Culverwell on another National B podium

He was surpassed only by SwiftCarbon Pro rider Steve Bradbury in a Chitterne Road Race performance that, this time around, relied on excellent support from his Estera team-mates.

James Roe, Jack English and Mike Serafin were just three of the Sarnians racing abroad this weekend, with others choosing alternative focuses, and Culverwell certainly enjoyed their presence in the 130km event.

Estera’s team tactics proved vital in overcoming a strong pro field featuring – among others – time-trial legend Marcin Bialoblocki and 10 other Nopinz Symec riders.

The Guernseymen rode hard from the start but their breakaway attempts failed to prosper for the first half-hour.

A major break soon materialised as Bialoblocki escaped down the road alongside just under a dozen riders, with English proving the sole Estera presence up-front.

This lead lasted around two-thirds of the way, at which point some great work from Roe had paid off by allowing the remaining Estera outfits to bridge the gap.

The exception was Serafin, who had been a key contributor earlier on but eventually had to resign following a nagging mechanical issue.

Roe soon attacked and, just as the others reeled him in, Culverwell made a text-book break challenged only by Nopinz’ George Smith.

Culverwell was clearly the stronger rider of the pair, but eventual winner Steve Bradbury bridged up to him, soon powering through on the sprint to deny the youngster.

‘I wanted him to lead the sprint out, as it’s harder to win from the front. However, I guess we were all pretty nailed at that point,’ said Culverwell.

‘But I’m really happy with the performance, to get another good result in a National B. The team rode absolutely superbly.

‘We had a four-man team and, for example, Nopinz had 11 riders, and there were quite a lot of other riders who had their teams, but we actually ended up kind of dominating the second half.’

• More in Wednesday's Guernsey Press.