Alex Dowsett makes surprise visit to Hog Hill

Trek-Livestrong's Alex Dowsett made a successful surprise appearance at Hog Hill for the Southend Wheelers bank holiday crit.

Fresh from leading the Tour of Utah, Dowsett was in attacking mood from the start. Only Rafa Rodriguez was able to take the pace finishing 20 seconds behind Dowsett with his Orbea-ForGoodnessShakes teammate Kristian Downs taking third a further two minutes adrift.

Dowsett, the European under-23 time trial champion, told Cycling Weekly: "I'm in good shape at the moment. I did a 19.06 for 10 miles in the morning and then went straight over to Hog Hill for the crit because it seemed a much better option than a training ride.

"I attacked from the gun but then got stung by a wasp and got brought back into the bunch. Hog Hill is a tough circuit and it was very windy so with 5 laps to go I decided to try and get away from Rafa on the downhill stretch and fortunately managed to stay clear."

McLay wins Junior Tour of Wales

World junior madison champion Dan McLay of Hargroves Cycles won the 30th edition of 2010 RIS Junior Tour of Wales over the bank holiday weekend.

McLay took the yellow jersey with two stage victories on Sunday and managed to limit his losses to nearest rival Sam Harrison (Wales) on an attacking final stage up the Tumble, won by Joshua Edmondson (Motorpoints Marshals Pista).

Sam Harrison won Saturday's opening 7.2km time trial ahead of Edmondson and McLay's madison partner Simon Yates. Edmondson, who recently placed fourth in the junior world road race, then took victory in the afternoon's mountain top finish pipping Owain Duoll and Yates.

But in difficult conditions on Sunday morning McLay triumphed with a solo effort and, over a lumpy circuit in the afternoon, was able to establish what proved to be a race winning lead after a successful breakaway with Tom Moses (Glendene CC).

Final standings

1. Daniel McLay

2. Sam Harrison

3. Joshua Edmondson

4. Matt Holmes

5. Simon Yates

King of the Mountains: Joshua Edmondson

Points: Owain Doull

Team: Hargroves Cycles

Skyride this weekend

London's cyclists will be given freedom of the capital at this weekend's Skyride. Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy, model Kelly Brook and members of the Team Sky professional cycling team will join Mayor of London Boris Johnson and tens of thousands of amateur cyclists for the mass participation event on Sunday 5 September.  

With the roads closed to all other users, cyclists will be able to ride through the heart of the capital with a circular route running from the Tower of London to Buckingham Palace via the City and St Paul's Cathedal. Over 65,000 cyclists took part in last year's Skyride.

Warwick town centre races

The hectic British criterium season is brought to a close with the popular Warwick town centre races this Sunday (5 September). A packed day of racing will include elite and children's road races along with the more unusual tricycle and emergency services national championships.

The latter race is the first of it's kind, and with entries still open, anybody wishing to take part should contact the organisers. Racing begins at 11am.

Brits at Trophée d'Or Féminin

A strong performance in the individual time trial helped Britain's Katie Colclough finish seventh in the Trophée d'Or Féminin.

Colclough was the highest placed Brit in the 14th edition of the six-stage race in central France.  Lucy Martin finished a further three seconds back in ninth with Catherine Williamson down in twenty sixth.

Emma Johansson, of the Redsun Cycling Team claimed overall victory ahead of Lithuania's Edita Pucinskaire (Gauss RDZ Ormu) but was unable to seal it on the final stage after losing out to Swedish compatriot Monica Holler (Alriksson Go:Green) in a sprint finish.

Colclough told Cycling Weekly; "I was really pleased with my performance especially in the time trial. I held the young rider's jersey for a couple of days but I didn't realise that the rider who took it away from me was under-23."

Of her immediate plans Colclough said: "Next week, I'll be riding in a few kermesse races and then we'll head back to Tuscany but it's really just about the worlds in Australia from now on. I'll just be doing a job out there and racing for Lizzie, Emma and Nicole."

Monarch to Majorca

Brits looking for winter training will be interested to hear that airline Monarch will be running flights to Palma. Majorca from Gatwick and Manchester airports. Recognising the demand, the airline is also introducing a pre-booking service for bicycle carriage to the Spanish island.

Customers can now pre-order carriage for £18.50 each way, a discount of £5 over paying at the airport. With challenging terrain and temperatures averaging 21 degrees all year round Majorca is a popular destination for cyclists seeking some winter sun. Go to www.monarch.co.uk for more details.

Patten in Belgium

Following a run of bad luck over the last couple of months, Brit Dan Patten is returning to form in Belgium and is looking forward to the climax of his racing season.  The Oudenaarde based Asfra Racing Team rider was forced to take time off with illness in July and got hit by a car on his return to training. However, he has come back strongly by securing three top 10 finishes in recent weeks with kermesse legend Mario Willems praising his aggressive tactics in last week's four day Tour of Antwerpen.

Readers can follow Dan's progress via his website.