National Track Series/Championships

Maclean and Perrett put on a Madison masterclass, while Anna Morris dominates the Omnium in day one of the Lloyds National Track series in Manchester.

National Track Series/Championships

Maclean and Perrett put on a Madison masterclass, while Anna Morris dominates the Omnium in day one of the Lloyds National Track series in Manchester.

Photo: Alison Salthouse https://www.facebook.com/alison.salthouse

Riders travelled to the home of British Cycling, the National Cycling Centre in Manchester, for the first day of round three of the Lloyds National Track Series. The series round also featured national championship events in the open Madison and the women’s omnium.

A strong field faced off against each other, including the likes of Matt Bostock (TEKKERZ CC), Ben Swift (INEOS Grenadiers), Noah Hobbs (EF Education – Aevolo) and Ben Wiggins (Hagens Berman Jayco CT) in the Madison, and Cat Ferguson (Movistar Riders), Anna Morris (Private Member), Imogen Wolff (Team Visma – Lease a Bike) and Millie Couzens (Fenix-Deceuninck) in the omnium.

Lloyds National Open Madison Championship

Two qualification rounds in the morning saw Team Hobbs/Stewart, including Henry Hobbs (FH MAS CAMS) and Mark Stewart (Solution Tech Vini Fantini), and Team Gill/Whitcher, including Oliver Gill (Tofauti Everyone Active Majaco) and Jamie Whitcher (BmthCycleworks VitecFire FordCE) take impressive wins, putting them in the spotlight ahead of the final later in the day.

Team Hobbs/Wiggins, including Noah Hobbs (EF Education – Aevolo) and Ben Wiggins (Hagens Berman Jayco CT) led early, taking a lap shortly after the second sprint, but had Team Maclean/Perrett, including Logan Maclean (Private Member) and Will Perrett (DAS Richardson) and Team Askey/Tidball, including Lewis Askey (GROUPAMA – FDJ) and Will Tidball (Private Member) hot on their tail. All three had taken laps by the halfway point, with Maclean/Perrett sitting at the top.

Maclean/Perrett went from strength to strength as the contest went on, consistently taking top spot in the majority of the sprint rounds that came their way. They put a cherry on top, claiming a second lap ahead of the seventeenth sprint, cementing themselves at the top until the very end, finishing on 90 points.

An amazing second half of the race from Team Rowe/Wood, including Elliot Rowe (Team Visma | Lease a Bike Development) and Oliver Wood (TEKKERZ CC) saw them finish in second on 55 points, while Hobbs/Wiggins held to complete the podium places on 48 points.

Speaking after their win, Maclean said: “I’m buzzing. A couple weeks ago we were racing in Geneva and we spoke about this in our room, we spoke about this for about two hours, how we were going to ride it, and somehow we managed to do it exactly like we said, and I can’t believe it, it’s surreal.

Perrett added: “It’s Logan’s first national title, I’ve had a few myself but to be able to do it with someone like Logan who’s so strong, it means so much. We aren’t the sprintiest of riders, so our game was to take the laps, hoover up points while taking them and that’s exactly what we did, I’m really proud.”

Lloyds National Women’s Omnium Championship

Anna Morris (Private Member) came out strong in the first event of the day, taking the win and 40 omnium points in a hotly contested scratch race. Sophie Lewis finished second, claiming 38 while Katie Archibald (dooleys cycles) secured third spot, claiming 36 points.

Other impressive rides in the scratch saw Imogen Wolff (Team Visma – Lease a Bike) finish in fourth, while junior Erin Boothman (Tofauti Everyone Active Majaco) had a brilliant ride, with the young Scot finishing fifth.

In the tempo race shortly after, Morris continued her dominance, claiming an impressive two laps in the process. Archibald led the bunch from the start, gaining early tempo points, but it was Boothman and Morris who set the pace from the get-go, both riding together to claim a lap after the 13th sprint.

After 26 sprints, Archibald claimed her own lap, before Morris propelled herself back to the top of the standings with a lap on sprint 31, securing the win. The top three of the tempo consisted of Morris in first, Archibald second on 40, with Boothman and Jess Roberts (Spectra Racing) joint third.

In the elimination race, a tight contest whittled down to a top five of Morris, Archibald, Ferguson, Wolff and Maddie Leech (Handsling Alba Development Road Team). Leech finished fifth, Wolff fourth and Ferguson third, leaving the two frontrunners to battle it out.

Archibald managed to get one over Morris this time around. The Scot went early, starting the sprint early before the bell, catching Morris off guarding and swooping past for a solo finish over the line.

Going into the points race, everything was still to play for as Morris lead by just four points ahead of Archibald. A tight race followed, with riders all sticking together for the first forty laps.

Shortly after the fourth sprint, Archibald made a move to achieve a lap, though Morris was alert and followed, with both achieving a lap of the opposition just after the halfway mark to cement themselves as the top two. Morris kicked on, winning more sprints, to take top spot on 154 points, while Archibald finished on 138 points.

In the battle for third, Ferguson, Leech, Jess Roberts (Spectra Racing) and Josie Knight (TEKKERZ CC) all achieved a lap just before the penultimate sprint. Just ten points separated them, while Boothman remained in the mix after some very consistent riding. At the final sprint, a second finish in the final sprint meant Roberts clinched third place, finishing on 107 points.

Speaking after her win, Morris said: “It was a tough day out, a long day for sure. It was such a strong field today which was amazing – it makes for some really good racing. I knew it was going to be a really tough points race with Katie, she’s got so much experience and she’s so strong, so I knew I just had to stay ahead of her.’

Lloyds National Track Series: Para

Xavier Disley (AeroCoach) made it two from two in the open para-c series, taking top spot in the elimination race in a cagey affair.

All eliminations went right down to the wire on the line, but with Disley and Will Bjergfelt (Pronto Bikes) as the final two, Disley had that bit more in him to maintain a lead throughout the remaining lap. Finlay Webb (Exeter Wheelers) rode a very strong race, finishing third to complete the podium.

Speaking after his win, Disley said: “I feel good, it was a nice race, the speed was kept pretty high so everyone was stuck in. I think we’re quite fortunate in the UK to have enough para riders to be able to run an elimination, and a strong one too.”

Bjergfelt was able to claim his revenge in the scratch race, leading by a wheel ahead of Disley at the bell, Bjergfelt upped the pace, producing a blistering final lap to cross the line by some distance. A good ride by Webb saw them complete the podium position.

Speaking after the win, on a very successful 2025, Bjergfelt said: “I’m far more of an endurance rider, so I was looking forward to this much more than the elimination. This year has been really good for me, now I’m working really hard in the run up to track nationals, then hopefully Worlds and we can go from there.”

Georgina Bullen (Born to Bike Racing), piloted by Miriam Jessett (Loughborough Lightning) were dominant in the open para-B pursuit. Fastest in the qualifier, they faced off against Selvi Krishna and Eva Hague (Clifton CC) in the final and turned up the heat.

Lapping Krishna and Hague twice in the process, Bullen and Jessett stormed home with a remarkable time of 4.48.411. Ella Briant and Ella Taylor (Born to Bike Racing) completed the podium, securing bronze.

Speaking after their win, Bullen and Jessett said: “Immediately after, I felt horrendous but after that, it feels amazing. Today was the first tandem pursuit together so it was a case of going in and seeing what’s possible, what the benchmark is. We’ve been training together for only six or seven months but we’ve bonded so quickly, we’re very good friends both on and off the bike which helps a lot.”

Several youth events took place on the day, giving young riders valuable experience, and fans a chance to see some of the potential future stars.

Noah Smith (GKR Racing) took top spot in the youth scratch race and youth open points race, while Katie Robertson (Clifton CC) won in the youth girls points race.

Sunday sees action continue at the National Cycling Centre, including the women’s Madison and open omnium National Championship events, as well as action in the national para sprint series. World champions Maddie Leech and Katie Archibald will compete together in the Madison to defend their rainbow jerseys, making it truly one you shouldn’t miss.

Photo: Alison Salthouse https://www.facebook.com/alison.salthouse