Romei setting the pace after comfortable win

Round nine of the competition was held over two laps of the Prees – Battlefield course and saw Romei finish over three minutes clear of the chasing pack to open up a 65-point lead with a fabulous effort of one hour 56 minutes 28 seconds.

Romei and his Paramount team-mate Chris Riley were the only two riders to beat the magic two hour/25mph mark, leading the club to a huge 235-point addition to their Top Club Award tally, which leaves them with an impressive 635-point lead.

Romei still holds the lead in the Friction Veterans' Series but swapped places with Riley when the age related Standards were applied, Riley registering +21:40 and Romei taking the runner-up spot with +19:59.

Conditions were not as conductive to fast times in this quick return to the same circuit used in round six, but Romei was satisfied with his efforts against a nagging crosswind, commenting: “Really pleased to take the county win and Veterans' runner-up at the WCTTCA 50.

"It felt a lot tougher that the previous 50 on this course due to the wind hitting you from all directions, along with it being a chilly morning. It was just a case of keeping aero for the entire race and riding hard."

Riley was off the start line just five minutes ahead of Romei, and that was enough incentive to pedal hard to post a fine 1:59:34 effort, as he explained: ”I rode to a ‘Don't get caught by Simon Romei’ plan, which paid double dividends when I managed a sub-two hour ride."

Taking third spot in overall and in the Veterans' with 2:03:15 and +15:03 respectively, Aerologic’s Jonathan Mills-Keeling seemed to suffer in the conditions, which on longer rides can wear a rider down.

Mills-Keeling beat off the challenge from another Paramount rider, Rob McGregor, overall by 29 seconds, and in the Veterans' from Hafren CC’s Bryn Davies by 1:07.

He appeared to be glad just to get through the experience, stating: “Not my best race, glad to get it over with! I really struggled to get into it, but well done to Simon, a great time on the day."

In the Female Series, Hayley Wells continues to dominate with a fabulous 2:08:06 – 1:58 down on her round six time which reflected the conditions.

“The crosswinds certainly made this course a lot more challenging, and it was rather chilly as well," said Wells, who extended her Series lead to exactly 100 points on the strength of this ride . "I was a little slower than the last 50 here, but super chuffed to have taken the win."

Wells isn’t the only rider putting in a strong challenge for a Series as Mark Fenn continues to make progress in the inaugural Friction Road Bike Series, extending his lead to a huge 180 points after this race with an adjusted 2:12:12.

His game plan appears to have been to ride to a constant pace rather than a split strategy some prefer and that saw him 1:24 faster than in round six – impressive given less favourable conditions.