Simmonds defends women's British time trial title

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Hayley Simmonds took her second consecutive British elite women's time trial title with a dominate ride on the three-lap circuit in Stockton-On-Tees, beating Claire Rose (Podium Ambition) and Sarah Storey (Podium Ambition) with a determined and disciplined ride. 

27-year-old Simmonds set a time of 47:33, beating Rose by 33 seconds, with multiple Para Olympian Storey third, 39 seconds slower, in a time of 48:12. Emma Pooley, who is has made a recent comeback to road racing and is expected to be named in the Great Britain team on Friday for the hilly Rio time trial and road race, finished fourth in a time of 48:33.

Simmonds punched the air in celebrations and was delighted to have won a second consecutive title. She caused a stir last week after she revealed her decision to quit the UnitedHealthcare team due to what she said were problems with her bike positioning. She rode the British championships for the Aerocoach squad, who have helped her with her performance and she returned to the amateur ranks at the same time as completing a PhD at Cambridge University.

"It's more special second time around. This year Emma was coming back and Claire was riding full time this year. Claire is always a big threat, I've known that since we used to ride against each other at university championships," Simmonds said after climbing on the podium to pull on the British national champion's jersey.

"I had a few time checks but it was hard to hear what was going on. Someone I know was on the middle roundabout of the three as I was coming back towards town and I heard him yell 'you're up!' but I wasn't sure if he meant I was up against Emma or up against Claire, I didn't know what was going on!"

"I've got a few more time trials coming up – I like being back in the UK and riding my time trial bike. I've hopefully got a couple of guest rides and some UCI races which I'm really looking forward to and then hopefully worlds again at the end of this year."

The women raced covered three 7.2 mile circuits in Stockton-On-Tees, covering a total distance of 21.6 miles or 34.76km. Amongst the 46 starters was Hannah Barnes of Canyon-SRAM), who has recently returned to racing after injury.

Elizabeth-Jane Harris (Podium Ambition) was the early leader with a time of 50:56, ahead of Angela Hibbs (Fusion) and Hayley Jones (Team Breeze). However Claire Rose (Podium Ambition) lowered the time and took top spot, setting 48:06, as riders completed the three laps of the mostly flat circuits.

Pooley was timed at 14 seconds back on Simmonds after two laps and the veteran failed to close the gap as the distance began to bite. Storey finished strongly to show she is on form to target more gold in Rio, while Pooley stopped the clock in 48:33 –not enough to beat Rose and not enough to finish on the podium, as Simmonds stormed home to take her second title.

Earlier on Thursday, 20 year-old Scott Davies won his third consecutive men's under 23 time trial on the same course.

The elite men's event follows the elite women's race on Thursday, with the road race events at the weekend.

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