Kennaugh beats Swift to British national road title
By Cycling News published
Simon Yates takes third
Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky) beat Ben Swift (Team Sky) to the win in the British national road race in a Sky dominated race in Wales. The pair settled the race with a close sprint with Kennaugh coming out on top. Simon Yates (Orica GreenEdge) finished third after being dropped before the final sprint.
"It's amazing. The last lap it was hard to race to race against such a good mate. I sat on for almost half the last lap and I thought that it was all over when I didn't drop him," Kennaugh said at the finish.
The pair were still alone as they made their way through a tight final 100 meters with Swift on the front. On paper Swift is the better sprinter and he duly opened up his sprint first. However he left the smallest of opening on his right hand side, just enough room for Kennaugh to exploit and win his first national road title at the elite level.
"I thought that maybe with the 200 meters I still had a chance. I gave it my best shot and I couldn't believe that I was coming around him. Today was my day."
"I think this almost tops everything. I have so many fantastic memories with the Tour de France last year and the Olympic Games but I've been close here so many times but this is special."
Over the 186-kilometre course in Monmouthshire, Team Sky were on the hunt for their fourth national title in fifth years and to reclaim the jersey they had relinquished to Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma QuickStep) 12 months ago.
Cavendish was a non-starter due to illness, and Sky made their numbers and strength in depth count at several points in the race.
Luke Rowe infiltrated an early break and with just under 60 kilometres covered, the group swelled to Josh Edmondson, Kennaugh and Swift (all Team Sky), and Scott Davies (Madison Genesis), Mark Christian (Raleigh) and Adam and Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge).
This group would decide the race and over 10 laps of the circuit. A whittling down process began and went until only Swift and Kennaugh remained – Simon Yates the last rider to be dropped. Kennaugh tried several late attacks but the eventual outcome would be decided in a sprint.
"I’ve done so many training sprints with Swifty and he just leaves me, but today was my day obviously," Kennaugh said.
Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky) | 4:25:01 |
2 | Ben Swift (Team Sky) | |
3 | Simon Yates (Orica GreenEdge) | 0:01:09 |
4 | Luke Rowe (Team Sky) | 0:01:38 |
5 | Joshua Edmondson (Team Sky) | 0:04:01 |
6 | Adam Yates (Orica GreenEdge) | 0:04:39 |
7 | Rob Partridge (Velosure - Giordana Racing Team) | 0:05:43 |
8 | Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) | |
9 | Thomas Stewart (Madison Genesis ) | |
10 | James Mclaughlin | |
11 | Liam Holohan (Madison Genesis ) | 0:05:45 |
12 | Steven Lampier (Velosure - Giordana Racing Team) | 0:05:50 |
13 | Edward Laverack (Rapha Condor JLT) | 0:05:53 |
14 | Daniel Fleeman | 0:05:54 |
15 | Mark Christian (Team Raleigh ) | 0:06:07 |
16 | Daniel Pearson | 0:08:46 |
17 | Dante Carpenter | 0:08:47 |
18 | Kristian House (Rapha Condor JLT) | 0:08:49 |
19 | Richard Handley (Rapha Condor JLT) | 0:08:51 |
DNF | David Clarke | |
DNF | Jake Kelly | |
DNF | Alistair Slater | |
DNF | David Millar (Garmin Sharp) | |
DNF | Hamish Graham | |
DNF | Hart Tao Geoghegan (Bissell Development Team) | |
DNF | Andrew Feather | |
DNF | Ashley Martin | |
DNF | Matthew Sumption | |
DNF | Nick Wilkinson | |
DNF | Ben Hallworth | |
DNF | Henry Hunter | |
DNF | James Gullen (Velosure - Giordana Racing Team) | |
DNF | Lawrence Carpenter | |
DNF | Samuel Harrison (NFTO ) | |
DNF | Thomas Moses (Rapha Condor JLT) | |
DNF | Russel Falder | |
DNF | Sebastian Baylis | |
DNF | James Knox | |
DNF | James Newey | |
DNF | Callum Fergusson | |
DNF | Sam Boast | |
DNF | Matthew Clarke | |
DNF | James Locker | |
DNF | James Moss (Velosure - Giordana Racing Team) | |
DNF | Richard Hepworth (Velosure - Giordana Racing Team) | |
DNF | George Harper (Velosure - Giordana Racing Team) | |
DNF | Josh Teasdale | |
DNF | Andy Edwards | |
DNF | Matthew Pilkington | |
DNF | Dillion Byrne | |
DNF | Perry Bowater | |
DNF | Evan Oliphant (Team Raleigh ) | |
DNF | Andy Leigh | |
DNF | Adam Lewis | |
DNF | George Atkins (Team Raleigh ) | |
DNF | Scott Thwaites (Team NetApp – Endura) | |
DNF | Jonathan Mcevoy (Team NetApp – Endura) | |
DNF | Erick Rowsell (Team NetApp – Endura) | |
DNF | George Pym | |
DNF | Matthew Woods | |
DNF | Daniel Patten (Team 7 Eleven Road Bike Philippines) | |
DNF | Jack Pullar | |
DNF | David Lines | |
DNF | Will Fox | |
DNF | Jamie Caldwell | |
DNF | George Wood | |
DNF | Harry Franklin | |
DNF | Luke Ryan | |
DNF | Lloyd Chapman | |
DNF | Andrew Hastings | |
DNF | Rhys Howells | |
DNF | Owen Lake | |
DNF | Simon Alexander | |
DNF | Elliott Porter (Rapha Condor JLT) | |
DNF | Christopher Opie (Rapha Condor JLT) | |
DNF | Luke Grivell-mellor (Rapha Condor JLT) | |
DNF | Harry Tanfield | |
DNF | Jacob Tipper | |
DNF | Michael Mottram | |
DNF | Ashley Dennis | |
DNF | Joseph Fox | |
DNF | Ben Kellett | |
DNF | Michael Cuming (Rapha Condor JLT) | |
DNF | Ben Davis | |
DNF | Owen James | |
DNF | Nick Noble | |
DNF | Ryan Connor | |
DNF | Ashley Proctor | |
DNF | Colin Parry | |
DNF | Alex Royal | |
DNF | George Fowler | |
DNF | Bevan Humphries | |
DNF | Alastair Hepworth | |
DNF | Declan Byrne | |
DNF | Glyndwr Griffiths | |
DNF | Hugh Wilson (NFTO ) | |
DNF | Russell Hampton | |
DNF | Mark Mcnally (An Post - Chain Reaction) | |
DNF | Owain Doull (An Post - Chain Reaction) | |
DNF | Christopher Latham | |
DNF | Germain Burton | |
DNF | Samuel Lowe | |
DNF | Olivier Wood | |
DNF | Hugh Carthy (Rapha Condor JLT) | |
DNF | Alex Paton | |
DNF | Francis Cade | |
DNF | Gruffudd Lewis | |
DNF | Robert Moore | |
DNF | Joshua Hunt (NFTO ) | |
DNF | James Lewis (NFTO ) | |
DNF | Samuel Williams (NFTO ) | |
DNF | Kieran Frend (An Post - Chain Reaction) | |
DNF | Williams James Lowsley (NFTO ) | |
DNF | John Russell | |
DNF | Russell Downing (NFTO ) | |
DNF | Dale Appleby (NFTO ) | |
DNF | Robert Orr | |
DNF | Alex Dowsett (Movistar Team) | |
DNF | Zach May | |
DNF | Dexter Gardias | |
DNF | Alex Peters (Madison Genesis ) | |
DNF | William Bjergfelt | |
DNF | Chris Snook (Madison Genesis ) | |
DNF | Tobyn Horton (Madison Genesis ) | |
DNF | Ian Bibby (Madison Genesis ) | |
DNF | Jacob Scott | |
DNF | Thomas Bustard (Velosure - Giordana Racing Team) | |
DNF | Adam Blythe (NFTO ) | |
DNF | Jon Mould (NFTO ) | |
DNF | Scott Davies (Madison Genesis ) | |
DNF | Daniel Mclay | |
DNF | Gary Hand | |
DNF | Robert Hassan | |
DNF | Kit Gilham | |
DNF | Alex Coutts | |
DNF | Jake Tanner (Christina Watches - Kuma) | |
DNF | James King | |
DNF | James Sampson | |
DNF | Matthew Holmes (Madison Genesis ) | |
DNF | Harry Godding | |
DNF | Henry Latimer | |
DNF | Peter Williams | |
DNF | James Walsby | |
DNF | Jake Womersley | |
DNS | Jack Adams | |
DNS | Douglas Dewey | |
DNS | Jacob Ragan | |
DNS | Andrew Fenn (Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) | |
DNS | Christopher Lawless | |
DNS | Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) | |
DNS | Alexander Murisson | |
DNS | Christopher Lawless | |
DNS | Joe Kelly | |
DNS | Andrew Tennant (Madison Genesis ) | |
DNS | Adam Martin | |
DNS | Rhys Lloyd | |
DNS | Chris Bartlett | |
DNS | Martin Jake | |
DNS | Graham Briggs (Rapha Condor JLT) | |
DNS | James McCallum (NFTO ) | |
DNS | William Stephenson (Rapha Condor JLT) | |
DNS | Joe Giggins | |
DNS | Ian Wilkinson (Team Raleigh ) | |
DNS | Liam Stones (Team Raleigh ) | |
DNS | Joseph Perett (Team Raleigh ) | |
DNS | Yanto Barker (Team Raleigh ) | |
DNS | Chris Dredge | |
DNS | Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) | |
DNS | Mathew Cronshaw (Velosure - Giordana Racing Team) | |
DNS | Nathan Edmondson (Velosure - Giordana Racing Team) | |
DNS | Bradley Morgan (Velosure - Giordana Racing Team) | |
DNS | Alex Bottomley | |
DNS | Adam Duggleby | |
DNS | Simon Wilson | |
DNS | Jordan Hargreaves | |
DNS | Mark Perry | |
DNS | Scott Gurnett | |
DNS | Ian Stannard (Team Sky) |

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