Team Bottrill dominate best all-rounder time trial competition with late victory by a whisker

Team Bottrill continued to exert their dominance of the time trial scene with multiple victories across this year's British Best All-Rounder (BBAR) time trial competitions, including a hard-fought last minute victory in the short-distance class.

The Bottrill team's 12-hour champion Jake Sargent took his first win in the men's traditional 'BBAR' – which sees riders compete over 50, 100 and 12 hours – as well as taking third in the short-distance contest over 10, 25, 50 and 100 miles.

The men's short-distance was won by Thomas Lee, also of Team Bottrill, who secured the title only last weekend with a 17:58 10-mile time trial at the Sotonia Falling Leaves event.

His had been a hard-fought battle with runner-up James Jenkins (Hart Performance Coaching), who finished less than 0.2mph behind Lee's impressive 31.536mph on average speed.

The Bottrill bunch extended their success across the women's contests, with the UK's national closed circuit champion Emily Martin proving her versatility with a win in the short-distance BBAR.

But Team Bottrill didn't get things all their own way, with Drag2Zero's Naomi de Pennington defending her title in the women's trad distance event. She was closely pursued by Team Bottrill's 2023 winner Kim Barfoot-Brace though, who finished runner-up.

Naturally, there was also a road bike category for those brave enough to attempt 12-hour and 100-mile time trials on drop bars.

In the traditional distance road bike class, Stephen Clark of Sherwood CC was the winner, and indeed the only rider to qualify across open or female categories.

The short-distance road bikes had a few more takers, with Ipswich BC's Joseph Shaw heading home seven qualifiers in the open class, and the female category won by Sien van der Plank for the third year in a row.

This is the third season in which the British Best All-Rounder competition has had a separate road bike class with short and traditional distances open to both female and open-category riders.

Qualification is simple: competitors must compete across time trials of the requisite distances (and in the case of the traditional distance, a 12-hour too), and the highest average speed wins.

It was introduced at the end of 2022 as part of a number of measures voted through at the AGM to help modernise Cycling Time Trials. While the long distance time trialling of the BBAR does not lend itself to drop-bar riding, the introduction of a road bike category has overall proved a shot in the arm for the governing body, with recent figures showing a rise of more than 300% over the past few years in numbers of those racing time trials on road bikes.

Results: British Best All-Rounder competition 2025

Time trial bikes

Open category
Traditional distance (50mi, 100mi, 12 hours)
1. Jake Sargent (Team Bottrill)
2. Benjamin Williams (Team Bottrill)
3. Anthony Jones (VMCC powered by Y Beic)

Short-distance (10mi, 25mi, 50mi, 100mi)
1. Thomas Lee (Team Bottrill)
2. James Jenkins (Hart Performance Coaching)
3. Jake Sargent (Team Bottrill)

Female category
Traditional distance
1. Naomi de Pennington (Drag2Zero)
2. Kim Barfoot-Brace (Team Bottrill)
3. Chris Murray (Army Cycling)

Short-distance
1. Emily Martin (Team Bottrill)
2. Hayley Wells (Wrekinsport CC)
3. Kim Barfoot-Brace (Team Bottrill)

Road bikes

Open category
Traditional distance (50mi, 100mi, 12 hours)
1. Stephen Clark (Sherwood CC)

Short-distance (10mi, 25mi, 50mi, 100mi)
1. Joseph Shaw (Ipswich BC)
2. Lee Ridden (Reifen Racing)
3. Mark Fenn (Shropshire CAA)

Female category
Traditional distance
[no qualifiers]

Short-distance
1. Sien van der Plank (New Forest CC)
2. Sharon Langton (Liverpool Century RC)