OF ALL of the competitors in what was at times a brutal day of National Trophy Series cyclo-cross at Peel Park, no-one made things look easier than Otley's Tom Pidcock.

Cyclo-cross may not be his premier discipline but the Oldfield-Paul Milnes Cycles ERT rider won the junior men's race by 1min 42.9sec.

Whereas virtually everyone else found descending against a camber so difficult that they had to slow down or even get off their bikes, Pidcock gracefully went down the slope at speed and managed to keep his balance to boot.

Bradford cycling sage John Rawnsley was certainly impressed, saying: "If he rides the World Championships, he can win it."

William Gascoyne (Pines Cycles-Felt-Enve) and Mark Donovan (Beacon Wheelers), who was over two minutes down on Pidcock, filled the minor placings.

Series winner Pidcock, who already had a 30-point lead over clubmate Ben Turner going into the fifth round, said: "My main discipline is road racing, where I am a part of the British Academy set-up, and I was riding in the snow and rain in the Yorkshire Dales on Saturday.

"My race went well and I just use cyclo-cross to give myself something to do in the winter."

Turner was fifth, over three minutes back, but Odsal 17-year-old George Fox (Paul Milnes Bradford Olympic) showed his potential by coming sixth a further 18 seconds behind and said: "I got round all right but the course was cut up a bit from earlier races."

Wibsey's Euan Cameron, a clubmate of Fox's, was sixth in the under-16 boys' race and said: "I crashed on the first lap and was about 40th but managed to work my way back up the field and then my bike broke with a lap to go."

Relative cyclo-cross novice Sam Moses (Paul Milnes Bradford Olympic), the youngest of the famous Keighley clan, came 11th, despite crashing into a tree and bending his handlebars and banging a shoulder.

Birkenshaw's Billy Harding, another Paul Milnes elite squad rider, was tenth in the under-23 men's race and said: "I broke my shoe and had to ride all the way around to the pits with my foot slipping off.

"The descents were okay but it was a really difficult day as I was hoping to get on the podium."

Harding, 19, changed from riding worldwide for the Orange Monkey Pro team a year ago to Yorkshire-based Oldfield-Paul Milnes Cycles ERT and said: "It was definitely the right decision as I really like being based locally.

"It is a ten-minute ride to my base rather than an eight-hour plane trip – and you get more support from the locals too."

Sophie Thackray of Oldfield Paul Milnes Cycles was third among the junior women, while Lily Greenhalgh (East Bradford CC) and Lucy Naylor (Paul Milnes Bradford Olympic) were eighth and tenth among the under-16 girls.

Nowhere was the brutality of the course shown more, however, than among the under-14 girls, so it was credit to 12-year-old Amber Hull (East Bradford CC) that she got around the course.

After finishing 16th on her National Trophy debut in a race that was cut short because of its severity and had some competitors almost in tears, the Guiseley youngster said: "It was really hard but it was my aim to finish and I did it."