National 10-mile time trial champs 2012 photo gallery by Andy Jones>>
Breaking his own course record, Michael Hutchinson defied a stiff and chilly wind to justify his favourite's tag and land his ninth national 10-mile time trial championship in Cambridgeshire on Sunday.
Hutchinson (In-Gear Quickvit Trainsharp RT) shaved three seconds from his winning 2007 championship time on the same Sawtry-based course to take the title in 19-40, pushing Matt Bottrill (Drag2zero.com) into second place by 19 seconds. Nic Hutchings (CS Grupetto) landed the bronze medal in 20-22.
With a stiff headwind on the longer outward leg all agreed that it was a race to the turn, and Hutchinson was always in control. "I was never worried," he said. "I was getting time checks and I never felt under pressure. But it's still nice to win, even now."
Defending champion Julia Shaw also repeated her win on the same course in 2007 as she made it six women's titles with a decisive winning margin of one and a half minutes.
Shaw (Drag2zero.com) powered round in 22-27 as, behind her, a close fight for the minor medals saw the next three riders covered by just four seconds - Claire Galloway (For Viored RT) claiming second place in 23-59 by two seconds from Rebecca Slack (London Dynamo) with Jane Kilmartin (PM Racing) missing out by the same narrow margin.
Shaw was happy with her ride after going off course in the UCI Celtic Chrono international event in Belfast the week before and finishing fifth.
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"That knocked my morale a bit," admitted Shaw. "It was hard going out into the headwind today, but I put in a big effort to get the time and it was 30mph on the way back."
Junior champion Ryan Mullen (Planet X RT) also successfully defended his 2011 title, clocking 21-35 to beat Scott Davies (M&D Kinetica RT) by exactly half a minute in a one-two for Wales who also secured the junior women's honours through Elinor Barker (Scott Contessa Epic RT) in 24-24.
Michael Hutchinson, first
Women's winner, Julia Shaw
Junior men's winner, Ryan Mullen
Junior women's winner Elinor Barker
Team and individual winners
Related links
National 10-mile time trial 2012 photo gallery
Galloway takes surprise silver in National 10
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