The Isle of Man Youth and Junior Cycle Tour takes place this weekend, attracting quite a number of competitors from the UK and the near Continent, writes John Watterson.

It is a qualifying event for British Cycling’s National Youth Circuit Series and 2019 National Junior Road Series.

Sponsored by Sleepwell Hotels, this year’s three-day event sees a number of changes from the norm.

Because of the renovation work on Douglas promenade, Friday evening’s prologue will take place on closed roads from the Groudle to the junction with the Laxey to Onchan road close to the former Liverpool Arms.

This will commence from 5.45pm.

On Saturday, all the road race action will be on the Ellerslie course, normally reserved for the younger age groups only.

Youth E will set the ball rolling at 9.30am with a 1km hill climb on the Ellerslie Road, followed by Youth D girls and boys at 9.40 and 9.50am respectively.

Youth C girls and boys will race over two laps of the full 7km course taking in Garth and Braaid crossroads, starting from 10.15.

These events will be followed by the Youth B boys (four laps) and girls (three laps) from 11.15am.

There will then be a two-hour break before the concluding races for Youth A boys and girls (five and four laps) commence at 2pm, followed by the Junior event over 10 laps (72km) at 3.45pm. This event is usually held on the Peel-based Switchback course.

On Sunday, youth races will take place on the perimeter road round the National Sports Centre between 8.30 and approximately 11.15am for all classes up to and including Youth C.

In the afternoon, the Billown ’Southern 100’ Course, on the outskirts of Castletown, will be closed for the Youth B, Youth C and Junior road races.

Racing will be anti-clockwise, the opposite way to the motorbike events. The Youth B boys and girls events will be over five and four laps respectively from 12.45pm, with the Youth A boys and girls (six and five laps) from 2pm.

The Junior race will commence at 3.30pm and take place over 11 laps, a distance of 75km (appx 45 miles).

Entries in the Junior class this year are a little down on past years, but Youth A and B remain strong, as do the youth classes.

Locals to look out for in the Junior class include the Equiom IoM Junior team of Will Corkill, James Harrison, Corrin Leeming, Aaron Lund, Adam Scarffe, Tosh Teare, Daniel Sowerby and Max Walker.

Team RL360 Isle of Man field a strong line-up for the Youth A races, notably Matthew Black, Jack Christian, Matthew Cooil, Tyler Hannay, Ralf Holden, Nathan Slack and Zac Walker.

Youth B also looks good with Tyler Annis, Owen Collins, Niall Colquitt, Callum Salisbury, James Scott and Ivan Sorby, while Ruby Oakes, Nicola Quaye and Sophie Smith are the leading local girls in Youth B. A further 16 boys and girls represent Team RL360 IoM in Youth C, 13 in Youth D and six in Youth E.

Full round-up from the Sleepwell Hotels Isle of Man Youth and Junior Tour in next week’s editions of Isle of Man Examiner and Manx Independent.