Ninth enough for Kelly to take British junior road race title

Team Microgaming-Isle of Man rider Jake Kelly won the British National Junior Road Race Series after an impressive performance in the Junior Tour of Wales at the weekend.

Kelly becomes the first Manxman to win the series since Team Sky pro and London 2012 Olympic gold medallist Peter Kennaugh in 2007.

Only four Manx riders have ever won the national junior road race title - Steve Joughin and Mike Doyle won it before both went on to successful pro careers in the 1980s.

Kelly took the series lead in May after winning the Isle of Man Junior Tour.

Going into the weekend’s final round he had a slender 18-point advantage over James King (Team Sportscover) and Gabriel Cullaigh (RST Racing Team), who were equal second.

With a maximum of 110 points up for grabs (60 points for the overall GC winner plus 10 points for the winner of each stage) the series was still wide open.

The tour started on Saturday morning with an 8km time trial followed by a 72km road race in the afternoon.

Stage three was a 30km closed circuit race on Sunday morning followed by a 72km road race in the afternoon.

The tour finished on Bank Holiday Monday with a 100km road race.

Kelly was part of a four-man Team Microgaming squad in the Junior Tour of Wales along with Nick Corlett, Leon Mazzone and Jamie Dudley.

Kelly was ninth in the final standings, which was enough to secure the national series title.

Mazzone was third in the final points classification and 48th on GC, Corlett was 37th on GC and Dudley 63rd.