Winner of the opening two events, Matt Bottrill (www.drag2zero.co.uk) was head and shoulders above the rest as he returned to National Time Trial Series action at the fourth round in Cumbria on Sunday.

Bottrill completed two laps of a circuit around Bassenthwaite Lake in 1-04-08 for a winning margin of over four minutes, but found the overcast and chilly conditions just too much in his quest for a course record as he fell half a minute shy of Michael Hutchinson’s 10-year-old mark for the 31.2 miles.

“I was on for the record up until the last miles when I needed to top 30mph, but it was so hard that I was just managing just over 29mph,” said Bottrill, who finished ahead of a close scrap for the minor placings – James Ratcliffe (Fred Williams Cycles), 1-08-11, getting the better of PMR@Toachim House pair, Jonathan Parker, 1-08-21, and 18-year-old Christopher Fennell, 1-08-25.

Dame Sarah Storey (Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International BOBC) scored her second win of the women’s series, covering one lap in 34-22 to beat second-round winner Anna Turvey (Tyneside Vagabonds) by 37 seconds with Cheshire Classic Road Race winner Katie Archibald (Pearl Izumi), 35-09, in third.

Julian Ramsbottom (Pedal Pusher), 33-41, scored his second successive win in the veterans event, while James Falconer (Ferryhill Wheelers/Mountain High), 33-21, and Rik Waddon (Para T), with an actual 36-46 adjusted to 32-01, both made it four from four to wrap up the respective overall junior and paracyclist titles.

Last man off, Kieron Davies (Team NBCC) justified his favourite’s tag as he clocked 48-42 for a winning margin of over a minute in the Welsh CA Championship ‘25’ at Glynneath.

David Crawley (Fibrax-Wrexham RC), 49-48, and Justyn Cannon (RAF CA), 49-58, also took advantage of the warm conditions and light winds to break 50 minutes as they filled the next two places.

Andy Jackson led a clean sweep of the first three places for Team Swift in the Yorkshire CF ‘25’ at Topcliffe, near Thirsk, covering a two-lap course in 50-56 to edge out Joel Wainman by two seconds with Mark Wolstenholme third in 51-28.

Matt Smith (Team Velocity.co.uk) was over two minutes clear of his nearest rival in the VC Norwich ‘25’, clocking exactly 51 minutes for the Attleborough-based course. Tandem pair Glenn Taylor (Shorter Rochford) and Mark Arnold (CC Desiragear) ripped round in 46-58.

One second separated the fastest two at Wigmore CC’s ’25’ in Kent, Kevin Tye (Velorefined Aerosmiths) clocking 52-56 for the narrowest of verdicts over Seth Kay (PMR&Toachim House)