A team of four Manx Viking Wheeler riders travelled to the Midlands to take part in British Cycling’s TLI National Road Race Championships recently.

The undulating course, just outside Stoke-on-Trent, covered 65 miles over five laps in near-perfect conditions.

The 60-strong peloton made a fast start and the Isle of Man contingent - including Nathan Hinks (18-39 year old age group), Simon Harding (50-55), Rob Sorby (40-49) and Gianni Epifani (50-55) - stayed at the front of the race.

As the race passed the halfway mark, Harding rode strongly and aggressively to quickly pull back any attempted breakaways but this made him a marked man and his attacks were quickly neutralised by a peloton now whittled down to about 30 riders.

As the last lap began, Sorby used his experience to ensure he was always in a good position to attack as the finish line approached.

Following attempts to ride off the front, Epifani joined Harding back in the peloton during the final few miles and, as Sorby made his decisive move, both riders did their best to slow the remaining peloton down, allowing their team-mate to battle it out with Matthew Bulmer (Wheelbase Cab Tech Castelli) and Barry Murphy (Graham Weigh Cycling).

Using his sprinting skills to good effect to sprint away on the uphill finish, Sorby took the win from Bulmer in second and Murphy in third, although his celebrations were slightly muted until he knew for certain no other 40-49 year old riders were in front of him.

Sorby commented: ‘On the last lap I bridged across to Bulmer via Murphy as a stepping stone, before beating the former in a sprint. They were both separately off the front with 3km to go so knew I had to move.’

Harding finished a good fifth, with Epifani 12th in the 50-55 age category, while Hinks held on well to take eighth in the 18-39 class.

The quartet would like to thank Manx Viking Wheelers for its kind support.