After a year away, the Lancaster Grand Prix returns to the Lloyds National Road Series on Sunday 12 July, bringing the domestic peloton back to one of the sharpest and most selective circuits in British road racing.
After a year away, the Lancaster Grand Prix returns to the Lloyds National Road Series on Sunday 12 July, bringing the domestic peloton back to one of the sharpest and most selective circuits in British road racing. Both series leaders ride, a Reservoir winner returns in search of two in a row, and the roads on the edge of the Forest of Bowland double as a rehearsal for the 2027 Tour de France.
Here is our preview.
Featured image: Craig Zadoronyj/SWpix.com
The British Continental‘s National Road Series previews are powered by Topp Cycling.
What is it?
The Lancaster Grand Prix is back. After dropping out of the 2025 calendar because of funding and logistical uncertainty, the race returns this Sunday with two National Road Series events on the same day: the open race in the morning as Round 4 of the open series, the women’s race in the afternoon as Round 5 of the women’s.
It is a race with a short history but a clear identity. Created in 2019 by Brian Cookson and Graham Jones, Lancaster was conceived as a British answer to an Ardennes Classic: not a race of Alpine climbs or great distance alone, but one built on accumulation, positioning, repeated ramps and the difficulty of doing anything easily once the road begins to rise out of Lancaster and towards the edge of the Forest of Bowland.
This year’s race will be the sixth edition of the open event and the fourth edition of the women’s race. Both start and finish in Williamson Park, beneath the Ashton Memorial, before heading out onto the familiar Quernmore circuit: a loop of short climbs, narrow lanes, exposed ridges and awkward junctions that rarely allows the bunch to settle. The roll of honour reflects the course’s character — Ian Bibby, Josh Whitehead, Rob Scott, and Zeb Kyffin in the open race; Mary Wilkinson and Ruth Shier in the women’s — a list of winners who attacked rather than waited.
Frankie Hall of DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK wins in 2024. Image: Craig Zadoronyj/SWpix.com
There is also a wider significance to this year’s return. Lancaster is now part of the build-up to the 2027 Tour de France Grand Départ, with Stage 2 set to pass through the city and use part of the traditional Grand Prix circuit before heading into the Forest of Bowland and on towards Liverpool. For the organisers, 2026 is not just the comeback year. It is also the beginning of a longer run-in to a much larger moment for cycling in Lancashire.
The defending winners from 2024 are not on the provisional startlists. Ben Granger won the open race two years ago with a late solo attack after bridging to the remnants of the day’s break. Frankie Hall won the women’s race in similar fashion, reaching the front group on the final lap before attacking alone and holding off Lauren Dickson and Tamsin Miller into Williamson Park.
Route
The route is familiar. Both races begin with a neutralised roll-out from Williamson Park before the flag drops on Quernmore Road, just before the M6 bridge. From there, the riders enter the 14.8-kilometre circuit used by the race in previous editions.
The open race is scheduled for ten laps and around 150 kilometres. The women’s race is scheduled for six laps and around 90 kilometres. The lap is short enough to feel repetitive, but hard enough to change shape with every passing hour. What looks manageable once becomes something quite different after the fifth or sixth time up the same ramps.
The first difficulty arrives almost immediately on Quernmore Road: a little over a kilometre at an average of 5.6%, peaking at 13.6% — not a long climb, but one that bites early, stretching the bunch and establishing the day’s hierarchy. From there the course passes the feed zone and drops towards the sharp right onto Postern Gate Road, rolling and turning towards Quernmore without ever quite becoming benign.
The second major rise is more subtle. The 2.8-kilometre drag up the valley past St Peter’s Church towards Rigg Lane averages just 2.2% — “a grim, heavy drag,” in one organiser’s memorable description, and a categorised climb on stage 4 of the 2012 Tour of Britain. It is not brutally steep, but it is heavy, exposed and difficult to ride economically. This is often the sort of road where the strongest riders can hurt the field without appearing to attack. A team riding tempo here can strip numbers from rivals before anyone has committed to a decisive move.
The third climb is the most obvious. After the drop towards Proctor Moss Road and Kit Brow, the course rises sharply again towards the climber’s prime: 0.7 kilometres at an average of 7%, with much of the second half at 9–10%. It is short, steep and repeated enough to become the race’s central reference point. Points in the Climber’s Competition are awarded on each lap except the final one, with 5, 3, 2, and 1 points available to the first four riders over the line.
From there the course moves onto the rolling ridge of Little Fell Lane and down Langthwaite Road — the steepest descent of the circuit, with a pitch of around 30% into the right-hander back onto Grab Lane and the lap board. It is a circuit of rhythm changes rather than one sustained effort: climb, descend, turn, drag, climb again, then fight to be in the right place before the next acceleration.
The finish adds its own sting. On the final lap the riders return to Williamson Park via Wyresdale Road, entering through the park gates before the final rise to the line, 150 metres beyond the Ashton Memorial — the gradient touching double digits between 600 and 500 metres to go, then a technical, slightly uphill final 500 metres. It is not long enough to rescue a badly positioned rider, but it is hard enough to punish one who has already spent too much getting there.
Weather
At the time of writing, the forecast points to a dry, sunny and very warm day in Lancaster. That matters. The open race starts at 09:00, when conditions should still be relatively manageable. The women’s race starts at 14:20 and is likely to be run through the hottest part of the afternoon.
Lancaster is not as wind-dependent as the Tour of the Reservoir, but it is still a race shaped by exposure. The open stretches around Quernmore, the ridges above the city and the repeated climbs can become more selective if there is any meaningful breeze. If the wind stays light, the heat may be the greater factor: six or ten laps of the same course, limited places to recover, and repeated short efforts on a warm July afternoon.
Riders to watch
Women’s race
With Frankie Hall not listed, the women’s race will have a new winner — and a familiar pattern holds at the top of the standings. Morven Yeoman arrives leading the women’s National Road Series on 146 points, but Melanie Rowe (114) and Katie Scott (106), second and third overall, are both missing from the provisional startlist, as is Reservoir winner Kate Richardson. The provisional list has already been shorn of two eye-catching entries, too, with Elinor Barker and Eilidh Shaw both struck from the entry.
The most obvious starting point remains DAS–Hutchinson, even with only four riders. Yeoman has been one of the defining riders of the domestic road season — winner of the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix, third at the CiCLE Classic, 15th at the national road race as the best home-based under-23 — and she knows these roads: two years ago she spent much of the early race off the front, attacking almost from the flag. Lancaster should suit her — repeated climbs, enough distance to make endurance count, and enough narrow road to reward good positioning. Lucy Lee was fourth here in 2024, second at the Tour of the Reservoir last month, and has the punch and tactical sharpness to cope with the final lap, while Tammy Miller was third in 2024 after attacking with three laps remaining. Noémie Thomson rounds out a formidable quartet: winner of the CiCLE Classic in March, second at Lincoln, and seventh in The British Continental rider rankings.
Morven Yeoman (DAS-Hutchinson) series leader. Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
Lily Martin may be the most compelling alternative. The Loughborough Lightning under-23 has won the Banbury Star and the BUCS Road Race Championship with solo attacks, was eighth at the CiCLE Classic, and rode on the offensive at the Reservoir. She climbs superbly, this is a climber’s circuit, and Lightning’s eight riders make them the joint-largest squad in the race — enough depth to race actively rather than simply follow.
Handsling Alba Development Road Team arrive without Richardson, but Arianne Holland, part of the winning break at the Reservoir, gives their five-rider squad a proven card on this terrain. O’Shea Red Chilli Bikes have a different kind of threat: Matilda McKibben rode prominently in the chase at the national road race, Evie Smith is the reigning Yorkshire champion, and Sannah Zaman was among the early aggressors when the race was last held in 2024 — and Lancaster is the kind of course where a well-timed move can be as valuable as a fast finish.
Ruby Oakes leads an eight-strong FTP-Fulfil The Potential-Racing entry after third at Capernwray and fourth at Lincoln, while Amy Henchoz (Paralloy RT) — second at Capernwray, sixth at Lincoln — has been a fixture near the front of the road season and should relish the repeated climbing.
Brother UK–On Form bring numbers and recent form, too: Sian Botteley took the East Midlands title in May, ending a seven-year wait for a road win, and Amelia Staunton was third at BUCS and second at Solihull last weekend — beaten there only by Lowri Richards (Solas Cycling), who also lines up.
Among the rest, Amelia Cebak, in the break at the Reservoir, leads a thin three-rider Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team entry; Hope Inglis (London Academy) was fourth at BUCS for the second year running; Hannah Clough (University of Nottingham) is the reigning North West champion; and The Hera Project, the women-led team launched for 2026, bring three riders.
Open race
The open race has the feel of unfinished business for several teams — and its own version of the same story at the top of the standings. Tom Armstrong leads the National Road Series by 11 points from his own Wheelbase CabTech Castelli teammate Tom Martin.
Wheelbase come with the strongest collective hand on paper. Armstrong’s series lead has been built on relentless consistency — third at Lincoln, seventh at the Reservoir — and he was active here in 2024, the protagonist when the peloton attacked through the climber’s prime at halfway. Martin backs him with second at East Cleveland and eighth at Consett, and animated the 2024 edition in the race-defining move before fading late. Add Tim Shoreman, a Rás Tailteann stage winner and yellow-jersey wearer in May, and this is a team capable of controlling the race, forcing it, or using numbers late.
Tom Armstrong (Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli) national series leader. Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
Foran CT have the rider many teams will least want to give space to. Danylo Riwnyj has already won the Wally Gimber Trophy, the Rás Mumhan, and the Tour of the Reservoir this season — the last of those with a 14-kilometre solo at the end of a hard, selective day, precisely the kind of pattern Lancaster can produce — and he rode in the elite chase group at the national championships in Aberystwyth. His profile of long, repeated efforts, with no fear of going early, fits this circuit precisely.
Ollie Wood (Rapha Cycling Club) won the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix in May and was sixth at the national road race in June: as complete as his road form has ever looked, on a course that suits an aggressive finisher. Teammate Matt Bostock, the national circuit champion, faces a different examination over 150 hilly kilometres — but if the race regroups late, few would bet against his finish.
Harrison Dainty, third at the Reservoir and second in the under-23 standings, is JAKROO Handsling Racing’s sharpest card, with Oliver Dawson — fourth at the CiCLE Classic and repeatedly aggressive at Consett — alongside him. The squad also now includes Sam Chaplin, who joined from MyPad Racing p/b ONDO Sports at the start of June off the back of a strong spring: 11th at East Cleveland, 19th at Lincoln, and a solo BUCS Road Race Championship title in the Devon heat. Between them, JAKROO have the depth to make the race hard from distance.
Harrison Dainty (JAKROO Handsling Racing) and Gabriel Dellar (Ride Revolution Coaching). Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
Ride Revolution Coaching counter with Gabe Dellar, second at the Reservoir after making the key final selection, and Clay Davies, who leads The British Continental road race rankings on a season of steady accumulation. DAS Richardsons’ strongest claims come through Jock Wadley winner Oliver Curd and Cai Davies, a reliable finisher if the race comes back together.
The under-23 contest is worth watching in its own right. With Jowett absent, Lewis Tinsley (BCC Race Team) — fifth at the Reservoir, sixth at Lincoln, third overall at the Peak 2 Day — and Dainty are the obvious protagonists, with Portsdown Classic winner Alex Murphy (Stolen Goat 4Endurance) and Callum Laborde (Ornata Factory Racing), sixth here in 2024 after a day in the break, both capable of joining them.
Then there is the international contingent. Adam Lewis (APS Pro Cycling), seventh here in 2024, arrives with the best form of a long UCI Continental career: a stage win at the Tour of the Gila in May, sixth overall at the Tour de Beauce in June — where he took second on a stage and briefly wore the leader’s jersey — seventh at the Rás Tailteann, and a solo East and West Midlands title in between. George Radcliffe (Atom 6–Cycleur de Luxe–Auto Stroo Continental Team) has spent the spring in the Belgian classics — Le Samyn, the Circuit de Wallonie, the Antwerp Port Epic — with little to show on the results sheet beyond fourth in the mountains classification at the Tour of Hellas, but his two domestic outings tell a different story: eighth at East Cleveland and sixth at the Reservoir, where he was also third in 2025. And Charles Paige (Bourg-en-Bresse Ain Cyclisme) brings unusual pedigree and local knowledge in equal measure: the local rider spent the past two seasons with ProTeam Unibet Tietema Rockets before returning to the French amateur ranks this year, and while his results since have been quiet, few in the field will know these roads better.
George Radcliffe (Atom 6 – Cycleur de Luxe – Auto Stroo Continental Team). Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
Among the outsiders, Jake Edwards (Zappi Racing Team) is worth a mention. The 22-year-old won the Peak 2 Day overall in March and was fifth at the National Circuit Race Championships in June — a rider who stage-races and climbs well enough to belong in the conversation on a course like this.
Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT, with eight riders, field the largest squad in the race, and they travel with form as well as course history. Ahron Dick, the 19-year-old who won Gifford in March and the Mennock Pass Stage Race’s opening road stage last month, arrived at the Mennock as the in-form climber in the field and finished fourth overall, five seconds off the win. Finn McHenry was fourth here in 2024, winning the Climber’s Competition outright with four laps to spare from the day-long break. Hugh Dornan Memorial winner Craig Paterson and defending Mennock champion Matti Dobbins complete a squad built for exactly this terrain.
The man who beat them all in the Southern Uplands is here too — and he arrives in new colours. Adam Hartley, a former SEG Racing Academy rider who walked away from the sport in 2019, has signed for Wheelbase CabTech Castelli, the team has confirmed to The British Continental, with Lancaster set to be his first race in their kit. He has returned to racing by degrees this year — the Fred Whitton Challenge in May, a win at Castle Carrock, and then the Mennock Pass Stage Race overall, overturning a seven-second final-day deficit through the time bonuses at Wanlockhead to win by two seconds. A National A field on a course like this is another step up again, but on the evidence of the past two months, his is exactly the kind of story this race tends to find.
Timings
The open race begins first, with the neutralised start from Williamson Park scheduled for 09:00. The race is expected to finish at around 12:45, depending on speed.
The women’s race follows in the afternoon, with the neutralised start scheduled for 14:20 and the finish expected at around 16:45.
Both races finish in Williamson Park, 150 metres beyond the Ashton Memorial, with podium presentations 15 minutes after each finish.
How to follow
The British Continental will be covering the Lancaster Grand Prix on the day, with updates on Instagram and full reports and results to follow. Subscribers to Monument Cycling can watch the livestream of the second half of each race.
After a year away, the Lancaster Grand Prix returns to the Lloyds National Road Series on Sunday 12 July, bringing the domestic peloton back to one of the sharpest and most selective circuits in British road racing. Both series leaders ride, a Reservoir winner returns in search of two in a row, and the roads on the edge of the Forest of Bowland double as a rehearsal for the 2027 Tour de France.
Here is our preview.
Featured image: Craig Zadoronyj/SWpix.com
The British Continental‘s National Road Series previews are powered by Topp Cycling.
What is it?
The Lancaster Grand Prix is back. After dropping out of the 2025 calendar because of funding and logistical uncertainty, the race returns this Sunday with two National Road Series events on the same day: the open race in the morning as Round 4 of the open series, the women’s race in the afternoon as Round 5 of the women’s.
It is a race with a short history but a clear identity. Created in 2019 by Brian Cookson and Graham Jones, Lancaster was conceived as a British answer to an Ardennes Classic: not a race of Alpine climbs or great distance alone, but one built on accumulation, positioning, repeated ramps and the difficulty of doing anything easily once the road begins to rise out of Lancaster and towards the edge of the Forest of Bowland.
This year’s race will be the sixth edition of the open event and the fourth edition of the women’s race. Both start and finish in Williamson Park, beneath the Ashton Memorial, before heading out onto the familiar Quernmore circuit: a loop of short climbs, narrow lanes, exposed ridges and awkward junctions that rarely allows the bunch to settle. The roll of honour reflects the course’s character — Ian Bibby, Josh Whitehead, Rob Scott, and Zeb Kyffin in the open race; Mary Wilkinson and Ruth Shier in the women’s — a list of winners who attacked rather than waited.
There is also a wider significance to this year’s return. Lancaster is now part of the build-up to the 2027 Tour de France Grand Départ, with Stage 2 set to pass through the city and use part of the traditional Grand Prix circuit before heading into the Forest of Bowland and on towards Liverpool. For the organisers, 2026 is not just the comeback year. It is also the beginning of a longer run-in to a much larger moment for cycling in Lancashire.
The defending winners from 2024 are not on the provisional startlists. Ben Granger won the open race two years ago with a late solo attack after bridging to the remnants of the day’s break. Frankie Hall won the women’s race in similar fashion, reaching the front group on the final lap before attacking alone and holding off Lauren Dickson and Tamsin Miller into Williamson Park.
Route
The route is familiar. Both races begin with a neutralised roll-out from Williamson Park before the flag drops on Quernmore Road, just before the M6 bridge. From there, the riders enter the 14.8-kilometre circuit used by the race in previous editions.
The open race is scheduled for ten laps and around 150 kilometres. The women’s race is scheduled for six laps and around 90 kilometres. The lap is short enough to feel repetitive, but hard enough to change shape with every passing hour. What looks manageable once becomes something quite different after the fifth or sixth time up the same ramps.
The first difficulty arrives almost immediately on Quernmore Road: a little over a kilometre at an average of 5.6%, peaking at 13.6% — not a long climb, but one that bites early, stretching the bunch and establishing the day’s hierarchy. From there the course passes the feed zone and drops towards the sharp right onto Postern Gate Road, rolling and turning towards Quernmore without ever quite becoming benign.
The second major rise is more subtle. The 2.8-kilometre drag up the valley past St Peter’s Church towards Rigg Lane averages just 2.2% — “a grim, heavy drag,” in one organiser’s memorable description, and a categorised climb on stage 4 of the 2012 Tour of Britain. It is not brutally steep, but it is heavy, exposed and difficult to ride economically. This is often the sort of road where the strongest riders can hurt the field without appearing to attack. A team riding tempo here can strip numbers from rivals before anyone has committed to a decisive move.
The third climb is the most obvious. After the drop towards Proctor Moss Road and Kit Brow, the course rises sharply again towards the climber’s prime: 0.7 kilometres at an average of 7%, with much of the second half at 9–10%. It is short, steep and repeated enough to become the race’s central reference point. Points in the Climber’s Competition are awarded on each lap except the final one, with 5, 3, 2, and 1 points available to the first four riders over the line.
From there the course moves onto the rolling ridge of Little Fell Lane and down Langthwaite Road — the steepest descent of the circuit, with a pitch of around 30% into the right-hander back onto Grab Lane and the lap board. It is a circuit of rhythm changes rather than one sustained effort: climb, descend, turn, drag, climb again, then fight to be in the right place before the next acceleration.
The finish adds its own sting. On the final lap the riders return to Williamson Park via Wyresdale Road, entering through the park gates before the final rise to the line, 150 metres beyond the Ashton Memorial — the gradient touching double digits between 600 and 500 metres to go, then a technical, slightly uphill final 500 metres. It is not long enough to rescue a badly positioned rider, but it is hard enough to punish one who has already spent too much getting there.
Weather
At the time of writing, the forecast points to a dry, sunny and very warm day in Lancaster. That matters. The open race starts at 09:00, when conditions should still be relatively manageable. The women’s race starts at 14:20 and is likely to be run through the hottest part of the afternoon.
Lancaster is not as wind-dependent as the Tour of the Reservoir, but it is still a race shaped by exposure. The open stretches around Quernmore, the ridges above the city and the repeated climbs can become more selective if there is any meaningful breeze. If the wind stays light, the heat may be the greater factor: six or ten laps of the same course, limited places to recover, and repeated short efforts on a warm July afternoon.
Riders to watch
Women’s race
With Frankie Hall not listed, the women’s race will have a new winner — and a familiar pattern holds at the top of the standings. Morven Yeoman arrives leading the women’s National Road Series on 146 points, but Melanie Rowe (114) and Katie Scott (106), second and third overall, are both missing from the provisional startlist, as is Reservoir winner Kate Richardson. The provisional list has already been shorn of two eye-catching entries, too, with Elinor Barker and Eilidh Shaw both struck from the entry.
The most obvious starting point remains DAS–Hutchinson, even with only four riders. Yeoman has been one of the defining riders of the domestic road season — winner of the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix, third at the CiCLE Classic, 15th at the national road race as the best home-based under-23 — and she knows these roads: two years ago she spent much of the early race off the front, attacking almost from the flag. Lancaster should suit her — repeated climbs, enough distance to make endurance count, and enough narrow road to reward good positioning. Lucy Lee was fourth here in 2024, second at the Tour of the Reservoir last month, and has the punch and tactical sharpness to cope with the final lap, while Tammy Miller was third in 2024 after attacking with three laps remaining. Noémie Thomson rounds out a formidable quartet: winner of the CiCLE Classic in March, second at Lincoln, and seventh in The British Continental rider rankings.
Lily Martin may be the most compelling alternative. The Loughborough Lightning under-23 has won the Banbury Star and the BUCS Road Race Championship with solo attacks, was eighth at the CiCLE Classic, and rode on the offensive at the Reservoir. She climbs superbly, this is a climber’s circuit, and Lightning’s eight riders make them the joint-largest squad in the race — enough depth to race actively rather than simply follow.
Handsling Alba Development Road Team arrive without Richardson, but Arianne Holland, part of the winning break at the Reservoir, gives their five-rider squad a proven card on this terrain. O’Shea Red Chilli Bikes have a different kind of threat: Matilda McKibben rode prominently in the chase at the national road race, Evie Smith is the reigning Yorkshire champion, and Sannah Zaman was among the early aggressors when the race was last held in 2024 — and Lancaster is the kind of course where a well-timed move can be as valuable as a fast finish.
Ruby Oakes leads an eight-strong FTP-Fulfil The Potential-Racing entry after third at Capernwray and fourth at Lincoln, while Amy Henchoz (Paralloy RT) — second at Capernwray, sixth at Lincoln — has been a fixture near the front of the road season and should relish the repeated climbing.
Brother UK–On Form bring numbers and recent form, too: Sian Botteley took the East Midlands title in May, ending a seven-year wait for a road win, and Amelia Staunton was third at BUCS and second at Solihull last weekend — beaten there only by Lowri Richards (Solas Cycling), who also lines up.
Among the rest, Amelia Cebak, in the break at the Reservoir, leads a thin three-rider Smurfit Westrock Cycling Team entry; Hope Inglis (London Academy) was fourth at BUCS for the second year running; Hannah Clough (University of Nottingham) is the reigning North West champion; and The Hera Project, the women-led team launched for 2026, bring three riders.
Open race
The open race has the feel of unfinished business for several teams — and its own version of the same story at the top of the standings. Tom Armstrong leads the National Road Series by 11 points from his own Wheelbase CabTech Castelli teammate Tom Martin.
Wheelbase come with the strongest collective hand on paper. Armstrong’s series lead has been built on relentless consistency — third at Lincoln, seventh at the Reservoir — and he was active here in 2024, the protagonist when the peloton attacked through the climber’s prime at halfway. Martin backs him with second at East Cleveland and eighth at Consett, and animated the 2024 edition in the race-defining move before fading late. Add Tim Shoreman, a Rás Tailteann stage winner and yellow-jersey wearer in May, and this is a team capable of controlling the race, forcing it, or using numbers late.
Foran CT have the rider many teams will least want to give space to. Danylo Riwnyj has already won the Wally Gimber Trophy, the Rás Mumhan, and the Tour of the Reservoir this season — the last of those with a 14-kilometre solo at the end of a hard, selective day, precisely the kind of pattern Lancaster can produce — and he rode in the elite chase group at the national championships in Aberystwyth. His profile of long, repeated efforts, with no fear of going early, fits this circuit precisely.
Ollie Wood (Rapha Cycling Club) won the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix in May and was sixth at the national road race in June: as complete as his road form has ever looked, on a course that suits an aggressive finisher. Teammate Matt Bostock, the national circuit champion, faces a different examination over 150 hilly kilometres — but if the race regroups late, few would bet against his finish.
Harrison Dainty, third at the Reservoir and second in the under-23 standings, is JAKROO Handsling Racing’s sharpest card, with Oliver Dawson — fourth at the CiCLE Classic and repeatedly aggressive at Consett — alongside him. The squad also now includes Sam Chaplin, who joined from MyPad Racing p/b ONDO Sports at the start of June off the back of a strong spring: 11th at East Cleveland, 19th at Lincoln, and a solo BUCS Road Race Championship title in the Devon heat. Between them, JAKROO have the depth to make the race hard from distance.
Ride Revolution Coaching counter with Gabe Dellar, second at the Reservoir after making the key final selection, and Clay Davies, who leads The British Continental road race rankings on a season of steady accumulation. DAS Richardsons’ strongest claims come through Jock Wadley winner Oliver Curd and Cai Davies, a reliable finisher if the race comes back together.
The under-23 contest is worth watching in its own right. With Jowett absent, Lewis Tinsley (BCC Race Team) — fifth at the Reservoir, sixth at Lincoln, third overall at the Peak 2 Day — and Dainty are the obvious protagonists, with Portsdown Classic winner Alex Murphy (Stolen Goat 4Endurance) and Callum Laborde (Ornata Factory Racing), sixth here in 2024 after a day in the break, both capable of joining them.
Then there is the international contingent. Adam Lewis (APS Pro Cycling), seventh here in 2024, arrives with the best form of a long UCI Continental career: a stage win at the Tour of the Gila in May, sixth overall at the Tour de Beauce in June — where he took second on a stage and briefly wore the leader’s jersey — seventh at the Rás Tailteann, and a solo East and West Midlands title in between. George Radcliffe (Atom 6–Cycleur de Luxe–Auto Stroo Continental Team) has spent the spring in the Belgian classics — Le Samyn, the Circuit de Wallonie, the Antwerp Port Epic — with little to show on the results sheet beyond fourth in the mountains classification at the Tour of Hellas, but his two domestic outings tell a different story: eighth at East Cleveland and sixth at the Reservoir, where he was also third in 2025. And Charles Paige (Bourg-en-Bresse Ain Cyclisme) brings unusual pedigree and local knowledge in equal measure: the local rider spent the past two seasons with ProTeam Unibet Tietema Rockets before returning to the French amateur ranks this year, and while his results since have been quiet, few in the field will know these roads better.
Among the outsiders, Jake Edwards (Zappi Racing Team) is worth a mention. The 22-year-old won the Peak 2 Day overall in March and was fifth at the National Circuit Race Championships in June — a rider who stage-races and climbs well enough to belong in the conversation on a course like this.
Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT, with eight riders, field the largest squad in the race, and they travel with form as well as course history. Ahron Dick, the 19-year-old who won Gifford in March and the Mennock Pass Stage Race’s opening road stage last month, arrived at the Mennock as the in-form climber in the field and finished fourth overall, five seconds off the win. Finn McHenry was fourth here in 2024, winning the Climber’s Competition outright with four laps to spare from the day-long break. Hugh Dornan Memorial winner Craig Paterson and defending Mennock champion Matti Dobbins complete a squad built for exactly this terrain.
The man who beat them all in the Southern Uplands is here too — and he arrives in new colours. Adam Hartley, a former SEG Racing Academy rider who walked away from the sport in 2019, has signed for Wheelbase CabTech Castelli, the team has confirmed to The British Continental, with Lancaster set to be his first race in their kit. He has returned to racing by degrees this year — the Fred Whitton Challenge in May, a win at Castle Carrock, and then the Mennock Pass Stage Race overall, overturning a seven-second final-day deficit through the time bonuses at Wanlockhead to win by two seconds. A National A field on a course like this is another step up again, but on the evidence of the past two months, his is exactly the kind of story this race tends to find.
Timings
The open race begins first, with the neutralised start from Williamson Park scheduled for 09:00. The race is expected to finish at around 12:45, depending on speed.
The women’s race follows in the afternoon, with the neutralised start scheduled for 14:20 and the finish expected at around 16:45.
Both races finish in Williamson Park, 150 metres beyond the Ashton Memorial, with podium presentations 15 minutes after each finish.
How to follow
The British Continental will be covering the Lancaster Grand Prix on the day, with updates on Instagram and full reports and results to follow. Subscribers to Monument Cycling can watch the livestream of the second half of each race.
Provisional startlists
Lancaster Women’s Grand Prix
Lancaster Open Grand Prix
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