Ian Field heads into two of his biggest races of the season in confident mood after celebrating his third successive National Cyclo-Cross title.

The 27-year-old from Ashford heads to Nommay in France on Sunday for the seventh UCI World Cup event, before moving onto Hoogerheide on the Dutch/Belgium borders for the 2014 World Championship the following weekend.

The former Norton Knatchbull School pupil became the first rider to win three British titles in a row earlier this month, since Roger Hammond achieved the feat in 2003, on his way to five in a row.

Field’s ride to victory at the Moorways Leisure Centre, Derby, wasn’t without its problems, though.

He said: “I suffered a bit of a blip mid-race in the valley part of the course which was muddy and slippery.

“I was 10-12 seconds up at the time but it reduced it to four or five. It was fairly comfortable in the end, though.”

The Harcourt Cycles rider, who rides as a professional on the continent and lives in Oudenaarde, Belgium, is pleased with the way his world cup season has panned out so far this season.

He lies 24th out of 80 overall heading into Sunday’s race and is the only male British rider competing at the top level of cyclo-cross.

He said: “It’s gone well. I finished 17th and 18th in the opening two races of the season, my two best performances ever in what has been my best season to
date. Consistency has been important and I am 10 places up on last
year."