IN FRONT of a roaring Abergavenny crowd, Team Sky's Peter Kennaugh finally claimed the National Road Race Championships crown he had come so close to on four previous occasions. Manxman Kennaugh, 25, won a brilliant sprint to the line by the thickness of a wheel from his team-mate Ben Swift, following 111 kilometres of action throughout Monmouthshire and ten finishing laps around Abergavenny town centre. The pair forged ahead in the closing kilometres to leave third-placed Simon Yates trailing over a minute behind. The tough course around Monmouthshire saw the 144-man field split as they trawled up to Trellech from Tintern after visiting the Celtic Manor Resort again, the scene of Thursday's Time Trials, riding down the A48 to Chepstow and then returning to Abergavenny via the Wye Valley and Monmouth. Seven riders were in the lead group as they entered Abergavenny, with four of them members of Team Sky. Another, Wales' double Olympic Games champion Geraint Thomas tried to cross the long gap that had been built up between the leading bunch and the rest but, despite a great effort, he had to give up the chase. It left the seven to fight it out and, with sprint specialists like Ben Swift in the mix, Cardiff's Luke Rowe went for glory with seven laps to go but he was caught and, with the last laps looming, Kennaugh and Swift attacked and left the rest in their wake. There was nothing between them as they entered Frogmore Street in Abergavenny with the finish line in their sights. Isle of Man ace Kennaugh went for glory and just got home ahead of his colleague to finally take the red, white and blue jersey. He had previously finished second twice in 2008 and 2010 and third in 2009, the last time the Nationals were held in Monmouthshire, so this victory was golden for Kennaugh, whose Mum and Dad were in Abergavenny to see him cross the line. Kennaugh explained that knowing the final stretch to the line from his previous visit to Abergavenny five years ago was crucial to this success. "I think if I had not been here in 2009, I would not have won it (now). I have had a lot of experience but after I was dropped on the climbs, I may have said 'That's it' and sat on them the whole way in. "I still didn't think I would win it but I knew I had something like a forty per cent chance. The sprint went downhill and is almost like the track where you use more cadence in the faster sprint. I am a lot better against the guys compared to what I am on the road in that respect so I knew I had half a chance. "I opened up the sprint and I could not believe I started to go around him (Swift). In the back of my mind, I said it is not over until you cross the line and I didn't think I would win it even when I was next to him. I just grabbed the bars and gave it everything to the line. "I am made up about it. I am over the moon." Kennaugh also told how tactics with Team Sky colleague Rowe, who was fourth, helped develop the split in the seven-man lead group that he and Swift exploited. "We had a little chat, me and Luke, and I said we needed to make it hard with four to go. I said I would be attacking and he said 'I will have a dig first' and it all spanned from there." And he was also quick to praise the Monmouthshire course, set by organiser Bill Owen and his team. Kennaugh added, "I would not say it was tougher than normal but it was really good in that it enabled it to be a race with hard climbs but it kept the race altogether and gave everyone an opportunity."

Welshman Edward Laverack,19, from Llanelli, continued his rise in road cycling by taking the Men's Under-23 title. Laverack came home 13th in the Elite Men's Road Race in a time of four hours, 30.54mins and took the age group National jersey ahead of Zappi's Race Team duo Daniel Pearson and Dante Carpenter, who were runner-up and third-placed respectively.