Wisbech cyclist kick-starts racing career

A teenager cyclist from Wisbech Wheelers has kick-started his racing career with a mixed bag of results at the start of the new season.

William Horspool, 15, has competed in a number of closed circuit road races over the past couple of months.

The youngster has taken on strong fields at Redbridge, also known as Hogs Hill, on two occasions over the past three months.

The first, a very wet day in early January, unfortunately resulted in a puncture.

His second attempt there a fortnight later went much better with him finishing in seventh place.

Earlier this month he visited Hillingdon, where again he came across some very strong riders and after a good race he was pushed wide into the grass verge during a bunch sprint finish.

Horspool then attended his first ever multi-stage race at the Pembrey 2 Day National Youth Series on the March 18 and 19.

He found himself up against some of the best under-16 riders in the country in a starting field of 89.

Day one consisted of a 1.7km prologue time trial followed by a 1hr circuit race.

He was disappointed with the time trial which placed him in 67th overall and just 32 seconds behind the leader.

Stage two brought its challenges with crashes off the line and a further crash later on which resulted in the race being neutralised.

By the end of the stage he had found himself in a group of 15 riders, this result moved him up to 51st in the GC standings.

The second day started with a 20-minute sprint race. The teenager had rode well and stayed in the main bunch going into the last lap when a crash split the field just 500m or so before the finish line.

Although he did not go down in the crash, he was held up causing him to lose 20 seconds on the lead group.

Despite this, he did however still manage to move up a few more places to 44th in the GC.

Stage four was another hour-long race and as heavy rain fell many riders started to show signs of fatigue.

Horspool produced another fine ride to finish in 35th place and moved up to 35th in the overall General classification.