Joe Blackmore outsprints Connor Swift to win men's British Gravel Championships

Joe Blackmore (Team Inspire) edged Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) at the line to win the men’s elite title at British Gravel Championships on Saturday afternoon.

Sam Culverwell (Dolan Elesse RT) outkicked British cyclocross champion Cameron Mason (Trinity) to secure the final spot on the podium, both 2:13 off the pace of the lead duo.

Culverwell, Joe Griffiths (Saddleback) and Ben Thomas (Ben Thomas Coaching) attacked at the front of the 59-rider pack on the first of the five-lap race, and they built an advantage of 30 seconds. On the second 15.3km circuit, Swift led a group in the chase to the leaders, bridging to the leaders along with Blackmore, Mason and Tom Couzens (Ribble Collective).

By the final lap, Blackmore and Swift had made separation at the front and worked together until the final 500 metres when Blackmore accelerated to the victory. 

“I feel great, it was a good race, a good event, a hard race,” Blackmore said after the win, his face covered in dust from the dry afternoon conditions.

“The first lap was pretty chilled so I just hung back a bit and didn’t get involved too much, the second lap we made the split about six of us for a few laps, seven maybe and then Connor was just strong and I could match him and we ended up together.

“I didn’t really know what to expect, I felt really good. So, he tried a few attacks and I guess that I was the only one that could stay with him, so I didn’t think he would drop me on the last lap and he didn’t try to so it just came down to a sprint.

“We just kept rolling through the last lap, taking turns and I was on the front with 500 metres to go, sent the corners pretty fast but Connor was still on my wheel, so I kind of backed off a bit into the arena and just kept looking over my shoulder until he kicked and then I didn’t look back.”

This was Blackmore’s first foray into gravel and it turned into gold. He has represented Team GB in the under-23 mountain bike programme. At last year’s UCI Cyclocross World Championships  in Hoogerheide, the 20-year-old finished 10th in the men’s U23 race. 

The men competed in a dedicated race Saturday afternoon, using the same course as the elite women for a total of 76.5km through the Suffolk countryside of King’s Forest on hard-packed and loose gravel, grass, dirt and sand. The championships were part of King’s Cup Gravel Festival races.

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