Tarling wins British National men's time trial title

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Welshman Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) has delivered an outstanding performance in the British Road Nationals Elite Men’s Time Trial to go a full minute clear of his rivals and duly clinch the gold medal.

Tarling, 19, finished 63 seconds faster than Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and 1:10 ahead of Ineos teammate Connor Swift and thus claim his first professional win.

“It's a bit weird to have won! Weird, but super happy. Super cool to have won against some big hitters and really nice that I get to wear this in some cool races now," Tarling said. "I think it was important not to go too hard at the start. I didn't want to go too easy when I felt good." 

The course for the time trial national championship was held on a 13.7km circuit in North Yorkshire on flat roads adjacent to the Croft Motor Racing Circuit.

A total of 25 starters took the line in the pit lane of the Croft Circuit then rolled across the roads of Dalton-on-Tees for three laps and a total of 41.1km, with less than 50 metres of climbing per lap.

Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) set the early best time of 52:17:43 and then Michael Gill (HUUB WattShop) went 21 seconds faster from the first wave of riders.

Swift was the first rider to record an intermediate time under 16:33, going under that mark by four-hundredths of a second. His time was then swept away by his Ineos teammate Tarling, who went 37 seconds faster with a 15:56 at the intermediate check.

Gill was still in the hot seat, but would not stay there much longer with the final riders on the course. Although Swift briefly marked the top time at the finish, Tarling then swept across the line to clock a new best course time of 48:50.

Neither two of the top late starters, Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) nor Dan Bigham were able to come anywhere near Tarling’s best time at the intermediate split, with Bigham 37 seconds adrift and Wright at 43. Bigham finally slumped to 2:16 down at the finish, with Wright claiming silver ahead of Swift, with Charlie Tanfield (Saint Piran) in fourth.

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