National U23 Series

42

Welland, 14th June 2026, promoted by Stourbridge CC

It’s turning into quite the season for Luca Nicholson, who has ridden just two rounds of the National under-23 series, and won both of them. Following his solo win in late March in a brutally attritional PB Performance race at Gilmorton, Sunday’s victory in the Stourbridge CC round of the series at Welland in Worcester called on different qualities: perfect timing and instinctive sprinting at the end of a very rapid 80 miles, run off in well under 3 hours. 

Following a fruitless early move by Elliott Colyer (AeroCLCTV) and Jamie Whitcher (Hubo-Scott), the race only really took shape after a half-hour halt with exactly two laps to go, when the race was stopped at the feed station on Castlemorton Common following a nasty crash involving two riders which held up the medical cover as the casualties were dealt with. 

The race was restarted with three riders off the front, Whitcher, James Sawyers (Cycling Sheffield) and Jack Baldie (Pronto Bikes) and with a lap and a half – roughly 25 miles – to go, the trio had carved out just over a minute’s lead on an eight-rider chasing group that included Archie Wright (Ride Revolution), Oliver Gill (Chartres), Jake Lunt (360), Will Pollard (PB Performance), Rory Gravelle (Tirol-KTM), George Stephen (BCC Race Team), Archie Wright (Aero CLCTV) and Denholm Edwards of Cycling Sheffield, with the peloton at a further 25sec. 

Eight against three should have only gone one way, but while the peloton gave the eight chasers 30sec leeway, they never really closed on the three leaders, and approaching Upton on Severn with three-quarters of the final lap gone, the peloton gradually chased down the chase group, with Nicholson eventually bridging. 

The catch was made as the race turned left in Welland village to tackle the drag up through the feed station for the last turn, with a 56sec gap to the break, and at this point Nicholson set off in solo pursuit of the break. 

“I’d gone from the bunch to the second group,” he explained, “but they caught us on the corner, then I moved across to a couple of chasers, and just drilled it. I knew I was racing for fourth, I didn’t think I would catch the first three.”

But when the trio took the final right turn to head up the 1.1kilometre climb to the finish outside the little church at Hollybush, there he was in their slipstream, and after  Whitcher launched the sprint, Nicholson came round him to claim the win, “almost blacking out” with the effort, with Baldie finishing third. Behind, the bunch had closed as they raced up the hill, with Lewis Tinsley (BCC) and the front part of the peloton finishing on Sawyers’ heels. 

Thanks to Joe Charley and all his team at Stourbridge for a superb promotion, plus various “guest” helpers – you know who you are. 

Pos	No	First Name	Last Name	Club/Team	Cat	Time
1	56	Luca	Nicholson	Velo Club Baracchi	2nd	2:56:36
2	32	Jamie	Whitcher	Hubo-Scott Cycling Team	1st	ST
3	41	Jack	Baldie	Pronto Bikes	1st	+00:02
4	3	James	Sawyers	Cycling Sheffield	1st	+00:09
5	17	Lewis	Tinsley	BCC Race Team	1st	+00:09
6	1	Alexander	Foster	Cycling Sheffield	1st	+00:09
7	44	Caleb	Pain	Ride Revolution Coaching	2nd	+00:09
8	7	Henry	Hunter	360cycling	1st	+00:09
9	11	Bobby	Buenfeld	Aero CLCTV Race Team	2nd	+00:09
10	46	Rowan	Baxter	Schils – Doltcini Racing Team	2nd	+00:13
11	20	Jack	Cook	Clancy Briggs Cycling Academy	2nd	+00:13
12	40	Luke	Gibson	O’Neills Spirit Racing Team	2nd	+00:13
13	28	Harry	Howlett	Halesowen A & CC	2nd	+00:13
14	36	Matthew	Gilmour	Nopinz RT	1st	+00:13
15	59	John	Bardsley	No Club	1st	+00:13
16	2	Denholm	Edwards	Cycling Sheffield	1st	+00:13
17	42	Hudson	Hendry	Ride Revolution Coaching	2nd	+00:13
18	4	Nathan	Smith	Cycling Sheffield	1st	+00:13
19	38	Iwan	Clark	O’Neills Spirit Racing Team	2nd	+00:13
20	10	Noah	Inman	54/11 Coaching	2nd	+00:13
21	54	Reuben	Corlett	UCK Vannes – Bretagne Sud Cyclisme	2nd	+00:13
22	29	Luke	Mannings	Halesowen A & CC	2nd	+00:13
23	6	Cai	Curtis-Roberts	360cycling	2nd	+00:13
24	30	Oscar	Saxton	Harrogate Nova Race Team	2nd	+00:13
25	51	Ryan	Oldfield	Team Tactic U23	1st	+00:13
26	24	Benjamin	Arey	Halesowen A & CC	1st	+00:13
27	39	Felix	Earth	O’Neills Spirit Racing Team	1st	+00:13
28	61	Ted	Harvey	360cycling	2nd	+00:19
29	34	Will	Thompson	Mypad Racing p/b ONDO Sports	2nd	+00:19
30	31	Charlie	Hoyle	Hubo-Scott Cycling Team	2nd	+00:22
31	12	Elliott	Colyer	Aero CLCTV Race Team	1st	+00:22
32	33	Thomas	Womack	League-Fortè Chiropractic	2nd	+00:22
33	60	Kyle	Jones	No Club	2nd	+00:22
34	37	Callum	Orchard	Nopinz RT	2nd	+00:22
35	5	Ryan	Williams	Cycling Sheffield	2nd	+00:25
36	52	Rory	Gravelle	Tirol KTM Cycling Team	2nd	+00:27
37	22	Nathaniel	Ground	Dulwich Paragon CC	3rd	+00:27
38	16	George	Stephen	BCC Race Team	1st	+00:27
39	55	Callum	Start	UCK Vannes – Bretagne Sud Cyclisme	3rd	+00:27
40	35	Jack	Beveridge	Nopinz RT	2nd	+00:29
41	21	Benjamin	Myers	DAS Richardsons	2nd	+00:29
42	45	Ben	Baker	Schils – Doltcini Racing Team	2nd	+00:29
43	47	Isaak	Herbert	Schils – Doltcini Racing Team	2nd	+00:32
44	13	Archie	Wright	Aero CLCTV Race Team	2nd	+00:32
45	57	Sam	Talent	Velo Club Venta	2nd	+00:39
46	25	Daniel	Ascroft	Halesowen A & CC	3rd	+00:47
47	15	Thomas	Lewis	BCC Race Team	2nd	+00:50
48	50	William	Pollard	Team PB Performance	2nd	+00:50
49	14	Dan	Galpin	BCC Race Team	2nd	+00:52
50	18	Charlie	Thorpe	Beeston Cycling Club	2nd	+00:52
51	27	Kaleb	Herbert	Halesowen A & CC	2nd	+00:58
52	19	Oliver	Gill	C’Chartres Cyclisme	2nd	+01:51
53	8	Jake	Lunt	360cycling	2nd	+02:01
54	43	Sion	Jones	Ride Revolution Coaching	2nd	+05:21
55	9	Jago	Sadler	360cycling	2nd	+05:21
DNF	23	Nick	Makin	Fred’s Racing	2nd
DNF	53	Joshua	Snow	trainSharp Roman RT	2nd
DNS	26	Luke	Harris	Halesowen A & CC	3rd
DNS	48	Hugh	Aubrey	Stolen Goat 4Endurance	2nd
DNS	49	Iestyn	Jones	Team PB Performance	2nd
DNS	58	Maxwell	Hereward	Zappi Racing Team	Elite