Ex- wheeler Peter Cocker (Richardsons Cycles) rode the national road race champs at the weekend at Stamfordham over 120 miles with 160 riders including all the UK based professional riders and many of the continental pro’s coming home to try and win the coveted jersey, it was always going to be a tough event.

Peters race wasn’t helped by an early puncture which meant he spent quite a few miles chasing to get back into the bunch through the race convoy, without expending too much extra energy. He managed this and as the bunch started to split found himself in a chasing group of around 12 riders, including Sky rider Chris Lawless, which was riding for around 40th place. However crossing the finish line for the penultimate time, with just the final 10 mile short finishing lap to complete, this group now at around 8 minutes down on the leaders and all following riders were stopped. Having survived over a 100 miles including 3 times up the Ryals climb and being in contention for a top 40 place and originally been told the shut-off time limit was 15 minutes, this was obviously a little frustrating!

But taking the positives it was a great experience in front of some big crowds and proved to Peter that he is continuing to improve towards his target of competing at a national level.