2026 Solihull CC Women’s Road Race: preview and startlist
The Solihull CC Women’s Road Race returns on Sunday 5 July as Round 3 of the British Women’s Team Cup, with a remodelled finale set to change the shape of the race. Gone is the old flat run-in near Gooms Hill; in its place comes the Ridgeway near Cookhill, a tougher uphill drag that could reward aggression as much as speed.
The finish line has moved, and with it the whole character of this race. After years of sprints decided on the flat back road between Flyford Flavell and Gooms Hill, the Solihull CC Women’s Road Race will this year conclude at the top of a four-kilometre drag onto the Ridgeway near Cookhill — a finale that has twice rewarded the brave since its introduction, and one that arrives just as the Team Cup’s new Combativity Classification makes attacking racing pay.
The Solihull CC Women’s Road Race takes place this Sunday 5 July as a National B fixture and Round 3 of the British Women’s Team Cup — the first Team Cup round since Banbury in mid-May, and the midpoint of the five-round series.
Race HQ is Inkberrow Village Hall in Worcestershire, with the Team Cup race rolling out at 14:00 following the morning’s open Regional A race, which starts at 09:30. Both races use the 22.4-kilometre Inkberrow circuit, and entries on the line are available for riders yet to commit.
This is the first time the peloton has raced at Inkberrow since last July, when the 2025 edition was abandoned with one lap remaining. A mid-race ambulance breakdown had already forced a neutralisation; when a crash with around a lap to go required an ambulance on scene and a downpour swept the course during the wait, officials called the race off, with no results recorded. Mari Porton remains the last winner, taking a sprint victory in 2024.
Team Cup picture after two rounds
Loughborough Lightning lead the standings after victories in both opening rounds: Georgia Lancaster sprinted to the win at the Florrie Newbery Classic in April, and Lily Martin went clear on the final ascent of The Knowle to take Banbury in May.
Rank
Team
Points
1
Loughborough Lightning
751
2
FTP–Fulfil The Potential–Racing
661
3
London Academy
478
4
Paralloy RT
420
5
Brother UK–On Form
344
6
Wolfox CAMS Le Col RT
237
The intrigue at Inkberrow lies in who has actually entered. The series leaders bring a single rider — Peggy Simpkins — while second-placed FTP field five and London Academy five. Brother UK–On Form and Simpson Nouvelles start four apiece, as do Solas Cycling. Paralloy, fourth overall, are absent altogether. With each team’s top four finishers scoring, Sunday offers the chasing squads a rare chance to make up ground in bulk while the leaders effectively sit the round out.
There is a further incentive to race hard. New for 2026, the Combativity Classification awards 100 points to every rider in a break of eight or fewer that holds 30 seconds at half distance — and another 100 apiece if the race is won from such a break. Early aggression now counts even when it fails, and on this year’s course it may not fail.
Route
The race is run over the rolling 22.4-kilometre Inkberrow circuit — rarely flat but without sustained climbs, and littered with unbroken white lines that the commissaires have promised to police strictly. The manual lists a race distance of 84 kilometres over 3.75 laps, a lap having been removed in response to forecast high temperatures.
The defining change is the finish. Parking problems at the traditional Gooms Hill finale have prompted a switch to the Ridgeway near Cookhill, a finish used for the West Midlands Regional Championships in 2024 and stage one of this year’s Marches 3-day.
“This is a much tougher finish, as in essence it comes at the end of a four-kilometre climb up onto the Ridgeway, starting pretty much after the traditional finish at Gooms Hill,” West Midlands board road lead William Fotheringham told The British Continental last month. “The final 200m are flat, very slightly downhill, but most of the rest is uphill.”
The evidence so far suggests the drag favours escapees. Clay Davies won from a six-man break at the 2024 regional championships, and Matthew Warhurst took the Marches stage from a two-rider move this May — where, Fotheringham noted, the bunch was on the break’s heels at the line but could not get past, hampered by the double white lines that make moving up for the sprint difficult.
Riders to watch
Ella Tandy (Simpson Nouvelles) arrives with the strongest Team Cup pedigree on the startlist. Second at the Florrie Newbery Classic in April and 10th at Banbury, the 19-year-old has long been effective in uphill sprints — a profile that fits the Ridgeway finish neatly. With three teammates alongside her, Simpson Nouvelles have options too.
Tandy at the London Nocturne. Image: Milan Josy/The British Continental
Amelia Staunton (Brother UK–On Form) took 3rd at the Florrie Newbery Classic and leads a four-rider squad from the team that has made consistency its calling card in this series. Still only 18, she has been knocking on the door of a first big win.
Solas Cycling bring two of June’s form riders in Millie Thomson and Lydia Louw. Thomson won the Torvelo Women’s Road Race outright, added 5th at the BUCS championship in May, and was a fixture in the top 10 across the Ronde van Wymeswold; Louw backed her up with 6th at Torvelo and 9th on GC at Wymeswold. Fourteenth in the standings, Solas have little to defend and everything to gain from an aggressive race.
London Academy’s five-rider squad is headed by Emilia Fletcher, winner of the team’s own Easter road race in April, and Georgia Huddleston, 7th at the Florrie Newbery Classic, who joined the squad from Saddle Up Frequency in May. Third overall and chasing FTP, London Academy have both the numbers and the incentive to animate the race.
Fletcher wins the London Academy Easter Road Race. Image: That Shot Media
Isabella Johnson (Jadan Vive le Velo p/b Glasdon) is among the most reliable National B performers in the country — 4th at the Florrie Newbery Classic this year after a 2025 season of repeated top tens — and knows these roads well.
Finally, Tammy Miller (DAS–Hutchinson) is the sole UCI Continental rider on the startlist, and she has previous here: she spent much of last year’s opening lap alone off the front, stretching her lead to 33 seconds before the bunch reeled her in. Under Team Cup rules she can race but not score, making her a wildcard — a threat to the win with no stake in the team competition, and, on last year’s evidence, no inclination to wait for one.
The finish line has moved, and with it the whole character of this race. After years of sprints decided on the flat back road between Flyford Flavell and Gooms Hill, the Solihull CC Women’s Road Race will this year conclude at the top of a four-kilometre drag onto the Ridgeway near Cookhill — a finale that has twice rewarded the brave since its introduction, and one that arrives just as the Team Cup’s new Combativity Classification makes attacking racing pay.
Featured image: Matt de-B Photography
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What is it?
The Solihull CC Women’s Road Race takes place this Sunday 5 July as a National B fixture and Round 3 of the British Women’s Team Cup — the first Team Cup round since Banbury in mid-May, and the midpoint of the five-round series.
Race HQ is Inkberrow Village Hall in Worcestershire, with the Team Cup race rolling out at 14:00 following the morning’s open Regional A race, which starts at 09:30. Both races use the 22.4-kilometre Inkberrow circuit, and entries on the line are available for riders yet to commit.
This is the first time the peloton has raced at Inkberrow since last July, when the 2025 edition was abandoned with one lap remaining. A mid-race ambulance breakdown had already forced a neutralisation; when a crash with around a lap to go required an ambulance on scene and a downpour swept the course during the wait, officials called the race off, with no results recorded. Mari Porton remains the last winner, taking a sprint victory in 2024.
Team Cup picture after two rounds
Loughborough Lightning lead the standings after victories in both opening rounds: Georgia Lancaster sprinted to the win at the Florrie Newbery Classic in April, and Lily Martin went clear on the final ascent of The Knowle to take Banbury in May.
The intrigue at Inkberrow lies in who has actually entered. The series leaders bring a single rider — Peggy Simpkins — while second-placed FTP field five and London Academy five. Brother UK–On Form and Simpson Nouvelles start four apiece, as do Solas Cycling. Paralloy, fourth overall, are absent altogether. With each team’s top four finishers scoring, Sunday offers the chasing squads a rare chance to make up ground in bulk while the leaders effectively sit the round out.
There is a further incentive to race hard. New for 2026, the Combativity Classification awards 100 points to every rider in a break of eight or fewer that holds 30 seconds at half distance — and another 100 apiece if the race is won from such a break. Early aggression now counts even when it fails, and on this year’s course it may not fail.
Route
The race is run over the rolling 22.4-kilometre Inkberrow circuit — rarely flat but without sustained climbs, and littered with unbroken white lines that the commissaires have promised to police strictly. The manual lists a race distance of 84 kilometres over 3.75 laps, a lap having been removed in response to forecast high temperatures.
The defining change is the finish. Parking problems at the traditional Gooms Hill finale have prompted a switch to the Ridgeway near Cookhill, a finish used for the West Midlands Regional Championships in 2024 and stage one of this year’s Marches 3-day.
“This is a much tougher finish, as in essence it comes at the end of a four-kilometre climb up onto the Ridgeway, starting pretty much after the traditional finish at Gooms Hill,” West Midlands board road lead William Fotheringham told The British Continental last month. “The final 200m are flat, very slightly downhill, but most of the rest is uphill.”
The evidence so far suggests the drag favours escapees. Clay Davies won from a six-man break at the 2024 regional championships, and Matthew Warhurst took the Marches stage from a two-rider move this May — where, Fotheringham noted, the bunch was on the break’s heels at the line but could not get past, hampered by the double white lines that make moving up for the sprint difficult.
Riders to watch
Ella Tandy (Simpson Nouvelles) arrives with the strongest Team Cup pedigree on the startlist. Second at the Florrie Newbery Classic in April and 10th at Banbury, the 19-year-old has long been effective in uphill sprints — a profile that fits the Ridgeway finish neatly. With three teammates alongside her, Simpson Nouvelles have options too.
Amelia Staunton (Brother UK–On Form) took 3rd at the Florrie Newbery Classic and leads a four-rider squad from the team that has made consistency its calling card in this series. Still only 18, she has been knocking on the door of a first big win.
Solas Cycling bring two of June’s form riders in Millie Thomson and Lydia Louw. Thomson won the Torvelo Women’s Road Race outright, added 5th at the BUCS championship in May, and was a fixture in the top 10 across the Ronde van Wymeswold; Louw backed her up with 6th at Torvelo and 9th on GC at Wymeswold. Fourteenth in the standings, Solas have little to defend and everything to gain from an aggressive race.
London Academy’s five-rider squad is headed by Emilia Fletcher, winner of the team’s own Easter road race in April, and Georgia Huddleston, 7th at the Florrie Newbery Classic, who joined the squad from Saddle Up Frequency in May. Third overall and chasing FTP, London Academy have both the numbers and the incentive to animate the race.
Isabella Johnson (Jadan Vive le Velo p/b Glasdon) is among the most reliable National B performers in the country — 4th at the Florrie Newbery Classic this year after a 2025 season of repeated top tens — and knows these roads well.
Finally, Tammy Miller (DAS–Hutchinson) is the sole UCI Continental rider on the startlist, and she has previous here: she spent much of last year’s opening lap alone off the front, stretching her lead to 33 seconds before the bunch reeled her in. Under Team Cup rules she can race but not score, making her a wildcard — a threat to the win with no stake in the team competition, and, on last year’s evidence, no inclination to wait for one.
Provisional startlist
Entries available on the line.
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