Newton boosts title hopes

Cycling

CHRIS NEWTON boosted his National Elite Circuit Series hopes with victory in the Rochdale Grand Prix.

Newton, the 35-year-old professional cyclist who lives in Oldham, sprinted home ahead of Rapha Condor team-mate and newly-crowned national road race champion Kristian House at the end of the hour-long race.

The pair escaped late on in the race, and managed to hold on to a 17-second gap to the chasing bunch, with Halfords Bikehut rival Ian Wilkinson completing the podium in third place.

The series moved to Blackpool 48 hours later for the Blackpool Grand Prix, the fourth round of the series following the cancellation of round two at Stone in Staffordshire.

And Newton was in form again, chasing hard to bring back the leaders throughout and taking sixth spot to boost his points tally and move up to fourth overall, just 51 points behind leader Wilkinson from Burnley with five rounds to come.

And following Newton’s win at Rochdale, it was another member of the Rapha Condor team – Matt Cronshaw from Carnforth – who tasted victory on Sunday in the Tour of Blackpool Premier Calendar Series road race.