Eleven riders signed on to compete in the first round of the 2022 Wigmore Evening 10 mile time trial series on the Iwade course.

The riders had to brave a chilly easterly 12mph wind, which made for a testing opening event last week.

Although a smaller field than expected, it had some very quick riders competing for overall victory.

Last year’s series winner Keith Walker was on the start line to defend his title but on Wednesday he had to settle for second behind the very experienced and quick Steve Gibson (4T+ Cyclopark).

The fast-improving Ryan Cottis, who last year was racing for the Sheppey Velo cycle club, but this year has joined Wigmore CC for the 2022 campaign came third.

Gibson showed his class with overall victory just using a standard road bike with a very quick 23mins 25secs for five tough laps of the two-mile Iwade circuit, beating Walker by 35 seconds.

As expected, Cottis showed the benefits of a hard winter training with a strong third place in a time of

24.29 - certainly a rider that will be looking for outright victories in this year’s series.

The very promising youngster Luke Gibson (the son of the winner Steve) looked very quick taking victory in the

Junior Trophy category on his road bike in a time of 25.47.

Results: 1 Steve Gibson 23.25 (4T+ Cyclopark), 2 Keith Walker 24.00 (Wigmore), 3 Ryan Cottis 24.29 (Wigmore), 4 Jamie Harris 25.05 (Wigmore), 5 Luke Gibson 25.47 first junior (4T+ Cyclopark), 6 Steve Penny 26.19 (Wigmore), 7 Julien Barton 26.28 (Wigmore), 8 Dave Wastall 27.33 (Wigmore), 9 Duncan Tippins 28.18 (Wigmore), 10 Kevin Fore 33.18 (Wigmore).