TEENAGER Oscar Mingay is just one of the Welsh youngsters hoping to blaze a trail of glory this Sunday at the Family Vision Monmouthshire Junior Grand Prix.

With five legs gone the 17-year-old is currently holding a commanding lead at the top of the ten-event British Cycling Junior Road Race Series.

Mingay leads the Welsh team contingent over the Monmouthshire course which finishes in Grosmont and is part of the Abergavenny Festival of Cycling.

The youngster, who is a first year junior and also part of the Welsh junior development programme, won the two-day Screentek International Junior Tour of the Mendips in April and has taken three second places in the other legs leading up to the Monmouthshire event.

Mingay, of the Giant CC Halo Films team, will be joined by Pontypridd’s Rhys Britton and Newport’s Dan Coombe and Ethan Vernon.

But the Welsh youngsters are unlikely to have it their own way over the 77.4 miles course that starts at Crossway, near Cross Ash, and rolls through a 29.3 miles circuit of the county before finishing with three 13.6 miles circuits around Grosmont and district.

Promoter Bill Owen said, “Wales has a rich heritage of bringing through junior riders to become top professionals and it is great to see a Welsh youngster taking the British Cycling Junior Road Race Series by storm this year.

“However, there is a lot of competition for the prize this Sunday and Oscar and the Welsh lads will have to be on their best form to come out on top.”

Owen added, “It is great to see the next generation of British cycling stars on the roads of Monmouthshire this weekend.”

The Festival will kick-off with the Iron Mountain Sportif on Saturday where amateur club and leisure riders can take part in four events - from a 100 miles ride which takes in the legendary ‘Tumble’, to the Monmouthshire 20, a ride along the flatlands of the county.

Entries for the Sportif are now only available on the day.

The Festival of Cycling will include a family fun day in Bailey Park on Saturday afternoon.

For further information about the Abergavenny Festival of Cycling, go to www.abergavennyfestivalofcycling.co.uk

(Pictured is the Junior Welsh team (L-R) Sam Tillett, Joe Beckingsale, Oscar Mingay, James Tillett. Cadence)