Lloyd beaten by "class act"

After finishing second at the weekend's British Elite Men's Road Race Championships, DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed rider Daniel Lloyd has said he was beaten by a "class act" in Saunier Duval's David Millar. Lloyd lead a DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed two-three at the title deciding event, with defending champion Hamish Haynes coming home in third place.

"David was incredibly strong when he launched his attack at the start and I was lucky to be able to go with him," said Lloyd. "Then the pace settled down and we worked well together. I got the feeling that as the race went on I was actually the stronger rider so I put in a big attack with about 1km to go and it took David a while to get back."

When the Scotsman had got back onto the wheel again however it was clear that it would come down to the sprint into the final corner. "David is a class act and he showed it by getting to that corner first…ah well!" lamented Lloyd.

It was Lloyd's second near miss in four weeks, with the British rider's result from the weekend mirroring that of his Tour of Qinghai Lake campaign in China last month. Lloyd finished second overall, again by just a single second, at the Asian race.

Lloyd will now concentrate on keeping his form for the inaugural Tour of Ireland, August 22-26, before returning to the United Kingdom to spearhead the DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed squad at the 2007 Tour of Britain.