Nina Lavenu (AG Insurance Soudal Development Team) and Matt Bostock (Rapha CC) took victory as domestic cycling returned to the Square Mile for the London Nocturne, Lavenu delivered by teammate Leonie Bentveld after a ten-rider move shaped the Elite Women’s race, before Bostock held off national champion Cameron Mason from a four-rider break in the Open race.
Nina Lavenu (AG Insurance Soudal Development Team) and Matt Bostock (Rapha CC) took victory as domestic cycling returned to the Square Mile for the London Nocturne, Lavenu delivered by teammate Leonie Bentveld after a ten-rider move shaped the Elite Women’s race, before Bostock held off national champion Cameron Mason from a four-rider break in the Open race.
Featured image: Milan Josy/The British Continental
Report
Women’s race
As the photographic golden hour settled over the City, it was hard not to be struck by the sight of national champion Kate Richardson (Handsling Alba Development RT) being introduced to a packed crowd, then pulled aside for a television interview. It was a scene largely absent from domestic cycling since the final years of the Tour Series: elite British riders on a city-centre stage, framed here by St Paul’s Cathedral and the glass and stone of the Square Mile.
Once the formalities were over, the race began at speed. The riders had little time to acquaint themselves with the 1.3-kilometre circuit, the course already lined with crowds and quickly becoming the setting for a fierce contest driven by Dutch rider Leonie Bentveld. AG Insurance Soudal Development Team had clearly travelled to the capital with victory in mind.
With the bunch stretched out, the pace showed little sign of easing. Richardson herself pushed on during the fourth lap, helping force a split in an already fractured field as the Continental teams, Megan Barker (Rapha CC) and Xan Crees (OGT p/b USE) moved towards the front.
Image: Milan Josy/The British Continental
As the 15-minute mark approached, a brief lull in the action was broken by Morven Yeoman (DAS-Hutchinson), the fast-finishing Scot who claimed victory at the Lincoln Grand Prix last month, once again applying pressure to those on her wheel.
With a succession of sharp corners punctuating the course between the Bank of England and St Paul’s Cathedral, the fight for position at the front remained intense. Behind, the repeated accelerations out of the bends began to take their toll, with Georgia Lancaster (Loughborough Lightning) and Aalia Clay (camsmajaco) among those to lose contact.
As the clock ticked past halfway, Beth Morrow (Handsling Alba Development RT) put in another punishing effort in sight of the finish line, Bob Lyons’ squad making their intentions clear after Richardson had raised the pace in the laps before.
Morrow’s move was soon followed by the decisive attack from Lavenu. With Isabel Sharp (Handsling Alba Development RT) and Yeoman close at hand, the acceleration split the race apart, a frantic scramble behind resulting in a ten-rider front group containing all the major teams, as well as Barker and the junior pairing of Peggy Knox (Airtox-Carl Ras) and Zoe Roche (camsmajaco).
Behind, a small chasing group of four tried to get back on terms, with Handsling Alba Development RT working to close the gap to a lead group that already contained Richardson and Sharp. As the pace briefly steadied out front, veteran Jo Tindley helped drive the chase, bringing them within touching distance as the 40-minute mark passed.
Image: Milan Josy/The British Continental
With three laps to go, Bentveld took up position at the head of the race. She remained there for almost all of the final laps, dragging the group towards the finish as bottles were discarded behind and a sprint became inevitable. The chasers continued to hover just a few metres back, passing the line with mouths wide open and Lucy Lee’s (DAS-Hutchinson) rear wheel tantalisingly in sight.
As the front group rounded the final corner, Lavenu launched first, delivered by Bentveld’s textbook lead-out. Yeoman and Richardson gave chase and tried to come around her, but the French rider held firm to take victory on the streets of London, with Richardson second and Yeoman completing the podium.
Yeoman’s third place lifted the DAS-Hutchinson rider above teammate Noémie Thomson and into the overall lead in the Rapha Super-League on 91 points; with Lucy Lee climbing to fourth, DAS-Hutchinson hold three of the top four. Roche’s work in the front group carried the camsmajaco junior up eight to third, Maddie Cooper (Handsling Alba Development Road Team) rose 10 to fifth, and Daisy Taylor (The Hera Project) was the biggest mover of the night, up 15 to ninth.
Men’s race
As the sun began to set over the busy 1.3km London Nocturne circuit, the Open Race rolled away with no shortage of intrigue. Rapha Cycling Club duo Matt Bostock and Ollie Wood, national champion Cameron Mason, Rapha Super-League leader Tom Armstrong and former WorldTour rider Ryan Gibbons were among the names giving the race a mouth-watering edge.
The action began almost immediately, with Mason choosing the final corner on the opening lap to launch his first stinging attack. Behind, a long, fracturing bunch led by Callum Laborde (Ornata Factory Racing) fought hard to stay locked on to the wheel in front.
Image: Milan Josy/The British Continental
Three laps in, it was perhaps fitting that Alec Briggs (Tekkerz CC), an icon of the London cycling scene and a previous winner of the Newark round of the National Circuit Series, should take up position at the head of affairs. Pre-race favourites Bostock and Tim Shoreman (Wheelbase-CabTech-Castelli) were also manoeuvring their way towards the business end of the strung-out peloton.
With the pace already proving too hot for some, cyclocross star Thomas Mein (Hope Factory Racing) launched what would become the race-winning move, taking Briggs with him and forcing Ollie Wood (Rapha CC) to chase. After barely ten minutes of racing, more riders were being shelled from the thinning peloton.
Sensing the danger, Mason made a bid to bridge, driving hard in the drops along the finishing straight and taking four riders with him as Mein continued to do the lion’s share of the work out front, with Briggs tucked in behind.
Mason and Bostock made the junction and went straight to the front of the now four-strong lead group. Behind, the race was splintering into ones and twos as riders fought desperately to get back on terms. Former Canadian criterium champion Matthias Guillemette (Tudor Pro Cycling) was among those chasing hard, while Tom Williams, guesting for Edinburgh Bike Fitting, briefly made it across to form a quintet before dropping back after his punishing effort.
Image: Milan Josy/The British Continental
The pace was telling in the chasing group too. Shoreman and Frank Longstaff (DAS-Richardsons) both slipped away from it as Laborde continued to pile on the pressure, the need to bridge becoming ever more urgent as the race reached halfway.
With the spirit of the chasing group seemingly broken, and Williams hanging between the two groups, the four leaders continued to work well together. Adversaries on the mud, Mein and Mason traded turns at the front in pursuit of the motorbike, the winner looking likely to come from one of those two, 2022 national circuit champion Bostock, or local favourite Briggs. Behind, the chasing group grew larger as its pace dropped.
With the streetlights taking hold and the finish banner illuminating the night sky, Mason used the first of his matches with a fearsome attack as the quartet passed the finish line with ten minutes remaining. Mein followed, while Briggs and Bostock were able to get back on terms a passage later.
Image: Milan Josy/The British Continental
With the motorbike now following the leaders, the pace slackened slightly. Mein led, but the four riders began looking at one another as the clock ticked past 40 minutes. Behind, a dogged Laborde continued to chase hard, while Tom Armstrong (Wheelbase-CabTech-Castelli) made one last attempt to drive the group across, the gap now close to a minute.
A phoney war settled over the leaders as they entered the final lap, with all still to play for. All eyes were on Bostock, the Manxman the obvious favourite should it come down to a sprint, even if he found himself on the front with more than a kilometre remaining.
But Bostock was not to be denied. He opened his trademark sprint as he rounded the final corner, still with 300 metres to the line, and held off Mason’s surge behind him to take another criterium victory, with [third rider] completing the podium.
For all that Bostock lit up the finish, the open Rapha Super-League still belongs to Thomas Armstrong. The Wheelbase CabTech Castelli rider stays top on 84 points without moving, his seventh place enough to keep him 21 clear. Bostock’s win does narrow the picture: the Rapha Cycling Club sprinter climbs six to second on 63, with teammate Oliver Wood up two to third, giving Rapha CC both podium places behind the leader.
The biggest climber was Callum Laborde, whose work in the chase carried the Ornata Factory Racing rider 21 places to seventh. Cameron Mason, second on the road, broke into the top 10 for the first time, entering in tenth.
Nina Lavenu (AG Insurance Soudal Development Team) and Matt Bostock (Rapha CC) took victory as domestic cycling returned to the Square Mile for the London Nocturne, Lavenu delivered by teammate Leonie Bentveld after a ten-rider move shaped the Elite Women’s race, before Bostock held off national champion Cameron Mason from a four-rider break in the Open race.
Featured image: Milan Josy/The British Continental
Report
Women’s race
As the photographic golden hour settled over the City, it was hard not to be struck by the sight of national champion Kate Richardson (Handsling Alba Development RT) being introduced to a packed crowd, then pulled aside for a television interview. It was a scene largely absent from domestic cycling since the final years of the Tour Series: elite British riders on a city-centre stage, framed here by St Paul’s Cathedral and the glass and stone of the Square Mile.
Once the formalities were over, the race began at speed. The riders had little time to acquaint themselves with the 1.3-kilometre circuit, the course already lined with crowds and quickly becoming the setting for a fierce contest driven by Dutch rider Leonie Bentveld. AG Insurance Soudal Development Team had clearly travelled to the capital with victory in mind.
With the bunch stretched out, the pace showed little sign of easing. Richardson herself pushed on during the fourth lap, helping force a split in an already fractured field as the Continental teams, Megan Barker (Rapha CC) and Xan Crees (OGT p/b USE) moved towards the front.
As the 15-minute mark approached, a brief lull in the action was broken by Morven Yeoman (DAS-Hutchinson), the fast-finishing Scot who claimed victory at the Lincoln Grand Prix last month, once again applying pressure to those on her wheel.
With a succession of sharp corners punctuating the course between the Bank of England and St Paul’s Cathedral, the fight for position at the front remained intense. Behind, the repeated accelerations out of the bends began to take their toll, with Georgia Lancaster (Loughborough Lightning) and Aalia Clay (camsmajaco) among those to lose contact.
As the clock ticked past halfway, Beth Morrow (Handsling Alba Development RT) put in another punishing effort in sight of the finish line, Bob Lyons’ squad making their intentions clear after Richardson had raised the pace in the laps before.
Morrow’s move was soon followed by the decisive attack from Lavenu. With Isabel Sharp (Handsling Alba Development RT) and Yeoman close at hand, the acceleration split the race apart, a frantic scramble behind resulting in a ten-rider front group containing all the major teams, as well as Barker and the junior pairing of Peggy Knox (Airtox-Carl Ras) and Zoe Roche (camsmajaco).
Behind, a small chasing group of four tried to get back on terms, with Handsling Alba Development RT working to close the gap to a lead group that already contained Richardson and Sharp. As the pace briefly steadied out front, veteran Jo Tindley helped drive the chase, bringing them within touching distance as the 40-minute mark passed.
With three laps to go, Bentveld took up position at the head of the race. She remained there for almost all of the final laps, dragging the group towards the finish as bottles were discarded behind and a sprint became inevitable. The chasers continued to hover just a few metres back, passing the line with mouths wide open and Lucy Lee’s (DAS-Hutchinson) rear wheel tantalisingly in sight.
As the front group rounded the final corner, Lavenu launched first, delivered by Bentveld’s textbook lead-out. Yeoman and Richardson gave chase and tried to come around her, but the French rider held firm to take victory on the streets of London, with Richardson second and Yeoman completing the podium.
Yeoman’s third place lifted the DAS-Hutchinson rider above teammate Noémie Thomson and into the overall lead in the Rapha Super-League on 91 points; with Lucy Lee climbing to fourth, DAS-Hutchinson hold three of the top four. Roche’s work in the front group carried the camsmajaco junior up eight to third, Maddie Cooper (Handsling Alba Development Road Team) rose 10 to fifth, and Daisy Taylor (The Hera Project) was the biggest mover of the night, up 15 to ninth.
Men’s race
As the sun began to set over the busy 1.3km London Nocturne circuit, the Open Race rolled away with no shortage of intrigue. Rapha Cycling Club duo Matt Bostock and Ollie Wood, national champion Cameron Mason, Rapha Super-League leader Tom Armstrong and former WorldTour rider Ryan Gibbons were among the names giving the race a mouth-watering edge.
The action began almost immediately, with Mason choosing the final corner on the opening lap to launch his first stinging attack. Behind, a long, fracturing bunch led by Callum Laborde (Ornata Factory Racing) fought hard to stay locked on to the wheel in front.
Three laps in, it was perhaps fitting that Alec Briggs (Tekkerz CC), an icon of the London cycling scene and a previous winner of the Newark round of the National Circuit Series, should take up position at the head of affairs. Pre-race favourites Bostock and Tim Shoreman (Wheelbase-CabTech-Castelli) were also manoeuvring their way towards the business end of the strung-out peloton.
With the pace already proving too hot for some, cyclocross star Thomas Mein (Hope Factory Racing) launched what would become the race-winning move, taking Briggs with him and forcing Ollie Wood (Rapha CC) to chase. After barely ten minutes of racing, more riders were being shelled from the thinning peloton.
Sensing the danger, Mason made a bid to bridge, driving hard in the drops along the finishing straight and taking four riders with him as Mein continued to do the lion’s share of the work out front, with Briggs tucked in behind.
Mason and Bostock made the junction and went straight to the front of the now four-strong lead group. Behind, the race was splintering into ones and twos as riders fought desperately to get back on terms. Former Canadian criterium champion Matthias Guillemette (Tudor Pro Cycling) was among those chasing hard, while Tom Williams, guesting for Edinburgh Bike Fitting, briefly made it across to form a quintet before dropping back after his punishing effort.
The pace was telling in the chasing group too. Shoreman and Frank Longstaff (DAS-Richardsons) both slipped away from it as Laborde continued to pile on the pressure, the need to bridge becoming ever more urgent as the race reached halfway.
With the spirit of the chasing group seemingly broken, and Williams hanging between the two groups, the four leaders continued to work well together. Adversaries on the mud, Mein and Mason traded turns at the front in pursuit of the motorbike, the winner looking likely to come from one of those two, 2022 national circuit champion Bostock, or local favourite Briggs. Behind, the chasing group grew larger as its pace dropped.
With the streetlights taking hold and the finish banner illuminating the night sky, Mason used the first of his matches with a fearsome attack as the quartet passed the finish line with ten minutes remaining. Mein followed, while Briggs and Bostock were able to get back on terms a passage later.
With the motorbike now following the leaders, the pace slackened slightly. Mein led, but the four riders began looking at one another as the clock ticked past 40 minutes. Behind, a dogged Laborde continued to chase hard, while Tom Armstrong (Wheelbase-CabTech-Castelli) made one last attempt to drive the group across, the gap now close to a minute.
A phoney war settled over the leaders as they entered the final lap, with all still to play for. All eyes were on Bostock, the Manxman the obvious favourite should it come down to a sprint, even if he found himself on the front with more than a kilometre remaining.
But Bostock was not to be denied. He opened his trademark sprint as he rounded the final corner, still with 300 metres to the line, and held off Mason’s surge behind him to take another criterium victory, with [third rider] completing the podium.
For all that Bostock lit up the finish, the open Rapha Super-League still belongs to Thomas Armstrong. The Wheelbase CabTech Castelli rider stays top on 84 points without moving, his seventh place enough to keep him 21 clear. Bostock’s win does narrow the picture: the Rapha Cycling Club sprinter climbs six to second on 63, with teammate Oliver Wood up two to third, giving Rapha CC both podium places behind the leader.
The biggest climber was Callum Laborde, whose work in the chase carried the Ornata Factory Racing rider 21 places to seventh. Cameron Mason, second on the road, broke into the top 10 for the first time, entering in tenth.
Results
Women’s race
Men’s race
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