The first running of Wolverhampton Wheelers Two Counties road race – one of the traditional West Midlands season openers – since 2019 was switched to the Bobbington circuit based at Wolverhampton airport, which produced a demanding race with seven ascents of the Six Ashes climb, starting out in conditions just above freezing.
An early four-rider break rapidly gained almost two minutes, but around halfway through the move lost momentum when Ben Pierce of Team Jewson suffered a mechanical issue, which forced him to stop at the race headquarters and tighten his front mech. Pierce was caught by the peloton and passed, but managed to regain contact, and then formed part of a five rider chase group which emerged from the peloton, with Mark Lovatt of Congleton CC the driving force.
The five rapidly closed on the leading trio to make a decisive eight-rider lead group, and from that group Lovatt attacked solo, with Pierce and junior Joe Brookes going with him. In the finish, it was Brookes who took the three rider sprint, with Kyle Houston leading in the rest of the break and the remainder of the bunch two minutes back.
- Joe Brookes – Halesowen A&CC
- Ben Pierce – Team Jewson-M.I. Racing
- Mark Lovatt – Congleton CC
- Kyle Houston – Gorilla Coffee Cycling Club
- Jacob Gilkes – Bridgnorth Cycling Club
- Josh Marsden – Stolen Goat Race Team
- David Fellowes – Solihull CC
- Ben Hale – Voranje
- Stephen Biddulph – Born to Bike Racing Team
- Gary Blackman