Newton takes bronze

CHADDERTON cycling professional Chris Newton secured the bronze medal in the British Time Trial Championship in Buckinghamshire after a superb ride against a top-class field for the event at Botolph Claydon.

Newton, the team leader for the Rapha Condor Road Racing Team, is a master of all trades, having won road races and Olympic medals over the last 12 months.

And now, having finished second in the National 25-Mile Time Trial Championship, Newton proved his class by taking third on Sunday while Continental pro Bradley Wiggins took the win with ease.

Racing over 31.2 miles on a three-lap course, Garmin Slipstream rider Wiggins clocked 1hr 2min 15sec to win by more than two minutes from In Gear Quickvit rider Michael Hutchinson (1:04:34), with Newton covering the distance in 1:06:14.

Newton will now turn his attentions to the prestigious Tour of Britain event, where he will lead a six-strong Rapha Condor team for the eight-day event which begins in Scunthorpe.

The race comes to the North West for stage four next Tuesday with a 148-kilometre trek starting at 10.15am in Blackpool, then going round to Cockerham, Cloughton, over climbs at Tatham Fells, Cross of Greet and Waddington Fell, before coming through Broughton and back to a finish in Blackpool around 1.49pm.