The 86-mile event, promoted by Barnesbury Cycling Club, had the 64 riders going round the Rothley-Dyke Neuk circuit six times.

Early in the race, which started in Netherwitton, three riders — last year's winner Alastair Kay of York Cycleworks, Kit Gilham of Kinesis UK and Shaun Polson from North Shields riding for MTS Cyclesport — went clear of the rest on the first climb of Rothley Hall.

On the second lap of six, an intermediate sprint competition was held for the Dave Walton Memorial Sprint in the village of Scots Gap and it was won by Gilham, who also took all four Rothley Hall primes to secure the overall King of the Mountains competition.

The three riders were joined by five chasers with a lap to go and by working well together they were three minutes ahead of the main Peleton group by the finish.

It came down to a closely run sprint and Kay came out on top at the finish in Longwitton. Nathan Edmondson, who finished eighth, was First Junior.

Top ten: 1 A. Kay (York Cycleworks) 86 miles in 3hrs 29mins, 2 M. Wordsworth (Corley Cycles) same time, 3 K. Gilham (Kinesis UK) same time, 4 J. Moss (MTS Cyclesport) same time, 5 P. Bell (Doncaster Wheelers) same time, 6 S. Polson (MTS Cyclesport) same time, 7 G. Hewitt (KFS) same time, 8 N. Edmondson (Glendene CC) same time, 9 C. Stevenson (Boneshakers RT) at 3 minutes, 10 I. Taylor (MTS Cyclesport) at 3 minutes.