DAME Sarah Storey and her husband, Barney Storey MBE were in Abergavenny last Friday and told the Chronicle just how impressed they were by Monmouthshire's British Cycling National Road Championships course for 2014. One of Britain's heroines at London 2012, Dame Sarah visited Monmouthshire to try out the Time Trial and Road Race courses ahead of the championships on June 26-29. Her husband, Barney Storey MBE also visited the course to see how things are shaping up ahead of the championships. Storey won four gold medals for different cycling disciplines at the London 2012 Paralympics and her husband Barney, who rides as a sighted pilot for blind or partially sighted cyclists, won a gold and silver in different cycling disciplines at London 2012. Storey, who was in Abergavenny last time the championships were held here in 2009, said, "The course looks great and it was exhilarating to ride. It'll be very challenging on the day and a proper war of attrition. "What I like especially about this course, is the crowd are such a huge part of it. As you go through that arch in Monmouth and enter the really hard part of the course, it's great to hear the roar of the crowd as they wave you on. "Likewise when you're dong the final circuits in Abergavenny, it's fantastic to hear and see the crowd really getting into it. By this point their smiling faces are a nice contrast with the pained expressions of the weary riders," joked Storey, who added, "The British Cycling National Road Championships is a wonderful event and I'm sure cycling fans from across the UK are excited about making the trip to Monmouthshire to watch some fantastic cycling." Dame Sarah's husband Barney also gave the 2014 course his seal of approval, "It's awesome. It's in a superb neck of the woods, and the course itself appears to have a more European flavour than any I've previously seen in the UK. It'll be very interesting and all I can say is anyone who wins on it will definitely be a worthy winner." The championships will bring the crème de la crème of cycling talent to the county with male riders expected to include Tour de France winners Chris Froome and Sir Bradley Wiggins, defending national road race champion Mark Cavendish, defending national time trial champion Alex Dowsett and Wales' own Geraint Thomas. Female riders expected include defending national road race champion Lizzie Armitstead, London 2012 Olympic Champion on the track and defending time trial champion Joanna Rowsell and former double junior road world champion Lucy Garner. Mere mortals can also get involved in the championships by taking on the Championship Sportive, which has four different course difficulties ranging from a leisure route suitable for beginners to a high octane route which takes on the infamous Tumble Mountain. There is also the opportunity for female riders to take on a women's only course; a championship first. Abergavenny Cycling Festival organiser Bill Owen said, "It's been great to see the Storeys down here, testing out the course. It will be great to see the best of cycling talent taking on the course whilst those non-competitive cyclists that feel fit enough will also be able to get involved by taking on the Sportive. "To date there's been a lot of work involved in organinsing the events, but MCC have been a lot of help, and come June it'll all be worth it."