Ted McDaid took a seven-rider sprint at Astwood to win the final round of the U23 Open National Road Series, and Alexander Foster took the series title.
Ted McDaid (Gers Cycling Développement) won the Chas Messenger Trophy at Astwood on Sunday, taking a seven-rider sprint at the end of a race that split from the drop of the flag and never fully came back together. Benjamin Arey (O’Neills Spirit Racing Team) was second and James Bacon (TAAP Kalas) third.
Behind them, the fifth and final round of the U23 Open National Road Series went to Alexander Foster (Cycling Sheffield). Foster does not appear in the official result, though he told The British Continental he finished behind the second group on the road; either way, his lead from the spring survived a day on which none of his remaining challengers could score enough to catch him.
Eight laps of a 17-kilometre loop on the open farmland between North Crawley, Chicheley, Hardmead, and Astwood, 140 kilometres in warm, dry conditions, finishing by the gates into Astwood village: on paper the flattest circuit of the series and the one most likely to hold together. It held for less than a lap.
The race splitting early. Image: Mark James
The race went into three pieces from the drop, and by the end of the first lap there was roughly a minute between each of them. Two laps later the front group numbered 14. Denholm Edwards (Cycling Sheffield) was prominent, alongside Bobby Buenfeld (Aero CLCTV), Oliver Searle (Ashby Ivanhoe Road Cyclists), Reuben Corlett (UCK Vannes–Bretagne Sud Cyclisme), Kaleb Herbert (Halesowen A&CC), Isaak Herbert (Schils–Doltcini), and Ryan Oldfield (Team Tactic U23). McDaid was there too, in what he would later call the first break of the day.
For a while the racing was happening behind. London Dynamo’s Tom Guccione and Ben Heap drove the second group early, Oscar Nisbett (JAKROO Handsling Racing) took over, and a gap that stood at 37 seconds midway through lap 4 was closed before the end of it, at around 70 kilometres. The third group was another matter. Five minutes down by then and riding at conversational pace, it contained Jamie Whitcher (Hubo–Scott Cycling Team), fifth in the series and one of four riders who had started the day able to win it. He had missed the split, and he later climbed off.
The initial break. Image: Mark James
The regrouping lasted a lap. By the end of lap 5 the race had broken again: four riders clear, a chasing group at 50 seconds, and the main field 15 seconds behind that, all three driving. Buenfeld was in the four with riders from Stolen Goat 4Endurance, O’Neills Spirit, and 360cycling. That move did not last either. The one that did was McDaid’s. With around 20 kilometres to go he attacked on the drag, five riders went with him, and a seventh came across, and by the bell the break was set: McDaid, Arey, Bacon, Cai Curtis-Roberts (360cycling), Kaleb Herbert, Searle, and Isaak Herbert.
Bacon went alone with about three kilometres left. McDaid let him hang there. “Kept the lone guy who attacked with about 3k at arm’s length and had confidence in my sprint that I’d catch on the final kicker,” he told The British Continental afterwards. He caught him on the rise into the village and won the sprint; Arey came through for second, and Bacon, having been reeled in, still held on for third. None of the seven had begun the day inside the series top 25.
McDaid wins. Image: Mark James
McDaid is 20 and has spent the season racing in France with Gers Cycling Développement, a club in the south-west; he arrived at Astwood without a domestic result to his name this year. “Coming off a season in France, I knew the shape was very good and I could be in contention for a good result,” he said. “I was in the first break of the day from the start of the race, then a select group from the peloton came across after about 70k and I was in almost every move. I attacked on the drag with about 20k to go and brought a group of five with me and one guy came across.” He is without a team for 2027 and told The British Continental that he is actively looking for one.
Cycling Sheffield had brought six riders and the first two places in the standings, and from the moment the race split the day ran against them. Edwards was the team’s best finisher in 10th. James Sawyers, second in the series and the form rider of the squad after his 2nd place at the Scottish championships a fortnight earlier, came home 23rd, three places outside the points. Foster never featured at the front and is absent from the official result, which lists 31 finishers; he told The British Continental afterwards that he had finished behind the second group. The programme had warned that riders whose numbers could not be read at the finish would not be listed. Luca Nicholson (GMS Cycling Team Glabbeek), winner of two of the previous four rounds and the rider Sheffield had most reason to watch, finished 20th.
Image: Mark James
None of which altered the outcome at the top. Foster’s 72 points from the first four rounds, the Danum Trophy win in April chief among them, were enough on their own. Below him it came down to a single point. Nicholson’s 20th place was the last scoring position on the day and worth exactly one; it took him to 61, level with Sawyers, and his two wins settled second on countback. Lewis Tinsley (BCC Race Team), who did not start, holds fourth on 60, with Whitcher fifth on 56.
Ted McDaid (Gers Cycling Développement) won the Chas Messenger Trophy at Astwood on Sunday, taking a seven-rider sprint at the end of a race that split from the drop of the flag and never fully came back together. Benjamin Arey (O’Neills Spirit Racing Team) was second and James Bacon (TAAP Kalas) third.
Behind them, the fifth and final round of the U23 Open National Road Series went to Alexander Foster (Cycling Sheffield). Foster does not appear in the official result, though he told The British Continental he finished behind the second group on the road; either way, his lead from the spring survived a day on which none of his remaining challengers could score enough to catch him.
Featured image: Mark James
Report
Eight laps of a 17-kilometre loop on the open farmland between North Crawley, Chicheley, Hardmead, and Astwood, 140 kilometres in warm, dry conditions, finishing by the gates into Astwood village: on paper the flattest circuit of the series and the one most likely to hold together. It held for less than a lap.
The race went into three pieces from the drop, and by the end of the first lap there was roughly a minute between each of them. Two laps later the front group numbered 14. Denholm Edwards (Cycling Sheffield) was prominent, alongside Bobby Buenfeld (Aero CLCTV), Oliver Searle (Ashby Ivanhoe Road Cyclists), Reuben Corlett (UCK Vannes–Bretagne Sud Cyclisme), Kaleb Herbert (Halesowen A&CC), Isaak Herbert (Schils–Doltcini), and Ryan Oldfield (Team Tactic U23). McDaid was there too, in what he would later call the first break of the day.
For a while the racing was happening behind. London Dynamo’s Tom Guccione and Ben Heap drove the second group early, Oscar Nisbett (JAKROO Handsling Racing) took over, and a gap that stood at 37 seconds midway through lap 4 was closed before the end of it, at around 70 kilometres. The third group was another matter. Five minutes down by then and riding at conversational pace, it contained Jamie Whitcher (Hubo–Scott Cycling Team), fifth in the series and one of four riders who had started the day able to win it. He had missed the split, and he later climbed off.
The regrouping lasted a lap. By the end of lap 5 the race had broken again: four riders clear, a chasing group at 50 seconds, and the main field 15 seconds behind that, all three driving. Buenfeld was in the four with riders from Stolen Goat 4Endurance, O’Neills Spirit, and 360cycling. That move did not last either. The one that did was McDaid’s. With around 20 kilometres to go he attacked on the drag, five riders went with him, and a seventh came across, and by the bell the break was set: McDaid, Arey, Bacon, Cai Curtis-Roberts (360cycling), Kaleb Herbert, Searle, and Isaak Herbert.
Bacon went alone with about three kilometres left. McDaid let him hang there. “Kept the lone guy who attacked with about 3k at arm’s length and had confidence in my sprint that I’d catch on the final kicker,” he told The British Continental afterwards. He caught him on the rise into the village and won the sprint; Arey came through for second, and Bacon, having been reeled in, still held on for third. None of the seven had begun the day inside the series top 25.
McDaid is 20 and has spent the season racing in France with Gers Cycling Développement, a club in the south-west; he arrived at Astwood without a domestic result to his name this year. “Coming off a season in France, I knew the shape was very good and I could be in contention for a good result,” he said. “I was in the first break of the day from the start of the race, then a select group from the peloton came across after about 70k and I was in almost every move. I attacked on the drag with about 20k to go and brought a group of five with me and one guy came across.” He is without a team for 2027 and told The British Continental that he is actively looking for one.
Cycling Sheffield had brought six riders and the first two places in the standings, and from the moment the race split the day ran against them. Edwards was the team’s best finisher in 10th. James Sawyers, second in the series and the form rider of the squad after his 2nd place at the Scottish championships a fortnight earlier, came home 23rd, three places outside the points. Foster never featured at the front and is absent from the official result, which lists 31 finishers; he told The British Continental afterwards that he had finished behind the second group. The programme had warned that riders whose numbers could not be read at the finish would not be listed. Luca Nicholson (GMS Cycling Team Glabbeek), winner of two of the previous four rounds and the rider Sheffield had most reason to watch, finished 20th.
None of which altered the outcome at the top. Foster’s 72 points from the first four rounds, the Danum Trophy win in April chief among them, were enough on their own. Below him it came down to a single point. Nicholson’s 20th place was the last scoring position on the day and worth exactly one; it took him to 61, level with Sawyers, and his two wins settled second on countback. Lewis Tinsley (BCC Race Team), who did not start, holds fourth on 60, with Whitcher fifth on 56.
Results
Final series standings
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