The 2015 British Cycling Elite Circuit Series moves on to Lancashire for round four, the Colne Grand Prix on Wednesday 15 July.
After town centre races in Otley, Stafford and Stockton-on-Tees, ONE Pro Cycling’s Jon Mould leads the eight-round series, which has seen three different victors in as many events.
Following Colne the series continues its whistle-stop tour of Britain in Sheffield, Beverley, Chepstow and Abergavenny before the 2015 series winner is crowned.
Form guide
Jon Mould remained in charge of the standings following round three in Stockton-on-Tees, the ONE Pro Cycling rider following up his Stafford win with a sixth place on Teesside, which combined with third place at the opening Otley round, gives the 24-year-old from Newport a 12-point lead ahead of Pedal Heaven RT’s David McGowan.
McGowan has been mixing it with the big teams for the first three rounds, just missing out on victory behind Team Wiggins’ Chris Lawless in Stockton and will be joined by five Pedal Heaven RT teammates in Colne.
The 2012 Elite Circuit Series champion Graham Briggs was third in the last round behind McGowan, the 32-year-old once again heading up a young JLT Condor team. Briggs, who lies in sixth on 44 points, dominated the series three years ago and won the 2014 edition of the event. JLT Condor will miss the talents of Ed Clancy, the Olympian having won the race in 2011 in 2013.
Third place in the series on 50 points, Morgan Kneisky is absent from a Raleigh GAC line-up that contains current Elite Road Series leader Steve Lampier, under-23 British road race silver medallist Sam Lowe and 2013 Elite Road Series champion Evan Oliphant.
2013 Elite Circuit Series champion George Atkins lies fourth in the standings and lines up alongside series leader Mould and six further ONE Pro Cycling riders. Atkins has been there or thereabouts in the first three rounds but will be looking for a good result in Colne to push him up the overall standings.
2015 British Cycling Elite Circuit Series Colne Grand Prix start list
The event
Colne has enjoyed the annual spectacle of town-centre bike racing since 2004, when the first Colne Grand Prix was staged. The race uses a fast 800-metre circuit around the Lancashire town’s one-way system and is the climax of a whole night of racing that begins with the Marsden Building Society Future Stars Race at 6:30pm. The Fort Vale Sprint for Success Race follows at 7:15pm before the main event kicks off at 8:15pm.
Racing starts on Market Street, heading east toward a right-hander onto Newtown Street. Another right leads the racing onto Craddock Street before a final series of turns takes riders back onto the start/finish straight.
How to follow the racing
- A report, results, reaction and images will appear on the British Cycling website
- Live updates will appear on Twitter @BritishCycling.
