2026 Duncan Murray Wines Road Race: preview and startlist
The Duncan Murray Wines Road Race returns to Naseby on Sunday 2 August as Round 4 of the British Women's Team Cup, with FTP-Fulfil The Potential-Racing having taken over at the top of the standings. Loughborough Lightning, 42 points adrift, arrive with three riders. London Academy, third and 172 back, arrive with nine.
The Duncan Murray Wines Road Race brings the British Women’s Team Cup to Naseby on Sunday, with FTP–Fulfil The Potential–Racing defending a 42-point lead over Loughborough Lightning. London Academy arrive with the biggest squad as the five-round series enters its penultimate race.
The Duncan Murray Wines Road Race is a National B women’s road race run by Welland Valley Cycling Club on the rolling lanes around Naseby, Northamptonshire, and backed by the Market Harborough wine merchant of the same name—proprietor Duncan Murray is a long-standing member of the club. This year it forms Round 4 of the British Women’s Team Cup, the penultimate round of a five-race series that concludes at the Maria Thompson Road Race in Surrey on 30 August.
The race has been decided three different ways in three years. Ruth Shier won in 2023, Ruby Oakes—then 17 and riding for Shibden Apex RT—took a select uphill sprint from Mari Porton and Lizzie Hermolle in 2024, and Elena Day soloed in 2025. None of the three is on this year’s provisional startlist, and the race will have a first-time winner.
Team Cup picture after three rounds
The lead has changed hands. Loughborough Lightning topped the table after wins in the opening two rounds, but a single-rider entry at Inkberrow cost them, and FTP–Fulfil The Potential–Racing now sit 42 points clear at the top.
Rank
Team
Points
1
FTP–Fulfil The Potential–Racing
904
2
Loughborough Lightning
862
3
London Academy
732
4
Brother UK–On Form
539
5
Paralloy RT
451
6
Jadan Vive le Velo p/b Glasdon
365
7
Solas Cycling
270
8
Wolfox Styrkr Le Col Race Team
266
9
O’Shea Development Team
219
10
Team Empella
202
The entries tell the rest of the story. London Academy have nine riders on the provisional list, FTP and Brother UK–On Form six apiece, and Loughborough Lightning three. Team Empella also bring three; O’Shea Development, FTP Fusion, and London Dynamo two each. Paralloy RT, fifth overall, are absent for the second round running.
Four laps of the undulating 20-kilometre Naseby circuit, roughly equidistant between Rugby to the west and Kettering to the east. From the village hall the race drops into Haselbech and runs on to the A508 north of Maidwell, turning left and heading through Kelmarsh to Great Oxendon, then left again onto the narrow road towards the south-east of East Farndon. A left at the junction with the B4036 takes the race through Clipston and back towards Naseby, where it turns left onto Haselbech Road to complete the lap.
This is not a climber’s course—the circuit gains around 162 metres a lap—but it is exposed, and the wind through the Welland Valley’s high hedges and open ridge-tops has historically done more to shape the racing than the gradient. The finish sits on the rising straight beside the Fairfax’s View flagpole on the B4036, a flag-topped mound overlooking the 1645 battlefield where Sir Thomas Fairfax routed Charles I. It is the same drag from which Oakes sprinted clear in 2024 and where Day launched in 2025.
Riders to watch
Lowri Richards (Solas Cycling) arrives as the most recent Team Cup winner. The 21-year-old took Inkberrow in July, coming off Ella Tandy’s wheel on the Ridgeway drag for a first National B victory, and she has been climbing steadily all season: 14th at Banbury Star, 4th on stage two at the Ronde van Wymeswold, 11th at the U23 national time trial championship. She has never raced Naseby, and she is the only Solas rider entered, which removes the option of a lead-out and makes an early move the more logical play.
Amelia Staunton (Brother UK–On Form) has the best Team Cup record in the field: 3rd at the Florrie Newbery Classic in April, 2nd at Inkberrow in July, with 3rd at the BUCS road race championship in between. The U23 rider has been less settled since—abandons at both the Lancaster Grand Prix and South Molton in the past fortnight—and she is another Naseby debutante. But she has five teammates here, and a team fourth overall with a full complement has the numbers to control a race that suits control.
Anna Boniface (FTP–Fulfil The Potential–Racing) has the strongest record here of anyone entered. She was one of the two riders who chased Day last year and held on for 3rd, having finished 16th on the same roads in 2024. Her 2026 has been steady without a headline result—5th at Banbury Star, 8th at the London Dynamo road race, 13th at Lancaster, 20th at South Molton a fortnight ago—but she is among the most experienced riders in the race, and with a series lead to protect FTP will want her reading it as much as finishing it.
Georgia Huddleston (London Academy) was 4th at Inkberrow and 7th at the Florrie Newbery Classic, and has been the team’s best finisher in both Team Cup rounds she has ridden since joining from Saddle Up Frequency in May. She heads much the largest squad in the race. London Academy have the depth to fill their scoring places several times over. Her teammate Iona Mitchell offers the reliability the Team Cup scoring rewards: 8th at Capernwray in April, 9th at Banbury Star, 18th at Inkberrow. She is one of the most seasoned of London Academy’s nine.
Georgia Huddleston. Image: Rupert Hartley
Amber Junker-Brameld (Brother UK–On Form) is the closest thing here to a Naseby specialist, having started the three previous editions—30th in 2023, 32nd in 2024, 25th last year. The trajectory is the point: 2026 has brought 15th at Banbury Star, 5th at the London Dynamo road race in May and 10th at Inkberrow. She was also 6th at last September’s Maria Thompson, the round that will decide this series.
Freya Taylor (Jadan Vive le Velo p/b Glasdon) was 5th at the Florrie Newbery Classic in April on her first Team Cup outing for the team, and 13th here last year in Empella colours. Jadan sit sixth overall on the strength of small numbers scoring well, and Taylor is their only entry. As with Richards, that argues for aggression rather than patience.
The Duncan Murray Wines Road Race brings the British Women’s Team Cup to Naseby on Sunday, with FTP–Fulfil The Potential–Racing defending a 42-point lead over Loughborough Lightning. London Academy arrive with the biggest squad as the five-round series enters its penultimate race.
Featured image: Matt de-B Photography
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What is it?
The Duncan Murray Wines Road Race is a National B women’s road race run by Welland Valley Cycling Club on the rolling lanes around Naseby, Northamptonshire, and backed by the Market Harborough wine merchant of the same name—proprietor Duncan Murray is a long-standing member of the club. This year it forms Round 4 of the British Women’s Team Cup, the penultimate round of a five-race series that concludes at the Maria Thompson Road Race in Surrey on 30 August.
The race has been decided three different ways in three years. Ruth Shier won in 2023, Ruby Oakes—then 17 and riding for Shibden Apex RT—took a select uphill sprint from Mari Porton and Lizzie Hermolle in 2024, and Elena Day soloed in 2025. None of the three is on this year’s provisional startlist, and the race will have a first-time winner.
Team Cup picture after three rounds
The lead has changed hands. Loughborough Lightning topped the table after wins in the opening two rounds, but a single-rider entry at Inkberrow cost them, and FTP–Fulfil The Potential–Racing now sit 42 points clear at the top.
The entries tell the rest of the story. London Academy have nine riders on the provisional list, FTP and Brother UK–On Form six apiece, and Loughborough Lightning three. Team Empella also bring three; O’Shea Development, FTP Fusion, and London Dynamo two each. Paralloy RT, fifth overall, are absent for the second round running.
More info on the Team Cup can be found here.
Route
Four laps of the undulating 20-kilometre Naseby circuit, roughly equidistant between Rugby to the west and Kettering to the east. From the village hall the race drops into Haselbech and runs on to the A508 north of Maidwell, turning left and heading through Kelmarsh to Great Oxendon, then left again onto the narrow road towards the south-east of East Farndon. A left at the junction with the B4036 takes the race through Clipston and back towards Naseby, where it turns left onto Haselbech Road to complete the lap.
This is not a climber’s course—the circuit gains around 162 metres a lap—but it is exposed, and the wind through the Welland Valley’s high hedges and open ridge-tops has historically done more to shape the racing than the gradient. The finish sits on the rising straight beside the Fairfax’s View flagpole on the B4036, a flag-topped mound overlooking the 1645 battlefield where Sir Thomas Fairfax routed Charles I. It is the same drag from which Oakes sprinted clear in 2024 and where Day launched in 2025.
Riders to watch
Lowri Richards (Solas Cycling) arrives as the most recent Team Cup winner. The 21-year-old took Inkberrow in July, coming off Ella Tandy’s wheel on the Ridgeway drag for a first National B victory, and she has been climbing steadily all season: 14th at Banbury Star, 4th on stage two at the Ronde van Wymeswold, 11th at the U23 national time trial championship. She has never raced Naseby, and she is the only Solas rider entered, which removes the option of a lead-out and makes an early move the more logical play.
Amelia Staunton (Brother UK–On Form) has the best Team Cup record in the field: 3rd at the Florrie Newbery Classic in April, 2nd at Inkberrow in July, with 3rd at the BUCS road race championship in between. The U23 rider has been less settled since—abandons at both the Lancaster Grand Prix and South Molton in the past fortnight—and she is another Naseby debutante. But she has five teammates here, and a team fourth overall with a full complement has the numbers to control a race that suits control.
Anna Boniface (FTP–Fulfil The Potential–Racing) has the strongest record here of anyone entered. She was one of the two riders who chased Day last year and held on for 3rd, having finished 16th on the same roads in 2024. Her 2026 has been steady without a headline result—5th at Banbury Star, 8th at the London Dynamo road race, 13th at Lancaster, 20th at South Molton a fortnight ago—but she is among the most experienced riders in the race, and with a series lead to protect FTP will want her reading it as much as finishing it.
Georgia Huddleston (London Academy) was 4th at Inkberrow and 7th at the Florrie Newbery Classic, and has been the team’s best finisher in both Team Cup rounds she has ridden since joining from Saddle Up Frequency in May. She heads much the largest squad in the race. London Academy have the depth to fill their scoring places several times over. Her teammate Iona Mitchell offers the reliability the Team Cup scoring rewards: 8th at Capernwray in April, 9th at Banbury Star, 18th at Inkberrow. She is one of the most seasoned of London Academy’s nine.
Amber Junker-Brameld (Brother UK–On Form) is the closest thing here to a Naseby specialist, having started the three previous editions—30th in 2023, 32nd in 2024, 25th last year. The trajectory is the point: 2026 has brought 15th at Banbury Star, 5th at the London Dynamo road race in May and 10th at Inkberrow. She was also 6th at last September’s Maria Thompson, the round that will decide this series.
Freya Taylor (Jadan Vive le Velo p/b Glasdon) was 5th at the Florrie Newbery Classic in April on her first Team Cup outing for the team, and 13th here last year in Empella colours. Jadan sit sixth overall on the strength of small numbers scoring well, and Taylor is their only entry. As with Richards, that argues for aggression rather than patience.
Provisional startlist
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