Northeast will host races as part of Northern Rock Cyclone cycling festival
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British national champion Geraint Thomas (Team Sky)(Image credit: Stephen Farrand)
A smile from Emma Pooley (Cervelo Test Team) as she takes her second consecutive GP de Plouay ahead of Marianne Vos (Nederland Bloeit) and Emma Johansson (Redsun Cycling Team) and Judith Arndt (HTC - Columbia Women)(Image credit: CJ Farquharson/WomensCycling.net)
Mark Cavendish celebrates on the podium in Salamanca.(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
The 2011 British national road race championships will take place in Newcastle. The men’s and women’s races will take place on June 26 over a challenging course that will take in the Northumberland countryside outside the city.
“The National Road Championships is the biggest single day road event here in the UK and we look forward to seeing its continued development when we visit the north east in 2011,” said British Cycling cycle sport and membership director Johnny Clay.
Geraint Thomas (Sky) and newly-crowned world time trial champion Emma Pooley (Cervélo) took the honours at the 2010 British championships and strong fields are also anticipated in the men’s and women’s events in 2011, with both Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) and Nicole Cooke expected to be at the start.
“The quality of the field that the National Championships is able to generate now is testament to the growth of our sport in the UK and we look forward to seeing those riders do battle over a great course that will see a worthy national champion decided,” Clay explained.
On the Friday before the road race, the Leazes Criterium races will take place in Leazes Park, Newcastle. Topping the evening’s bill is the elite race, which will see both British and international riders compete.
The racing forms part of Newcastle’s Northern Rock Cyclone cycling festival, which takes place on the weekend of June 24-26. Amateur cyclists will have the opportunity to take part in a sportive ride on part of the national championships course the day before the race, as the Northern Rock Cyclone challenge ride takes place in the area. Participants have the option of choosing one of three distances to ride: 33, 63 or 104 miles.
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Barry Ryan is Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling’s Golden Generation, published by Gill Books.
