Top 10 finish shows Tacey is on the road to recovery

APRIL Tacey battled to a top 10 finish at the National Junior road race championships in sweltering conditions in Lincolnshire.

The Birstall road racer is working her way back to peak fitness after a heavy crash at the Tour of the Reservoir in June. Victory at Witham on the Hill went to Liv Halo CC’s Amelia Sharpe with Team 22’s Tacey 1min 3sec back in 10th. She did attack on the second lap and briefly break away from the field, only to be reeled back in by the peloton.

The decisive break came just after the halfway point as three riders went clear and held off the chasing pack. Sharpe beat Elynor Backstedt (Team Backstedt) and Anna Docherty (Team Jadan Weldtite) to the line in a time of 2hrs 1min 47sec.

Tacey still has plenty to go for this season, however, with road events at Barnsley and Naseby to come on Friday and Sunday respectively.

She then turns to the boards and the National junior and youth track championships at Newport, where the county rider tackles the Madison and the individual pursuit.

Further down the line, Tacey leads the first National junior women’s series heading into the final event, the North West Tour in Lancaster over the August Bank Holiday weekend. After three races, Tacey has an advantage of three points over OnForm’s Katie Wootton, with Liv’s Alana Prior a further five points adrift in third.

A 40-strong field contested Welland Valley CC’s latest 10 mile time trial on the Kibworth course.

Guest rider Jordan Peacock (Spirit Tifosi) posted the fastest time of the night as he clocked 20min 44sec followed home by Welland Valley Tri’s Ben Smith in 21.50.

Matt Plews was the quickest Welland Valley rider as he claimed third place in 22.01, with Linda Hubbard (25.00) fastest lady and Matt Vallins fastest in the road bike category after posting 26.04.