England’s Fred Wright paid an emotional tribute to late team-mate Gino Mader after winning his first British National Road Championship title.
Wright, 24, attacked late in the 189km contest and tearfully pointed to the sky as he crossed the line.
“I was racing with him on my mind,” Wright said of Bahrain Victorious team-mate Mader, who died after a crash at the Tour de Suisse earlier this month.
England’s Pfeiffer Georgi won the women’s title for a second time.
“There’s lot of emotions,” said Wright, who finished ahead of compatriot James Knox and Wales’ Stephen Williams for his first professional victory.
“I’m thinking about a lot of things… I just wanted to enjoy the day because that’s what bike racing is about. I can’t stop getting emotional.
“[Gino] would have believed in me today, more than I would have believed in myself.”
‘It still hasn’t sunk in’ – two-time champion Georgi
In the women’s race, 22-year-old Georgi, who won in 2021 and also finished second to Alice Towers in 2022, kicked on during the final climb to ease over the line after a gruelling 132km to pick up her third win of the year.
Team TSM rider Georgi said: “It’s so special. “It still hasn’t sunk in. After I won the jersey in Lincoln [in 2021], I really wanted it back because it’s such an honour and it gave me a lot of confidence in the peloton turning up with the stripes.
On her race tactics she added: “It was a bit unknown because the course is so hard. I wasn’t sure if it would be too hard for my rider type and I just wanted to be in the mix.
“I used a bit of the confidence from how I won Lincoln and wanted to test the waters with one lap to go. I was strong so I thought I could go full gas up the climb.
“I wasn’t expecting to win Lincoln and no one expected me to. Last year I felt a lot of pressure as defending champion and this year I was really hungry for the win. I’ve been focusing on race for a long time. I’m so happy I could pull it off.”
Wright aiming for Tour stage win
Of his win, Wright added: “It feels like it has been a long time coming.
“It was such an attritional race but it really suited me. I saw my opportunity on the second to last climb and I knew I’d be faster than them two [Knox and Williams] if I was out on my own.”
Next up for Wright is the Tour de France with Team Bahrain Victorious from 1 July to 23 July, and he said: “Going into the Tour, maybe I’ll be a bit more marked in a striped jersey, but I’ll be gunning for a stage win.”
Welshman Geraint Thomas, who finished second in May’s Giro d’Italia, was billed as the big name in the men’s field but the Ineos Grenadiers rider confirmed on his podcast ‘Watts Occurring’ that he was going to skip the race.
Thomas instead said his focus was the Vuelta a Espana, which takes place between 26 August and 17 September.