The BIKEChannel Canyon team were pushing hard at one of the largest meetings on the British domestic racing calendar The Road Race National Championships. Thursday included a individual time trial looping from St Johns to Kirk Michael. Harry Tanfield finished with a 5th place in the elite TT, even managing to finish ahead of a number of world tour pro from Sky and was very close to the lead testers Alex Dowsett of Movistar and creditable winner Steve Cumming from Dimension Data.
There is no shame in us admitting that a good proportion of us here at HUNT | TheRiderFirm and you the HUNT riders/customers are suckers for road racing. With the Tour starting tomorrow and the British Road Champs just passed, it is no coincidence that we'll all be pouring over stage profiles and making office predictions before each stage. We were also at the British National Champs with the BIKE Channel Canyon Team to work closely with them on new wheel ideas, feedback and do our soigneur duties with bottles & gel hand-ups at the feed zone.
Sunday was a serious test for all the the riders who had to take on one of the hardest courses in British Nat Champs history. The 193.7km road race route took inspiration from the famous Isle of Man TT as well as the iconic Snaefell mountain climb with nearly 1500ft of ascent on just this climb, plus many other lumps around the course. Youngster Harry Tanfield made it into the early break and held this own in the fast-paced dozen or so riders. Dexter Gardias from BIKE Channel Canyon also mixed it in the leading groups with Cav and other World Tour riders as the race progressed with constant attacking and finished a very creditable 16th in the Elite men's which included at least 10 world tour riders (that we could count anyway). The BIKEChannel Canyon team once again put in a stunning effort.
See below a photo journal of how things went down on the Isle of Man. Check out the shot when Alex Dowsett's bike hits the timing board!
