After winning the East Midlands Championship recently, cyclist Ross lamb was fired up to do his best for Mansfield out on the roads again at the National Championships at Lincoln on Sunday and finished a creditable 18th.

He was not phased by the fact that he was lined up with multiple Tour de France winner Mark Cavendish and current champion Ben Swift.

“As we formed on the start line I was surrounded by World Tour level riders so I knew we were in for a rough day,” said Ross. “But I knew 13 times up the cobbled climb of Michaelgate would be a shock to some of them and I could pull on my experience of riding cobbles from my time in Belgium.”

The streets of Lincoln were lined four deep as the race got away with everyone staying together as they came over the line for the first lap, but very quickly a small breakaway group was formed and Ross was placed well in a second group.

At one point the gap was over a minute but Ross’s group worked well together to hold the lead group at 40 seconds. This concerted effort split the field with Ross finding himself in the front 20 riders as it became clear that the remaining 130 riders were not going to pull the break back.

“It was a case of making sure I was at the head of the group every time we went up the cobbled climb. If one rider in front of you slipped on the cobbles then your race would be over,” aded Ross.

This race craft kept Ross near the head of affairs and whilst he wasn’t able to compete for the podium, finishing in 18^thplace in the bunch sprint amongst this stellar field of World Tour riders meant he did himself and Mansfield proud.