Richard and Anthony in the points at the Ken Lush

What a difference a week makes - a warm sunny day made for an altogether more pleasant race this week for our National B duo.

Richard was as watchful as ever but a touch less restless than usual in the opening laps as

A few more points on the board: Ant relaxes post-milkshake

a succession of accelerations failed to make any impression on the main group. When a move went with 5 to go though, he was caught out as it drifted away up the road. Cue a flurry of counter moves which were predictably brought back by attentive team mates of the eight escapees and a lap later the break was well established with around a minute of cushioning.

As the attacks died down, Richard picked his moment and chipped off the front with four others to establish a chase group. Within a lap, they had a minute on the bunch with another 1:30 to the leading group: "It was hard but manageable," says Richard. "Just!"

The bunch was starting to break up under the strain of the pace as patience wore thin, and when another rider attacked off the front, Anthony went with him: "I knew Rich was away, and initially it was just a case of following the wheel and seeing where we went," he recalls."But people were tiring so it was nice when I realised we had a clear gap and there were only two of us."

So with two of our riders in the three front groups, it came down to how much everyone had left by the finish. Richard came in 12th and Ant 15th: "Nice morning out," concluded Richard. "We treated ourselves to a milkshake on the way home!"