The Danum Trophy returns to South Yorkshire on Sunday 19 April as Round 2 of the U23 Open National Road Series — with series leader Luca Nicholson the rider everyone will be watching.
A century ago, a group of cycling enthusiasts in Doncaster formed a club. On Sunday, Doncaster Wheelers CC marks that centenary by hosting the Danum Trophy – a race first run in 1969 that has grown, edition by edition, into one of the most respected tests on the British domestic calendar. This year it carries more weight than ever: Round 2 of the U23 Open National Road Series arrives in South Yorkshire with the series already taking shape, and the rider who leads it, 18-year-old Luca Nicholson, making the journey to defend what he built at the PB Performance Espoirs Road Race three weeks ago.
South Yorkshire’s Danum Trophy occupies an important position on the British calendar, a race with the atmosphere and demands of a hardman’s classic. For 2026, the race carries extra weight as Round 2 of the U23 Open National Road Series, meaning the field is not just racing for the win but for points that will shape the series picture deep into the season.
The event has a long and tangled organisational history. First run in 1969 under the auspices of the Birdwell Wheelers, it is now promoted by Doncaster Wheelers CC — who celebrate their centenary year in 2026 — and takes its name from Danum, the Roman settlement at the heart of what is now Doncaster. The club is making the most of the occasion, elevating the event’s profile by securing its place in the national series, with Taylor Bracewell solicitors and Bike Box Alan among the supporters.
The roll of honour is studded with names that shaped British road racing across five decades: Chris Parkinson, Arthur Metcalfe, Russ Downing, Graham Briggs, triple-winner Wayne Randle, and more recently Tom Pidcock (2017) and Matt Holmes (2018). Last year’s edition produced a result that captured the season’s broader narrative: Alex Beldon of Muc-Off–SRCT–Storck won with a perfectly timed final surge, aided by the tireless relay work of Ed Morgan.
Route
The circuit is one of the most honest pieces of road racing terrain in Britain. Starting and finishing at High Melton, riders complete 11¼ laps of a six-mile loop taking in Sprotbrough and the surrounding South Yorkshire countryside — 107 kilometres in total, with over 1,500 metres of climbing that accumulates relentlessly through the afternoon.
The key moment in each lap comes in the village of Cadeby, where the road rises sharply out of the valley to deliver riders back toward the finish plateau. The feed zone sits at the top of this climb and it is here, lap after lap, that selections tend to form and opportunists find their moment. Riders who can climb and recover quickly will have an obvious advantage; those who go deep on the ascent with nowhere to rest will find the circuit’s rhythm increasingly brutal.
The long uphill drag to the line in High Melton provides the final sting. It’s a finish that rewards patience and timing, with a tactical sprint or late solo move both in play.
Timings
The neutralised roll-out from race headquarters at Sprotbrough Country Club begins at 10.00, with an approximate finish time of 13.00.
Riders to watch
Luca Nicholson (Velo Club Baracchi) is the form rider of the early 2026 U23 season, and the wider field now faces a rider who has just won the first round of the very series this race feeds into. Racing for a Suffolk club outfit with no EDT infrastructure behind it, Nicholson was noted as a surprise second at the Wally Gimber Trophy before winning the PB Performance Espoirs outright — attacking inside seven kilometres to go and holding on through persistent rain and strong winds to take a solo maiden National B victory. Racing without teammates at a race that tends to reward collective strength, he will need to be tactically astute to repeat that kind of performance; but a rider who can go solo under the worst conditions and still hold the gap has earned the right to be considered a genuine contender.
Nicholson wins at the PB Performance Espoirs road race. Image: Cyclingchaos
Deetray Jarrett (Vigo–Rías Baixas) comes into the Danum Trophy on the back of the most convincing domestic performance of his young career: a solo victory at the Capernwray Road Race, where he shed the lead group on the final ascent of Sunny Bank and crossed the line 40 seconds clear. The Blackpool-raised 20-year-old has been building steadily toward moments like this ever since making his name in Spain as a junior, winning the Memorial Eugenio Lisarde and the King of the Mountains classification at Bizkaiko Itzulia in 2023. He arrives as one of the sharpest climbers in the field, and racing as a pair with his brother Trayden, they bring tactical options that few riders here can match.
Henry Hunter (360 Cycling) is one of the more intriguing stories of the early season. His 2025 season showed genuine range: stage winner at the Mennock Pass Stage Race — attacking from the lead group and powering solo to the line — before coming within a photo finish of the North West regional road race title, where only a video replay separated him from Wheelbase’s Dexter Leeming-Sykes. He has carried that form into 2026 with fifth at the PB Performance Espoirs and fifth again at Capernwray the following weekend. The Danum’s repeated climbing suits a rider who excels when the race fragments and group sizes drop.
Oliver Dawson (JAKROO Handsling Racing) is one of the domestic circuit’s most watched young riders, and arrives with a 2026 record that justifies the attention. The 19-year-old won the British junior road race title in 2024 before a season in Italy with Team Hopplà that, by his own admission, did not go to script. Back in familiar conditions, he has already shown he is adapting well: ninth on stage one and 11th on stage two of the Peaks 2-Day pointed to genuine competitiveness on punchy, wearing terrain, and he added fourth at the PB Performance Espoirs. With Harrison Dainty and Dylan Belton Owen alongside him, JAKROO have the numbers to influence proceedings; the tactical conditions exist for Dawson to be involved deep into the race.
Oliver Dawson of JAKROO Handsling Racing climbs Saltburn Bank. Image: Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com
Dylan Belton Owen (JAKROO Handsling Racing) is in his first season as a U23 and already represents a different kind of threat to most of his teammates. A former junior Cadence Road Race winner, he was second at the Jock Wadley Memorial last year as a junior — a result that announced a fast finish to anyone paying attention. With JAKROO able to field three riders here, Belton Owen’s sprint credentials give the team an option in a finish that does not fully resolve itself on the climb; if Dawson or Dainty can bring a group to the line with him, he becomes dangerous.
Lewis Tinsley (BCC Race Team) has made an excellent start to 2026. Third overall at the Peaks 2-Day — the strongest multi-day result in this field — before 10th at the PB Performance Espoirs. A DNS at Totnes–Vire and a DNF at East Cleveland last weekend introduce some question marks, but on his best days Tinsley is a genuine contender. George Stephen (BCC Race Team) makes BCC a two-card hand. Second at the PB Performance Espoirs — driving the decisive attack alongside Nicholson before the eventual winner escaped — the 20-year-old understands how to race with team support around him and how to set a race up for others as much as for himself. BCC send five riders in total, giving them the numbers to animate proceedings; the question is whether Stephen can convert that platform into a result of his own.
Nathan Smith (Cycling Sheffield) is in his most experienced season yet with the club, part of a development programme with a track record of producing riders who go on to compete at a higher level. He underlined his early-season credentials with third at the PB Performance Espoirs, beating the chasers at the line to complete the podium, and was present in the Capernwray chase group as Cycling Sheffield showed as a pair. The Danum’s climbing terrain suits him, and with six riders in the field — including Alexander Foster, who finished eighth at the Espoirs — Cycling Sheffield carry enough collective weight to shape the race as well as race for results within it.
Samuel Nisbet (Team Tactic U23) comes to the Danum with two seasons at Nopinz RT behind him and a record at this level that earns him genuine consideration. Second at the 2025 PB Performance Espoirs — clawing back the lead group in the final lap only to lose the sprint to Alex Beldon — a stage win at the 360 Tour of the Northwest underpins a profile that combines finishing pace with the resilience to be competitive when a race has already done its work. His 2026 campaign has been uneven: fourth overall at the Peaks 2-Day was a strong result, but DNFs at the Espoirs and East Cleveland introduce doubt. He is old enough relative to this field to bring experience to bear when the race gets difficult.
John Bardsley (Atom 6–ADWD) is a rider who makes races rather than waits for them, and arrives in better shape than his billing might suggest. Seventh at the PB Performance Espoirs — the opening round of this series — and sixth at the Evesham Vale Road Race earlier in the season point to a rider in consistent early form. His broader palmares reinforces that: second overall at the Sherpa Performance Stage Race last year, numerous National B top tens, and a habit of being present at the sharp end on wearing terrain.
A century ago, a group of cycling enthusiasts in Doncaster formed a club. On Sunday, Doncaster Wheelers CC marks that centenary by hosting the Danum Trophy – a race first run in 1969 that has grown, edition by edition, into one of the most respected tests on the British domestic calendar. This year it carries more weight than ever: Round 2 of the U23 Open National Road Series arrives in South Yorkshire with the series already taking shape, and the rider who leads it, 18-year-old Luca Nicholson, making the journey to defend what he built at the PB Performance Espoirs Road Race three weeks ago.
Featured image: Sarah Jane Swinscoe
What is it?
South Yorkshire’s Danum Trophy occupies an important position on the British calendar, a race with the atmosphere and demands of a hardman’s classic. For 2026, the race carries extra weight as Round 2 of the U23 Open National Road Series, meaning the field is not just racing for the win but for points that will shape the series picture deep into the season.
The event has a long and tangled organisational history. First run in 1969 under the auspices of the Birdwell Wheelers, it is now promoted by Doncaster Wheelers CC — who celebrate their centenary year in 2026 — and takes its name from Danum, the Roman settlement at the heart of what is now Doncaster. The club is making the most of the occasion, elevating the event’s profile by securing its place in the national series, with Taylor Bracewell solicitors and Bike Box Alan among the supporters.
The roll of honour is studded with names that shaped British road racing across five decades: Chris Parkinson, Arthur Metcalfe, Russ Downing, Graham Briggs, triple-winner Wayne Randle, and more recently Tom Pidcock (2017) and Matt Holmes (2018). Last year’s edition produced a result that captured the season’s broader narrative: Alex Beldon of Muc-Off–SRCT–Storck won with a perfectly timed final surge, aided by the tireless relay work of Ed Morgan.
Route
The circuit is one of the most honest pieces of road racing terrain in Britain. Starting and finishing at High Melton, riders complete 11¼ laps of a six-mile loop taking in Sprotbrough and the surrounding South Yorkshire countryside — 107 kilometres in total, with over 1,500 metres of climbing that accumulates relentlessly through the afternoon.
The key moment in each lap comes in the village of Cadeby, where the road rises sharply out of the valley to deliver riders back toward the finish plateau. The feed zone sits at the top of this climb and it is here, lap after lap, that selections tend to form and opportunists find their moment. Riders who can climb and recover quickly will have an obvious advantage; those who go deep on the ascent with nowhere to rest will find the circuit’s rhythm increasingly brutal.
The long uphill drag to the line in High Melton provides the final sting. It’s a finish that rewards patience and timing, with a tactical sprint or late solo move both in play.
Timings
The neutralised roll-out from race headquarters at Sprotbrough Country Club begins at 10.00, with an approximate finish time of 13.00.
Riders to watch
Luca Nicholson (Velo Club Baracchi) is the form rider of the early 2026 U23 season, and the wider field now faces a rider who has just won the first round of the very series this race feeds into. Racing for a Suffolk club outfit with no EDT infrastructure behind it, Nicholson was noted as a surprise second at the Wally Gimber Trophy before winning the PB Performance Espoirs outright — attacking inside seven kilometres to go and holding on through persistent rain and strong winds to take a solo maiden National B victory. Racing without teammates at a race that tends to reward collective strength, he will need to be tactically astute to repeat that kind of performance; but a rider who can go solo under the worst conditions and still hold the gap has earned the right to be considered a genuine contender.
Deetray Jarrett (Vigo–Rías Baixas) comes into the Danum Trophy on the back of the most convincing domestic performance of his young career: a solo victory at the Capernwray Road Race, where he shed the lead group on the final ascent of Sunny Bank and crossed the line 40 seconds clear. The Blackpool-raised 20-year-old has been building steadily toward moments like this ever since making his name in Spain as a junior, winning the Memorial Eugenio Lisarde and the King of the Mountains classification at Bizkaiko Itzulia in 2023. He arrives as one of the sharpest climbers in the field, and racing as a pair with his brother Trayden, they bring tactical options that few riders here can match.
Henry Hunter (360 Cycling) is one of the more intriguing stories of the early season. His 2025 season showed genuine range: stage winner at the Mennock Pass Stage Race — attacking from the lead group and powering solo to the line — before coming within a photo finish of the North West regional road race title, where only a video replay separated him from Wheelbase’s Dexter Leeming-Sykes. He has carried that form into 2026 with fifth at the PB Performance Espoirs and fifth again at Capernwray the following weekend. The Danum’s repeated climbing suits a rider who excels when the race fragments and group sizes drop.
Oliver Dawson (JAKROO Handsling Racing) is one of the domestic circuit’s most watched young riders, and arrives with a 2026 record that justifies the attention. The 19-year-old won the British junior road race title in 2024 before a season in Italy with Team Hopplà that, by his own admission, did not go to script. Back in familiar conditions, he has already shown he is adapting well: ninth on stage one and 11th on stage two of the Peaks 2-Day pointed to genuine competitiveness on punchy, wearing terrain, and he added fourth at the PB Performance Espoirs. With Harrison Dainty and Dylan Belton Owen alongside him, JAKROO have the numbers to influence proceedings; the tactical conditions exist for Dawson to be involved deep into the race.
Dylan Belton Owen (JAKROO Handsling Racing) is in his first season as a U23 and already represents a different kind of threat to most of his teammates. A former junior Cadence Road Race winner, he was second at the Jock Wadley Memorial last year as a junior — a result that announced a fast finish to anyone paying attention. With JAKROO able to field three riders here, Belton Owen’s sprint credentials give the team an option in a finish that does not fully resolve itself on the climb; if Dawson or Dainty can bring a group to the line with him, he becomes dangerous.
Lewis Tinsley (BCC Race Team) has made an excellent start to 2026. Third overall at the Peaks 2-Day — the strongest multi-day result in this field — before 10th at the PB Performance Espoirs. A DNS at Totnes–Vire and a DNF at East Cleveland last weekend introduce some question marks, but on his best days Tinsley is a genuine contender. George Stephen (BCC Race Team) makes BCC a two-card hand. Second at the PB Performance Espoirs — driving the decisive attack alongside Nicholson before the eventual winner escaped — the 20-year-old understands how to race with team support around him and how to set a race up for others as much as for himself. BCC send five riders in total, giving them the numbers to animate proceedings; the question is whether Stephen can convert that platform into a result of his own.
Nathan Smith (Cycling Sheffield) is in his most experienced season yet with the club, part of a development programme with a track record of producing riders who go on to compete at a higher level. He underlined his early-season credentials with third at the PB Performance Espoirs, beating the chasers at the line to complete the podium, and was present in the Capernwray chase group as Cycling Sheffield showed as a pair. The Danum’s climbing terrain suits him, and with six riders in the field — including Alexander Foster, who finished eighth at the Espoirs — Cycling Sheffield carry enough collective weight to shape the race as well as race for results within it.
Samuel Nisbet (Team Tactic U23) comes to the Danum with two seasons at Nopinz RT behind him and a record at this level that earns him genuine consideration. Second at the 2025 PB Performance Espoirs — clawing back the lead group in the final lap only to lose the sprint to Alex Beldon — a stage win at the 360 Tour of the Northwest underpins a profile that combines finishing pace with the resilience to be competitive when a race has already done its work. His 2026 campaign has been uneven: fourth overall at the Peaks 2-Day was a strong result, but DNFs at the Espoirs and East Cleveland introduce doubt. He is old enough relative to this field to bring experience to bear when the race gets difficult.
John Bardsley (Atom 6–ADWD) is a rider who makes races rather than waits for them, and arrives in better shape than his billing might suggest. Seventh at the PB Performance Espoirs — the opening round of this series — and sixth at the Evesham Vale Road Race earlier in the season point to a rider in consistent early form. His broader palmares reinforces that: second overall at the Sherpa Performance Stage Race last year, numerous National B top tens, and a habit of being present at the sharp end on wearing terrain.
Provisional startlist
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