Le Maitre steamrollers his way to superb win

GRAHAM LE MAITRE proved to be the class act in the field, with a clean sweep of victories in the Guernsey Velo Club's annual time-trial weekend. Although victory in category one was assured, Le Maitre was was keen to finish on a high with the fastest time of the day and managed this by over 20 seconds.

'This was the most pleasing victory. I had to work hard on the hills and thought it would be very close today.' he said.

Lars Persson managed to extend his lead over Pat Down in category two for overall victory.

Persson has been a popular member of the Guernsey Velo Club since moving to Guernsey from Sweden two years ago, but this was his last race as he returns home shortly.

He finished as the second-fastest rider in the competition.

Category three was a nail-biting last day for veteran Allan Renyard. John Mapley started a minute-and-a-half back but with the hilly nature of the circuit suiting the youngster, Renyard was made to work very hard indeed.

After the first lap, Mapley had clearly pegged back a large chunk of the deficit and all eyes were on the final lap. Mapley finished just over a minute clear of Renyard, but this was not enough to stop the veteran rider from taking the victory.

Mapley has ridden well this weekend: time trials are not his favoured event but he put in some superb performances.

Lynn Coombs had a fine win in the women's category, taking every event for overall victory from Caroline Wickham.

Coombs has had a break from serious competition this season and has been enjoying her cycling, but was focussed all weekend and reaped the rewards for her efforts.

James Mapley cleaned up in the junior category. He had a good weekend and would have grown in confidence after some fine displays on the bike.

Tom Wood had an unfortunate weekend - after missing the 10-mile event due to a mix up in times, the keen youngster had a puncture in the last event with just half-a-mile remaining.

The weekend had started with a prologue on a short, west-coast course, from Perelle to La Houguette School. Conditions could not have been worse, with a strong south-westerly wind and intermittent rain.

Le Maitre finished just four seconds clear of Chris Le Page. Persson had a five-second advantage over Jimmy Carling. Carling's result was impressive as he was the only senior competitor on a standard road bike, which would have handicapped him slightly.

The young British Cycling talent team rider James Mapley made light work of the course to take an early lead over Sam Nichols.

Junior rider Ben Burtenshaw took a very healthy 26sec. lead into the second race.

Le Maitre tightened his grip on category one in the Cobo 10-mile time trial, sponsored by Bob Duquemin's Cycles. A stunning ride saw him home in 22min. 30sec., the only rider to dip under 23min. Le Page was more than a minute back.

Pat Down took a slender two-second lead into day three in category two.

Down is a relative newcomer to time trials but has set many personal-best times this season and is surely the most-improved rider in the Guernsey Velo Club.

Second-placed Lars Persson had Tim Martin breathing down his neck in third. Less than a minute separated all of the contenders in this category.

Mapley continued to shine in category three, with Allan Renyard close behind in second.

Coombs extended her lead to nearly a minute over Wickham.

James Mapley extended his lead over Burtenshaw to over two minutes.

The longest event of the weekend, the 25-mile TT, was another personal triumph for Le Maitre.

He steamrolled the field, including his own category, to cap a superb year of personal bests.

Only two riders beat the hour for this 25-mile event. The weather played a big part, with riders treated to a strong tailwind from Pleinmont to Pembroke, but were punished on the return leg.

Visiting rider Willie Kirkland called it a day just three miles from the finish, unable to battle the conditions.

Persson took the lead in category two with possibly the ride of the day. Persson set a lifetime best time of 59.33 on what was a rough day for racing.

Down's lead of two seconds was overturned into a deficit of just over a minute.

Renyard cruised into pole position in category three, turning a 12-second deficit into a minute and a half advantage on John Mapley.

Coombs doubled her lead on Wickham. James Mapley won the shortened, under-16 version of the course. He beat the impressive Wood by nearly a minute.