Podium finishes for Horton and Culverwell

Horton has again been in the mix at the front end of a National Crit Series race, sprinting to second in a cruel uphill finish in Aberdeen on Thursday night. It was his second runner-up finish in three rounds.

As for Culverwell, the youngster is celebrating his best performance yet in the saddle, taking third spot in the Bec CC 72-mile National-level road race in Kent.

Joined by Commonwealth Games rider James Roe, Culverwell rode brilliantly on a ‘pretty brutal’ course and one of the toughest on the UK circuit.

‘I felt really strong out in the lead group despite the brutal course and I am really buzzing from this result against some top guys,’ said the youngster later.

Roe revealed: ‘I have shifted focus from mountain biking to the road following the Commonwealth Games and Gibraltar’s decision not to host any mountain bike events at next summer’s games. Sam rode the perfect race – and it was great to be in a national-level road race and be extremely competitive even with only a two-man team.’

Even though Roe represented the Guernsey team Estera and Culverwell the colours of Guernsey Velo Club’s junior academy, they supported each other among a high-quality field including many UK teams.

Also in the field were four riders from Jersey, including two Commonwealth Games riders, Jack Rebours and Rhys Hidrio, so there were CI bragging rights up for grabs as well.

The course was a combination of two loops – the first four miles in length over undulating roads and after completing 10 and a half laps of this circuit the race moved over to the second loop about a mile away. The second loop was about five and a quarter miles long, with a severe steep climb of several minutes on each lap.

After completing five and a half laps of this loop, the riders were taken up a side road to finish the race up a 1km climb.

The 80-man field set off at a furious pace, with riders breaking off the front of the peloton on a number of occasions.

However, despite one or two sustained efforts, nobody could maintain a lead over the main field for long, or was it that the experienced riders were saving their energy and legs for the far more severe second loop, which they would reach after 42 miles of racing?

This was certainly the case with the Sarnians, who were racing clever; staying close to the front of the race but not over-committing themselves in futile attacks.

However, about half way around lap 10 on the shorter loop Culverwell broke away from the field, taking with him two other riders.

They reached the base of the steep climb on the second loop with a gap on the peloton and were able to take the climb at relatively easy pace while the chasing bunch closed them down.

However the severity of the climb took its toll and by the top the 80-man field was split into a number of smaller groups all fighting to rejoin the leaders.

By midway up the climb on lap two a group of about 15 riders, including Roe and Culverwell, were away and clear of the field, and the race winner would surely be from this select group.

Both Guernsey riders were feeling strong, but the four Jersey riders were some distance back.

It was shortly after the third ascent of the climb that junior rider Culverwell made a concerted effort to break from the lead pack and he was joined by three of the strongest riders in the field, Matt Downey, Ashley Cox (a former winner) and James Boyman.

This group worked well together and developed a good lead over the chasing pack.

All four hit the base of the final climb together and with about 100m to go Downey burst away to take victory, with Culverwell just losing out to the Elite category rider Cox to finish a superb third.

Back in the chasing pack, Roe was also in an exciting bunch sprint and placed a very creditable ninth.

The Jersey riders didn’t fare so well, finishing well down the field.