Otley 2025

Drama and disappointment sum up Otley criterium race for me.

Otley is well regarded to be the best crit of the season. The atmosphere is electric and the course is a great ride. I drove from Macclesfield with my partner Charlotte, our Tidlets Beau and Tommy over the beautiful Yorkshire Moors to have a family evening out at Otley.

I had a feeling it was going to be a great night of racing. I have close links with the town and its cycling community as it was the physical base for my old junior team Ph-Mas.

My legs felt like they had finally been getting back to where they were pre-Epstein Barr. I’ve achieved this through lots of work in the gym, and I could feel that my sharpness in my sprint was beginning to return.

The race was as expected fast and furious. Flying into the final corner, I came out first at the front of the pack doing around 70 kph, but I still needed a strong sprint finish to the line. In doing this, I created the controversy that was set to dominate social media for the next few weeks.

My sprint was deemed to ‘deviate’ and I was disqualified after believing I had the victory.

Heated conversations took place afterwards between myself and Matt Bostock, the rider with his hands off the handlebar in the photo below.

I currently don’t have a team and this left me with no one to advocate for me over the incident. Many other riders from Wheelbase and Tekkers got very heated and involved with the judging decision. I felt for the poor judges’, who were backed into a corner. I felt that the decision to relegate me was made without my rider perspective being heard by either me or my representative. That’s all part of racing, and now Otley is firmly on my 2026 calendar to seek redemption.

Matt and I recently attended a BC camp together, the dust has now settled, and I bear no grudges. It is after all, what makes Crit racing such an exciting discipline.

Racing can be hard and decisions don’t always go your way. It is, I believe, important in the heat of the moment to remain dignified , when all about you are shouting for their cause.  

I’m sure I will get another chance to prove my speed in the near future. The positive take-aways are that I’m beating an ex National Crit Champ in the final sprint, so I think I’m well placed on my target to improve further during the autumn track season.