Culverwell breaks into National ‘A’ top 10 again
ANOTHER top-10 finish from Sam Culverwell has shown that the Guernsey youngster is clearly at home in National A racing.
Competing at the Ryedale Grasscrete Grand Prix, the finale of the core senior National Road Series, the sole team Estera rider battled tough conditions to place ninth against a number of professional outfits.
Although three riders had escaped up the road a long way from home, eventually creating a SwiftCarbon Pro one-two, Culverwell had instead been involved in a protracted battle for fourth.
The 18-year-old had made some key moves and despite not having the legs for a six-man sprint on the concluding climb, his earlier work had cemented a very solid final position.
‘I did not feel too great, but it did not seem to affect me in the end,’ said Culverwell, who finished one place behind and on the same time as Madison Genesis star Matt Holmes.
‘It was a good ride and a good attacking ride; I had been making the moves that got me to the front of the race.’
Speaking of the confidence booster of another top-10 at this level, he added: ‘It’s really promising, as it’s not something I would have dreamed about at the start of the year.
‘Backing up my sixth place [in Eastbourne] with ninth yesterday was really good for me and it bodes well going into my last National A.’
After that final ‘Nat A’, the new Bourne CiCLE Festival on 1 September, aspiring pro Culverwell will end his season with a two-and-a-half-week stint of CV-building racing in Belgium.
