Two-week break pays dividends for Clinton

Held at Wolvey near Lutterworth, the event combined a ten-mile time-trial on the Saturday with a tougher 25-mile course the following day.

Strong winds dominated the weekend and made it especially hard going on Saturday’s straight out and back course.

Clinton reached the turn in good time, but while concentrating on the traffic, he inadvertently took the wrong exit, losing several seconds in the process.

A tough homeward leg had him trying to limit the damage and he crossed the line in a respectable 21:00 (28.6mph) to win the event by 29 seconds.

Despite the conditions, his ride was two seconds quicker than the previous year.

The wind was still a prevailing factor on the Sunday, with the two-lap course following the route as the ten-miler before taking in the rolling A5 and Wolvey.

Tough conditions had riders suffering after just one lap, but Clinton dug deep to record a time of 55:07, some 17 seconds faster than his 2012 time and 32 seconds clear of the second-placed rider.

After combining the two results, Clinton had an advantage of two minutes and four seconds over nearest challenger Andy Green (Lutterworth Cycle Centre RT) to claim the trophy he last won in 2010.

Leamington C&AC’s Rob Weare was sixth with a combined time of 1:20:28.