The championships end on Sunday with their hardest test, on the Aberystwyth roads that crowned Samuel Watson and Millie Couzens a year ago. Couzens returns to defend; the men’s champion does not, leaving his title open.
Zoe Bäckstedt defends her elite women’s title at the head of an all-Welsh podium, and Ethan Hayter wins a fourth elite men’s national time-trial title, as the National Road Championships open at Lampeter. In the under-23 races, Ben Wiggins ends two years as runner-up to win the men’s time trial and Erin Boothman wins the women’s by almost two minutes — with a time that would have medalled among the elites.
On Friday evening the national criterium titles are settled on Aberystwyth’s technical seafront circuit—Matt Bostock the form man in the open race, Kate Richardson defending in the women’s.
British Cycling has confirmed the routes for this year’s championships, with Ceredigion hosting for a second consecutive year between 25 and 28 June. A new time trial course at Lampeter is the principal change; the circuit and road races revisit the same Aberystwyth roads used in 2025 — a road race that, on closer inspection, is harder than the headline figures suggest.