Edinburgh Road Club youngster Sean Noon sprinted to victory in the Tom Simpson Memorial Junior Grand Prix, staged over a revised course near the former Tour de France rider’s home town of Harworth, North Nottinghamshire, on Sunday.

Noon was part of a six-rider break which contested the sprint finish at the end of a tough race – both for the riders and the organisers.

After being forced to change from the traditional course through Simpson's home town of Harworth, the organisers had to make another change at the last minute when road works appeared on the planned back-up course.

The new circuit - adjacent to the planned route, but half the length - saw the field roll round an undulating triangular course 18 times - the first half of which saw the bunch basically intact, save for a few probing moves that didn't stick.

Not that the opening stages were without incident – a crash on the opening lap saw new Haribo Beacon signing Karl Baillie out of the race and a couple of stoppages and neutralised sections disrupted the rhythm early on.

At half distance the race started to take shape with Alex Braybrooke of Velocity WD-40 and Joey Walker of RST Racing Team off the front of a rapidly fragmenting race. They had a 10 second lead over Sean Noon of Edinurgh RC and Rian Hill of Classic Racing Team with Gwyn Lovibond of Team Wallis, Elliot Reynolds of Clay Cross RT and Julian Varley of PH-MAS Cycling a further ten seconds behind them and 15 seconds ahead of the bunch.

Over the course of lap 10 those seven riders formed in to a bunch and managed to hold a steady 25-second gap on the field. They lost Hill but grew the gap to 30 seconds and then to just over 45 seconds by the bell.

A concerted effort by the bunch almost reeled them in but it was Noon who took the win ahead of Braybrooke, Walker, Lovibond, Reynolds and Varley. The winner of the Loughborough round Matt Gibson of Velocity WD-40 led the chasing bunch home after a difficult race – just six seconds behind Noon’s breakaway group.

Noon – originally on the reserve list for the race – spoke to British Cycling after the race. “We were black flagged a couple of times early in the race and after that I was just sort of drifting around in the bunch – I didn’t really want to attack. And I just found myself in the group - there were seven of us and then one guy got dropped.”

Had he realised how close the bunch were at the end? “Not until about 500m to go. I knew it was a slight uphill, so I thought I’d leave it until a wee bit later. I came round the RST guy [Walker] and the WD-40 rider [Braybrooke] and then just sort of sensed that I’d got it.”

Had the change of course thrown him – or suited him? “I’d actually raced here before – on that same course – in the Sheffrec race – a couple of months ago, so I knew the course quite well. I thought we’d get brought back because it’s a fast course and it’s difficult for a group to stay away, so it was quite surprising – but I’m happy enough to win!”

Results

1 Sean Noon (Edinburgh RC)
2 Alex Braybrooke (Velocity WD40)
3 Joey Walker (RST Racing Team)
4 Gwyn Lovibond (Team Wallis)
5 Elliot Reynolds (Clay Cross RT)
6 Julian Varley (PH-MAS Cycling)
7 Matt Gibson (Velocity WD40)