The Equiom Isle of Man Junior Cycling team competed in the HSBC Junior National Road Race Championships at Witham-on-the-Hill in Lincolnshire on Sunday.

The racing took place over six laps of an 11.5-mile undulating course in very hot conditions which reached 30C.

Following the training lap the previous day, it was believed that the race would be one of attrition and, as with all previous British Road Series rounds, a break would form from which the eventual winner would emerge.

The initial four laps were completed at a very fast average speed of 27mph and, although a number of breaks were briefly established, none lasted for any length of time.

Halfway round the fourth lap, Thomas Bostock helped form a break that built up the biggest gap of the day of 30 seconds.

This break stayed away for almost one lap but ultimately proved unsuccessful and was caught part way round the final lap.

Soon after that break was caught, Bostock attacked again and 10 riders built up a 15-second lead approaching the final few kilometres.

A crash in the peloton helped maintain the break’s small advantage but with 2km to go it was caught, almost at the foot of the small final climb to the finish.

A sizeable group of 60 riders attacked the final climb and sprinted to the finish, with 2018 World Junior Cyclocross champion Ben Tullett narrowly beating Junior Paris Roubaix winner Lewis Askey for the win.

The Equiom riders finished in the main bunch sprint only a few seconds behind, with Bostock ninth at three seconds, Adam Scarffe 28th @ 9s, Ben Christian 44th @ 13s and Tosh Teare 56th also @ 13s. There were 91 finishers from the 119 that started.

The next round of the British Series is this weekend, the Bath RC Junior Road Race, in Bedfordshire. The team selected to ride is: Thomas Bostock, Harry Cain, Ben Christian, Adam Scarffe and Tosh Teare.

Bostock will then head to Newport for the British Junior Track Championships which start on Monday.

The team would like to thank Equiom, Motor Mall, BikeStyle and IoM Steam Packet Co for the support.