Race Report: 2026 Winchester Circuit Men’s 2/3

Date: 05/09/2026

AVRT racers: Andrew Ernst, Paul Levy

Top Result: Andrew (8th)

Course: 5 laps of a 4.5 mile rolling circuit. Rollers into a straight, fast descent followed by a longer tiered climb. Finish is halfway up the climb. Beautiful course, great pavement, no sketchy corners.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/18442707217

Nutrition: Usual breakfast followed by a few pop tarts and granola bars during the drive up. Just water during the race

Recap:
From the whistle there was an acceleration and I jumped on the wheel. It stayed fast into the main descent where I suddenly found myself with a 20 second gap on the field coming into the climb. I knew this wasn’t a race for a solo breakaway so I just maintained a steady tempo hoping some strong riders would bridge and we could keep a gap over the top. This scenario played out as I hoped it would, but our gap was closed before the descent on lap two.

In subsequent laps, climbers would attempt to get away and inevitably be reeled back in on the fast rollers and descent. I contributed to a few of those chases but tried to conserve energy where I could. Paul also helped keep the pace high to bring back these solo riders. Teams with multiple riders like Dolce Vita and Terun did their fair share on the front too.

My heart rate was inevitably through the roof so I knew a solo flyer wasn’t in the cards. The profile of the final climb really favors a draft.  My plan was to sit in through the final flat section and then unleash my “sprint” with 200 km to go. I did exactly that. I felt my timing was pretty good but my “sprint” just wasn’t enough to contest an uphill finish.

Overall I think we raced well considering the strength of the field and the profile of the course.