Anna Shackley and Leo Hayter destroy competition to become British U23 time trial champions

Hayter wins the men's race by the biggest margin in recorded history, while Shackley continues her brilliant season

Leo Hayter at the 2019 World Championships junior time trial in Yorkshire
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Anna Shackley and Leo Hayter both lived up to their pre-race favourite tags and stormed to victory in the women's and men's U23 national time trial championships.

On an undulating 29.4km course in the village of Tealby, the men set off first and all eyes were on the Development Team DSM duo of Hayter and Oscar Onley, with the winner set to supersede Charlie Quarterman who was the last victor in the race back in 2019.

Onley was the first to go beneath 40 minutes with a time of 39:37, but he was soon replaced in the hot seat by his teammate Hayter who posted what proved to be a winning time of 38:04.

Onley was denied silver by Ben Turner, the Trinity Racing rider posting 38:57. Hayter, who recently won the U23 edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, won the race with a margin of 53 seconds, the biggest recorded gap between first and second in the race's history. 

The women's race then began with a battle between SD Worx's Shackley and Team DSM's Pfeiffer Georgi expected; at the first split, Georgi was 34 seconds adrift of her compatriot, a distance that only extended as the kilometres ticked by.

By the end, Shackley had destroyed the field, posting a time of 43:55, a massive 1-35 better than Georgi's effort that earned her the silver medal.

Abi Smith, who has been riding for TIBCO - SVB since the late summer, rounded off the podium, 2-30 adrift of the race winner.

Shackley becomes only the third winner of the race, following in the footsteps of two other Annas: Anna Christian in 2017 and Anna Henderson in 2019.

The win continues a strong debut season in the women's professional peloton for Shackley who finished 18th at the Olympic's time trial and was praised by Lizzie Deignan for her performance at the Road World Championships. 

Hayter - the brother of Ineos Grenadiers' Ethan - showed his immense talent once again, the 20-year-old having won a stage at the Tour de Bretagne in September after his Liège triumph. He is contracted to another year with Team DSM's U23 team.

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Chris Marshall-Bell

Chris first started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2013 on work experience and has since become a regular name in the magazine and on the website. Reporting from races, long interviews with riders from the peloton and riding features drive his love of writing about all things two wheels.


Probably a bit too obsessed with mountains, he was previously found playing and guiding in the Canadian Rockies, and now mostly lives in the Val d’Aran in the Spanish Pyrenees where he’s a ski instructor in the winter and cycling guide in the summer. He almost certainly holds the record for the most number of interviews conducted from snowy mountains.