British Cycling has confirmed the routes for this year's championships, with Ceredigion hosting for a second consecutive year between 25 and 28 June. A new time trial course at Lampeter is the principal change; the circuit and road races revisit the same Aberystwyth roads used in 2025 — a road race that, on closer inspection, is harder than the headline figures suggest.
British Cycling has revealed the routes for the 2026 Lloyds National Road Championships, with Ceredigion hosting the three days of racing between 25 and 28 June for a second consecutive year. Ten national jerseys will be contested over the weekend: the time trial opens proceedings on Thursday 25 June, the circuit championships take place on the evening of Friday 26 June, and the road race concludes the racing on Sunday 28 June.
The headline change from last year is a new time trial course based in Lampeter. The circuit race and road race courses both revisit the parcours used in 2025, when Zoe Backstedt, Ethan Hayter, Cameron Mason, Kate Richardson, Matthew Brennan and Samuel Watson were among the riders crowned in the same region.
The numbers at a glance
Race
Distance
Laps
Total ascent
Time trial — Elite Women / U23 Women / U23 Men
25.6 km
2 × 12.8 km
~200 m
Time trial — Elite Men
38.4 km
3 × 12.8 km
~300 m
Circuit race
~8 km (50 min)
5 × 1.6 km
~95 m
Road race — Women
128 km
3 main + 4 finish
~1,970 m
Road race — Men
187 km
5 main + 5 finish
~2,870 m
Time trial: a new course at Lampeter, and a power test
The new time trial circuit runs from Lampeter, not far from the University of Wales campus, out to the village of Llanfair Clydogau and back, taking in the green fields and rolling hills of the surrounding area. Riders return towards Lampeter, passing Cellan and the outskirts of Cwmann, before crossing the Afon Teifi to the finish.
Across a single 12.8-kilometre lap the course gains and loses around 100 metres of elevation. Roughly three-quarters of the parcours sits between -2% and +2% gradient, and there are no sustained climbs to speak of. British Cycling’s press release stated 4.9% maximum gradient is consistent with a sustained reading of the steepest section; over shorter windows the road nudges briefly into the 5–8% range, but only on short ramps. This is a power course rather than a climber’s course, where rhythm, pacing and the small undulations will count for more than the climbing legs.
The elite women, U23 women and U23 men complete two laps for a race distance of 25.6 kilometres. The elite men’s field will be tested over three laps for a total distance of 38.4 kilometres — the extra lap adding around 100 metres of climbing without changing the character of the test.
Circuit race
The Friday evening circuit championships return to the same 1.6-kilometre Aberystwyth course used in 2025, starting on the seafront and taking in the town centre streets in an anticlockwise direction. Riders pass the Bandstand on each lap, turn left into Pier Street and travel along Portland Street, heading into Queens Road before rejoining Victoria Terrace, where the races will pass through the line on each lap. The elite women’s and open championships will be contested over 50 minutes of racing plus five laps.
Flat and fast, the lap will reward bike handling and positioning over climbing legs. The technical twists and turns through the town centre disrupt the rhythm of the race and offer repeated opportunities for late attacks; with both championships expected to come down to a small group sprint or a well-timed move on the closing laps, the riders best placed in the run to the line will be those who have stayed near the front through the corners.
Road race: harder than it looks on paper
The Sunday road race revisits familiar territory. After a processional start on the seafront, the race heads out of town towards Llanfarian as far as Trawsgoed on a 23.4-kilometre anticlockwise main loop, before returning to Aberystwyth via Y Gors. The men complete five laps of the main loop and the women three, before the racing moves onto a 12.4-kilometre finishing circuit centred on the Aberystwyth seafront — five laps for the men, four for the women.
The numbers are heavier than the seafront-start aesthetic suggests. The men face roughly 2,870 metres of climbing across 187 kilometres; the women, around 1,970 metres across 128 kilometres. That works out at about 15 metres of vertical gain for every kilometre raced. There is, in short, nowhere to hide.
The main loop climb
The defining feature of the main loop is a climb at roughly the 16-to-18-kilometre mark, around two kilometres long and gaining about 92 metres in total. The men hit it five times before the racing turns onto the finishing circuit; the women, three times.
British Cycling’s press release puts the maximum gradient on the road race at 8.7% through Southgate. That figure is consistent with a reading taken over the steepest sustained kilometre of the course. The picture changes if you measure over shorter sections: across the steepest 500 metres of the main loop climb, the gradient averages closer to 12%, and there are brief ramps within the climb that bite harder still. The headline 8.7% is accurate, but it understates how the climb feels; in race terms, this is a climb with a genuinely punchy section embedded in it, not a steady drag.
Over the course of five ascents in 117 kilometres of main-loop racing, that climb will start to do real damage. Even before the racing reaches the finishing circuit, expect the lead group to be substantially reduced.
The finishing circuit
The 12.4-kilometre finishing circuit uses the seafront start-finish as its central focus, running along almost the entirety of the promenade, past the old college and the castle grounds, before a technical section through the old harbour that loops out over Trefechan bridge.
It has a substantial climb of its own — roughly 2.4 kilometres gaining about 76 metres at an average of 3.2%, with brief ramps up to around 10% through Southgate on each lap, followed by the narrow technical descent from Moriah back down to the A44. That is the climb that could decide the race: five times in the closing kilometres for the men, four for the women, with the technical descent and the run-in along the promenade allowing little room for groups to reform once they have split.
The combination is a course that rewards both endurance and a punchy late kick — the classic profile of a hard one-day race rather than a pure climber’s course. Riders capable of surviving the repeated main-loop climb and then producing one last effort on the closing circuit will be best placed; pure sprinters will struggle to be there at the finish.
The men’s race finishes after 187 kilometres on the seafront promenade. The women’s, after 128.
Entries for all three events are now open via the British Cycling website, alongside opportunities to volunteer at the championships.
British Cycling has revealed the routes for the 2026 Lloyds National Road Championships, with Ceredigion hosting the three days of racing between 25 and 28 June for a second consecutive year. Ten national jerseys will be contested over the weekend: the time trial opens proceedings on Thursday 25 June, the circuit championships take place on the evening of Friday 26 June, and the road race concludes the racing on Sunday 28 June.
The headline change from last year is a new time trial course based in Lampeter. The circuit race and road race courses both revisit the parcours used in 2025, when Zoe Backstedt, Ethan Hayter, Cameron Mason, Kate Richardson, Matthew Brennan and Samuel Watson were among the riders crowned in the same region.
The numbers at a glance
Time trial: a new course at Lampeter, and a power test
The new time trial circuit runs from Lampeter, not far from the University of Wales campus, out to the village of Llanfair Clydogau and back, taking in the green fields and rolling hills of the surrounding area. Riders return towards Lampeter, passing Cellan and the outskirts of Cwmann, before crossing the Afon Teifi to the finish.
Across a single 12.8-kilometre lap the course gains and loses around 100 metres of elevation. Roughly three-quarters of the parcours sits between -2% and +2% gradient, and there are no sustained climbs to speak of. British Cycling’s press release stated 4.9% maximum gradient is consistent with a sustained reading of the steepest section; over shorter windows the road nudges briefly into the 5–8% range, but only on short ramps. This is a power course rather than a climber’s course, where rhythm, pacing and the small undulations will count for more than the climbing legs.
The elite women, U23 women and U23 men complete two laps for a race distance of 25.6 kilometres. The elite men’s field will be tested over three laps for a total distance of 38.4 kilometres — the extra lap adding around 100 metres of climbing without changing the character of the test.
Circuit race
The Friday evening circuit championships return to the same 1.6-kilometre Aberystwyth course used in 2025, starting on the seafront and taking in the town centre streets in an anticlockwise direction. Riders pass the Bandstand on each lap, turn left into Pier Street and travel along Portland Street, heading into Queens Road before rejoining Victoria Terrace, where the races will pass through the line on each lap. The elite women’s and open championships will be contested over 50 minutes of racing plus five laps.
Flat and fast, the lap will reward bike handling and positioning over climbing legs. The technical twists and turns through the town centre disrupt the rhythm of the race and offer repeated opportunities for late attacks; with both championships expected to come down to a small group sprint or a well-timed move on the closing laps, the riders best placed in the run to the line will be those who have stayed near the front through the corners.
Road race: harder than it looks on paper
The Sunday road race revisits familiar territory. After a processional start on the seafront, the race heads out of town towards Llanfarian as far as Trawsgoed on a 23.4-kilometre anticlockwise main loop, before returning to Aberystwyth via Y Gors. The men complete five laps of the main loop and the women three, before the racing moves onto a 12.4-kilometre finishing circuit centred on the Aberystwyth seafront — five laps for the men, four for the women.
The numbers are heavier than the seafront-start aesthetic suggests. The men face roughly 2,870 metres of climbing across 187 kilometres; the women, around 1,970 metres across 128 kilometres. That works out at about 15 metres of vertical gain for every kilometre raced. There is, in short, nowhere to hide.
The main loop climb
The defining feature of the main loop is a climb at roughly the 16-to-18-kilometre mark, around two kilometres long and gaining about 92 metres in total. The men hit it five times before the racing turns onto the finishing circuit; the women, three times.
British Cycling’s press release puts the maximum gradient on the road race at 8.7% through Southgate. That figure is consistent with a reading taken over the steepest sustained kilometre of the course. The picture changes if you measure over shorter sections: across the steepest 500 metres of the main loop climb, the gradient averages closer to 12%, and there are brief ramps within the climb that bite harder still. The headline 8.7% is accurate, but it understates how the climb feels; in race terms, this is a climb with a genuinely punchy section embedded in it, not a steady drag.
Over the course of five ascents in 117 kilometres of main-loop racing, that climb will start to do real damage. Even before the racing reaches the finishing circuit, expect the lead group to be substantially reduced.
The finishing circuit
The 12.4-kilometre finishing circuit uses the seafront start-finish as its central focus, running along almost the entirety of the promenade, past the old college and the castle grounds, before a technical section through the old harbour that loops out over Trefechan bridge.
It has a substantial climb of its own — roughly 2.4 kilometres gaining about 76 metres at an average of 3.2%, with brief ramps up to around 10% through Southgate on each lap, followed by the narrow technical descent from Moriah back down to the A44. That is the climb that could decide the race: five times in the closing kilometres for the men, four for the women, with the technical descent and the run-in along the promenade allowing little room for groups to reform once they have split.
The combination is a course that rewards both endurance and a punchy late kick — the classic profile of a hard one-day race rather than a pure climber’s course. Riders capable of surviving the repeated main-loop climb and then producing one last effort on the closing circuit will be best placed; pure sprinters will struggle to be there at the finish.
The men’s race finishes after 187 kilometres on the seafront promenade. The women’s, after 128.
Entries for all three events are now open via the British Cycling website, alongside opportunities to volunteer at the championships.
Featured: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
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