Spotswood, Grosvenor tame downhill

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"Today was a proper TransWales day," said the event's only singlespeeder and TransWales veteran Graham McConaghy (Army CC). And it was: after a few relatively mild days to warm the riders up, the TransWales truly got going as it headed into the proper big country. Along the way there'd be treacherous descents, tough climbs aplenty, and truly fickle mountain weather. Add the second special stage into the mix - a 7km downhill time trial on the final descent of the Climachx trail near Machynlleth - and the third day of the TransWales would be a true test of both body and mind.

It began at 9:00 am, when the riders left the overnight stop at Llandiloes Rugby Club under fair skies following from the overnight rains that persisted until the early hours of Tuesday morning. The tarmac provided easy going for the first clicks as the riders shadowed the course of the River Severn to its source at Hafren Forest. As they climbed the visibility gradually decreased as the low cloud bank inched ever closer. With the grey fog came the on-set of soul-sapping persistent drizzle that would shadow the riders through Hafren Forest, along the moorland trail of Glyndwr's Way and over Foel Fadian, the highest point of the stage at 564m. It was here that the riders met the double-edged sword of the steep, greasy and rock-slabbed monster of a descent; double-edged as it took no prisoners and left riders battered and bruised as it felled them one by one, but also because it led them down from the clouds and into the clear - and dry - skies below.

The second special stage took place on the Climachx trail final descent - a 7km long undulating serpentine piece of unforgiving trail. The top-most sections of the trail were the most technically demanding and so any rider with a design on the overall had to keep it together here in order to press home their advantage on the faster lower sections. At least, that was the theory: in practice, the high speeds and slippery rock sections meant that staying smooth and fast - and on two wheels - wasn't guaranteed.

"I was flying on the first half - I was right on my limit," said Rickie Cotter - the leader of the solo women's category from special stage one of her run on the Climachx trail. "But then I double punctured so I had to run down the fireroad. It's tough because today was my favourite trail, and so I'm really disappointed."

The double puncture meant that Cotter - the hot favourite for the win - slipped off the podium by more than three minutes behind the stage winner, an on-form Fi Spotswood. The result meant that Spotswood took the overall lead in the general classification too, with Cotter now having to make up a significant amount of time over the three remaining stages. A tough task, but given that Cotter is currently building up the 24-hour Solo World Championships in Australia, it's certainly not out of the question.

In the men's Solo category, Alex Metcalfe (Gore Bike Wear) had a stormer to take second place on the stage in a time of eight minutes and 54 seconds; however, his time wasn't quite good enough for the win which was claimed emphatically by Sean Grosvenor (Summit Cycles / Conti) by a clear 34 seconds.

Aussie Ryan Hawson (Ayup Lighting) took a massive tumble during the special stage after overcooking a rock slab launch - a crash which, although he recovered from and got back on the bike - cost him valuable time on the stage. The time lost was enough to see him lose his leader's jersey in the overall classification.

In his stead, Grosvenor took the lead by 55 seconds. Despite losing the top spot and his crash, Hawson - currently enjoying three months touring around Europe - was positive and elated after his ride, "I love racing trails like this unsighted - it's fantastic!"

Tomorrow, for day four, the riders will head south via Nant y Arian for the third special stage where the racing continues on the longest special stage - all 8.5km of it. The linking stage then continues onwards to the scenic Tyllwyd, near Cwmystwyth some 71km and 2495m of climbing - the most in a single day of the event so far - away from Machynlleth. It promises to be another tough but rewarding day.

TransWales general classification after day three