Hurricane Harry enjoys biggest win of his cycling career

Harry Birchill pulled off a crushing first senior victory in Yorkshire's Grasscrete Ryedale Grand Prix and set himself up for next month's Tour of Britain in the process.

The 22-year-old former Mid-Devon CC starlet, who's turned to pro road racing after a successful mountain bike career, won the toughest race of the UK National Road Series on his own, leading his Saint Piran team to     a 1-2-3-4-5 dominance.

Newton Abbot-based Birchill has been riding with increasing confidence at home and in Europe in recent months, without a win to show for it, but he seized on his chance to go it alone, riding away from the best riders on the UK pro circuit over a hilly course near the village of Ampleforth.

He crossed the line after 162K in three hours 54mins 58secs, eight seconds clear of breakaway companion Zeb Kyffin, with Adam Lewis third at 1.45 and the rest of the field at least six and a half minutes behind.

The last MDCC rider to win the prestigious event was future Tour of Britain winner and Team Sky pro Jonathan Tiernan-Locke in 2011, but Birchill's victory was an eye-catching performance in every way.

Former South Dartmoor College student Birchill is now only eight points behind Kyffin in the National Series table, with two rounds to go.

He will be one of Saint Piran's leading riders in the week-long TofB, which starts in Manchester on September 3 and finishes in Caerphilly, South Wales, on September 10.

The race has attracted several WorldTour teams, including Jumbo-Visma, Ineos Grenadiers, Movistar and Bora-Hansgrohe.

But Birchill will not be daunted at that level - he featured in a two-man break alongside Ineos star Magnus Sheffield 12 months ago before the Tour was curtailed by the late Queen's death.

Torquay's Harrison Wood (Cofidis) made an encouraging return from injury - 75th out of 137 finishers, 2mins 42secs behind Danish winner Mads Pedersen, in the WorldTour BEMER Classics one-day race in Hamburg.

MDCC teenager Piers Mahn was 31st overall in the Tour Of The Mendips, one of the leading junior races on the UK calendar, with teammates Ollie Wade 35th and Ben Meek 43rd.  Meek was seventh on Stage Two.