CC Breckland 100

Adam Duggleby (ADDFORM Vive Le Velo) and Emily Martin (Team Bottrill) took victories in the National 100-Mile Championship in Norfolk after being pushed all the way for victory.

Both riders won the National 50-mile Championship crowns last weekend and completed a double with the 100-mile crowns.

In the men’s event Duggleby finished 25 seconds quicker than a fading Alex Dowsett (Nopinz) - recording a winning time of three hours, 25 minutes and five seconds.

Meanwhile, Martin clocked 3-53-32 which was 1-38 ahead of Lizi Brooke (Wahoo Le Col) after the pair were locked in a close battle throughout.

The championships were held on an emergency course due to roadworks on the original route and saw competitors complete five laps of an out and back course between Mundford and Wereham.

The course wasn’t perfect for fast times with 656 feet of undulation and the 0.5-mile ascent of Whittington Hill which competitors completed on each lap.

Early in the men’s event John Archibald (HUUB WattShop) went through the first split quickest, 12 seconds ahead of Dowsett with Duggleby 1-17 back.

But a puncture for Archibald resulted in Dowsett looking firm favourite, leading by 1-51 from Duggleby at the third split.

However, Dowsett faded dramatically in the closing stages having a lead of 1-03 at the final split which Duggleby overturned to win by 21 seconds in the last 40 minutes of racing.

A second place for Dowsett was his first CTT national open podium stopping the clock in 3-25-30, while Will Lowden (HUUB WattShop) was a close third (3-27-13).

Duggleby, aged 38 and from Leeds, celebrated his fifth open time trial win of the season and second national title.

He also led ADDFORM Vive Le Velo to the team classification alongside David Brearley (3-41-21) and John Brearley (3-50-24).

“It was pretty good,” said Duggleby. “I didn’t realise that Alex [Dowsett] was even close as he was so far ahead on the start sheet that I couldn’t really tell where I was passing him.

“I only saw him a few times and didn’t know where I was. I could tell I was gaining on Will [Lowden] as he was just behind me.

“I didn’t know until the last lap when it got shouted that we were close, but I didn’t know who to.

“I knew the people around me I was up on but didn’t realise Alex was so close until I got back to the car park.”

Duggleby also won the National 50-mile Championship last weekend and feels that the longer events suit him more.

He added: “I was surprised as I didn’t expect to win either looking at the start sheets, but you’ve got to turn up to the start and finish them.

“I do like these longer events, they suit me more. For a 100 anything can happen with punctures, pacing and fuelling strategies, a lot of planning goes into it. I’ve been doing these for a few years now so I’ve seemingly got the hang of it.”

Martin won her first national title at last weekend’s National 50-mile Championships after both team-mates Alex Clay and Kate Allan crashed out.

Both of her Team Bottrill team-mates were non-starters for the 100-mile championship so Brooke brought the competition to Martin.

Martin, aged 33 and from Crowton in Cheshire, started quickly and was 21 seconds ahead of Brooke at the first split before the pair rode similar paces until the closing stages.

It was Martin’s third national jersey of the season after also being part of the winning National Team Time Trial Championship winning team.

Brooke finished a close second place in 3-55-10 while veteran rider Naomi De Pennington (DRAG2ZERO) finished third (4-00-44).

“Lizzie Brooke was my two-minute woman so I kept looking behind at roundabouts to see she was two minutes behind,” said Martin.

“She [Brooke] was a big motivator, she’s an Ironwoman and much more experienced at 100s than me. I knew she would do a good job today and she definitely did.

“I worked with my coach, we set a watts target and I stuck to that. I was on a good day which meant that I had a little bit to finish strongly.

“It was a nice kind of course with the roundabouts and ticking the laps off, it was how I like to ride a 100, it really makes the time go.

“As the event was early the wind didn’t pick up until later and neither did the traffic. It never felt blustery at any point or anything like that, it was really easy to pick your own pace based on what you wanted to do rather than what the weather was making you do.”

Martin will now aim for a fixed distance clean sweep of national titles with the 10-mile and 25-mile titles her next target later this year.

“We’ll see how the 10 and 25 go,” added Martin. “I don’t think I’ll do anything else too long now so that I can focus on the short stuff and work on some speed.

“I want the shorter ones more than I wanted the longer ones so I’m probably more focused now.”

* All reports are copyright of Cycling Time Trials/Snowdon Sports. Not to be used without permission.

* A gallery of images from this event is available here