A number of Isle of Man cyclists will contest the 2025 edition of the National Road Championships next week.

The highlight of the British cycling calendar, the event is taking place in Wales between Thursday, June 26 and Sunday, June 30.

No fewer than 10 national champion’s jerseys are up for grabs across the three days, which begins with the time trial on the Thursday.

This will be followed by the National Circuit Championship on the Friday, before the blue riband road races bring the curtain down on Sunday.

The Isle of Man has a rich history of success in the championships over the years, with Sir Mark Cavendish, Lizzie Holden, Peter Kennaugh and Ben Swift just a few of the names from the island to win national jerseys at the event.

Most recently, Max Walker won silver and bronze medals in last year’s elite men’s time trial and road race events in North Yorkshire.

The previous year, Holden stormed to victory in the elite women’s time trial, while Walker finished second in the under-23 men’s time trial and in 2022 Matty Bostock was crowned national circuit champion.

Those same three riders will be back in action again at this year’s championships, which are centred on the west coast of Wales.

The event kicks off with the time-trial in Aberaeron, with the elite women, under-23 women and under-23 men tackling a 27km route, while the elite men race against the clock over 41km.

Aberystwyth then hosts both the circuit race and the road race. The circuit championship starts and finishes on the seafront before taking to the town centre streets in an anticlockwise direction to complete a 1.6km lap.

Riders face 50 minutes of action then a further five laps to decide both the elite women and open championships.

The road race championship features several laps of a testing 23.4km route which includes a section with a maximum gradient of 9.1 percent at the beginning of each lap.

After three laps for the women's contest and five laps in the men’s, the race then ends when the peloton heads onto the 12.4km finishing circuit which the women tackle four times and the men five.

No fewer than eight Manx or island-based riders will hopefully take part. The opening day of the event sees Holden attempt to reclaim the elite women’s time trial national jersey, while Walker will be hoping to go one better than last year when he bids for gold in the elite men’s race.

Also hoping to better his 2024 result is 21-year-old Manxman Tyler Hannay who finished 12th in the under-23 men’s time trial.

Bostock will also be hoping to regain the jersey he won two years ago when he tackles the national circuit championship– in good form at the moment after impressive rides in America in recent weeks, Bocky will be one of the favourites in this race.

He will also be joined by George Kimber who, although not a Manx cyclist, guest rode for Cycling Club Isle of Man in stunning fashion last month when he claimed a memorable victory in the Rás Tailteann race in Ireland, the club’s biggest result to date.

Then it’s the turn of the prestigious national road race championships on the Sunday when Becky Storrie, Holden and Ruby Oakes will be aiming for glory in the women’s race, the latter in the under-23 class.

And in the elite men’s contest Walker, Bocky, Onchan resident Ben Swift and the aforementioned Kimber will battle for the coveted jersey.