British National Road Championships 2021 to take place in Lincoln in October

The British National Road Championships 2021, postponed from its usual June slot, will now take place in Lincoln in October, British Cycling has confirmed.

The Nationals, which didn't take place in 2020, have been moved due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and will now take place between October 14-17.

For the first time the circuit race titles will be decided in the same week as the time trials and the road races. The time trials will take place on Thursday (October 14), the circuit races on Friday (October 15), with the road races the climax of the Championships on Sunday (October 17). 

The road races will take place on the course of the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix, which also had to be postponed having been initially confirmed as the opening round of the 2021 National Road Series. The course will finish on the race's trademark Michaelgate cobbled climb, as it did when the national road races took place there in 2015 and were won by Lizzie Armitstead and Peter Kennaugh.

The distances for the races have not yet been confirmed, nor details of the courses for the time trials.

In a press release, British Cycling CEO Brian Facer said: “I’m really excited that we have been able to announce that Lincoln will be hosting the 2021 HSBC UK | National Road Championships. The city has staged some fantastic races in the past and bringing the three championship races together in the space of a week will be a unique challenge for riders, and a proud new chapter in the race’s storied history. 

“The pandemic has presented enormous challenges for road racing, and I want to pay tribute to organiser Dan Ellmore, Lincoln City Council and our team at British Cycling who have all worked around the clock to bring the event together at short notice."

Lizzie Deignan said she was excited to return to race in the location she won the third of her four national road titles.

“Winning my third national road title in Lincoln in 2015 was a really special moment and I’ll never forget the noise and the atmosphere of that day," Deignan said.

"It’s a race that all riders want to win and after the past year I’m sure that will be truer than ever this October.

“The growth in the number and quality of female British riders since the last time the race was in Lincoln in 2015 has been absolutely incredible to see and I know that competition for the national champions’ jerseys will be fiercer than ever this time around.” 

The current national champions have held their titles and raced in the national jerseys for two seasons now, with Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) and Alice Barnes (Canyon-SRAM) the defending road race champions. Alex Dowsett (Israel Start-Up Nation) holds the current men's time trial title, with Barnes also the women's time trial champion after a sensational double victory in 2019. Joey Walker and Rebecca Durrell are the respective circuit champions from two years ago.