in cycling-mad Cambridge. Having taken a short break between Otley and the Beaumont, he should still have enough energy to ensure he isn’t overpowered by the competition.
An outside bet for a strong result is Oliver Curd (Primo RT). A win at a Crystal Palace crit in June, against Ilkley winner Milo Wills, was followed by podiums at the Sherpa Performance Stage Race and a fifth in the mass sprint behind Hicks at last weekend’s Beaumont Trophy. Ever improving, Curd heads into this race with no pressure and the freedom to race for the best result he can. Don’t be surprised if he mixes it with his more experienced rivals.
Startlists
Women’s race
| Bib | Rider | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Samantha Fawcett | Spectra Racing | 0 |
| #2 | Madeline Cooper (U23) | Spectra Racing | 450 |
| #3 | Anna Flynn | Spectra Racing | 101 |
| #4 | Jessica Roberts | Spectra Racing | 60 |
| #5 | Corinne Side | Spectra Racing | 23 |
| #6 | Ellen Bennett (U23) | Brother UK – On Form | 85 |
| #7 | Lily Brindle (U23) | Brother UK – On Form | 109 |
| #8 | Cecilia Hime | Brother UK – On Form | 31 |
| #9 | Hope Inglis (U23) | Brother UK – On Form | 43 |
| #10 | Electra Morris (U23) | Brother UK – On Form | 0 |
| #11 | Isabel Darvill | CJ O’Shea Racing | 54 |
| #12 | Sophie Holmes | CJ O’Shea Racing | 120 |
| #13 | Sannah Zaman (U23) | CJ O’Shea Racing | 51 |
| #14 | Sophie Lewis | DAS-Hutchinson | 0 |
| #15 | Alice Sharpe | DAS-Hutchinson | 0 |
| #16 | Libby Smithson (U23) | DAS-Hutchinson | 0 |
| #17 | Emily Chilton | Jadan Vive le Velo p/b Glasdon | 0 |
| #18 | Charlotte Deykin | Jadan Vive le Velo p/b Glasdon | 11 |
| #19 | Isabella Johnson | Jadan Vive le Velo p/b Glasdon | 113 |
| #20 | Marli Labuschagne (U23) | Jadan Vive le Velo p/b Glasdon | 0 |
| #21 | Rebekah Nash | Jadan Vive le Velo p/b Glasdon | 17 |
| #22 | Dannielle Watkinson | Jadan Vive le Velo p/b Glasdon | 0 |
| #23 | Louise Davidson | London Academy | 0 |
| #24 | Emma Jane Hornsby | London Academy | 0 |
| #25 | Grace Sargeant | London Academy | 167 |
| #26 | Esme Wiley (U23) | London Academy | 6 |
| #27 | Gabriella Butler | Team Boompods | 0 |
| #28 | Katie-Anne Calton (U23) | Team Boompods | 27 |
| #29 | Millie Skinner | Team Boompods | 38 |
| #30 | Karla Boddy | Brighton Mitre CC | 88 |
| #31 | Lucy Havard | Cambridge University CC | 27 |
| #32 | Xan Crees | Fatcreations/ USE Components | 18 |
| #33 | Mari Porton (U23) | Handsling Alba Development Road Team | 202 |
| #34 | Grace Lister (U23) | Hess Cycling Team | 145 |
| #35 | Carys Blowers (Junior) | Liv Cycling Club – Halo Films | 38 |
| #36 | Georgia Lancaster (U23) | Loughborough Lightning | 186 |
| #37 | Georgina Oakley | Loughborough Lightning | 31 |
| #38 | Hannah Graveney | O’Shea – Development Team | 20 |
| #39 | Jennifer Powell | Performance Development Team | 91 |
| #40 | Lauren O’Brien | StolenGoat Race Team | 0 |
| #41 | Jessica Morrish | Royal Navy Cycling | 114 |
| #42 | Laura Senior | SCOTT Pioneer DJ | 20 |
| #43 | Emily Jones | Southampton University Road Club | 11 |
| #44 | Freya Taylor (U23) | Team Empella | 22 |
| #45 | Megan Barker | TEKKERZ CC | 0 |
| #46 | Megan Cherry (Junior) | Tofauti Everyone Active Majaco | 13 |
| #47 | Becky Gardiner (Junior) | Tofauti Everyone Active Majaco | 79 |
| #48 | Holly Winstone | Private Member | 0 |
Open race
| Bib | Rider | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Frank Longstaff | DAS Richardsons | 45 |
| #2 | Simon Alexander | DAS Richardsons | 34 |
| #3 | Peter Cocker | DAS Richardsons | 7 |
| #4 | Cai Davies | DAS Richardsons | 66 |
| #5 | Olivier Mangham (U23) | DAS Richardsons | 82 |
| #6 | William Perrett | DAS Richardsons | 111 |
| #7 | Alexander Pritchard | DAS Richardsons | 89 |
| #8 | Rodrigo Mattiuz | London Dynamo | 0 |
| #9 | Alex Mutter | London Dynamo | 0 |
| #10 | Owain Williams (U23) | London Dynamo | 0 |
| #11 | Alex Beldon (U23) | MUC-OFF-SRCT-STORCK | 483 |
| #12 | Jake Jackson | MUC-OFF-SRCT-STORCK | 0 |
| #13 | Edward Morgan | MUC-OFF-SRCT-STORCK | 550 |
| #14 | William Truelove | MUC-OFF-SRCT-STORCK | 422 |
| #15 | Conor White | MUC-OFF-SRCT-STORCK | 49 |
| #16 | Rowan Baker | Raptor Factory Racing | 273 |
| #17 | Judicael Clair | Raptor Factory Racing | 49 |
| #18 | Dylan Hicks (U23) | Raptor Factory Racing | 340 |
| #19 | Thomas Bowden | Reflex Nopinz | 2 |
| #20 | Charles Palmer (U23) | Reflex Nopinz | 0 |
| #21 | Archie Peet | Reflex Nopinz | 62 |
| #22 | Joe Adlam-Cook | Ride Revolution Coaching | 13 |
| #23 | Jake Hales | Ride Revolution Coaching | 112 |
| #24 | Harry Macfarlane | Ride Revolution Coaching | 93 |
| #25 | William Metcalf | Ride Revolution Coaching | 23 |
| #26 | Blake Roberts | Ride Revolution Coaching | 0 |
| #27 | Aaron Freeman | Schils – Doltcini Racing Team | 10 |
| #28 | Cameron Hurst | Schils – Doltcini Racing Team | 0 |
| #29 | Carl Jolly | Schils – Doltcini Racing Team | 176 |
| #30 | Matthew Rizzo-Naudi | Schils – Doltcini Racing Team | 0 |
| #31 | James Somerfield | Schils – Doltcini Racing Team | 44 |
| #32 | Daniel Barnes | Spectra Racing | 70 |
| #33 | Frederik Schescke | Spectra Racing | 0 |
| #34 | Joe Wilson | Spectra Racing | 0 |
| #35 | Bobby Buenfeld (U23) | Team Tor 2000 Kalas | 0 |
| #36 | Benjamin Neal (U23) | Team Tor 2000 Kalas | 0 |
| #37 | Ashley Towey | Team Tor 2000 Kalas | 0 |
| #38 | Alfie Amey (U23) | TEKKERZ CC | 0 |
| #39 | Matthew Bostock | TEKKERZ CC | 113 |
| #40 | Alec Briggs | TEKKERZ CC | 0 |
| #41 | Benjamin Tuchner (U23) | TEKKERZ CC | 20 |
| #42 | Tyler Lemmon (U23) | ASSOS UK Racing Team | 0 |
| #43 | William Salter (U23) | BCC Race Team | 115 |
| #44 | Alwyn Frank | Brighton Mitre CC | 0 |
| #45 | Marek Shafer | Brighton Mitre CC | 0 |
| #46 | Thomas Wade | Cambridge University CC | 0 |
| #47 | William Tidball | Private Member | 40 |
| #48 | Jack Kennedy | Team Dan Morrissey – Primor by Pissei | 0 |
| #49 | Gary Freeman | DAP Cycling Club | 5 |
| #50 | Elijah Kwon (U23) | Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT | 42 |
| #51 | James McCormick | Finchley Racing Team | 2 |
| #52 | Hudaifa Cox | Gapped RT | 0 |
| #53 | Jim Brown | Golden State Blazers | 18 |
| #54 | Jess Harding | Haste CC | 0 |
| #55 | Andrew Hastings | Haste CC | 0 |
| #56 | Thomas Dawtrey | Islington Cycling Club | 1 |
| #57 | Toby Langstone | Le Col Race Team | 43 |
| #58 | Toby Seely | Le Col Race Team | 0 |
| #59 | Joel Hurt (U23) | Moonglu SpatzWear | 18 |
| #60 | William Deely (U23) | Mud Dock Racing | 0 |
| #61 | Sam Beaton (U23) | Plymouth Corinthian CC | 11 |
| #62 | Oliver Curd (U23) | Primo RT | 193 |
| #63 | Isaac Pembery (Junior) | St Ives CC | 0 |
| #64 | James Dent | Team PB Performance | 2 |
| #65 | Max Sillifant | Team PB Performance | 0 |
| #66 | Isaac Dutton (U23) | VC Londres | 13 |
| #67 | Jacob Vaughan | VC Londres | 71 |
| #68 | Matthew Wight | Verulam Megan’s RT | 0 |
| #69 | George Gould | Watford Velo Sport | 3 |
| #70 | Thomas Armstrong | Wheelbase CabTech Castelli | 162 |
| #71 | Mark Agent (U23) | Wold Top Pactimo | 11 |
| #72 | Jonty King (U23) | Wolfox CAMS Le Col RT | 0 |
| #73 | Jason Bouttell | Private Member | 0 |
| #74 | Alan Jay Brazier | Private Member | 0 |
| #75 | Paddy Chapman | Private Member | 5 |
| #76 | Joe Holt | Private Member | 31 |
| #77 | Wan Lau | Solihull CC | 0 |
| #78 | Jack Sutton (U23) | Optimum Coaching | 2 |
| #79 | Gabriel Turner | Private Member | 0 |
