NOT LETTING the freezing temperatures get in his way, an in-form Danny Axford blasted his way to victory in the A3CRG ten mile time trial at Petersfield on Saturday.
A time trial is an individual event in which the riders race alone against the clock.
They set off at one minute intervals and the winner is the rider who covers the course in the fastest time.
Wanting to make up for for his second place in the Andover Wheelers event the previous week, Axford enjoyed the position of being last man off in the A3CRG race.
This position is reserved for the rider who would be expected to win and the Artic-Shorter-Rochford team captain didn't disappoint.
The morning dawned with early snow flurries but, by the 2pm start, conditions had warmed slightly.
When former end-to-end (Lands End to John O' Groats) record holder John Woodburn set off halfway down the field, it looked like the weather was about to take a turn for the worse and make the course treacherous.
But, never one to be put off, Axford was quickly into his stride and it is clear that 2005 already promises to be a good one for the Winchester rider.
Known as one of the country's most talented home-based riders, Axford is known for always respecting the difficulty of any course.
Tucked low on his aerodynamic bike and averaging over 26 miles an hour, it was to be Axford's day. He crossed the line in a time of 22 minutes, 43 seconds, destroying the course record in the process and pushing Peter Tadros of In Gear RT into second place by 30 seconds.
Showing that his good results are not just confined to his local club time trials, Stuart Martingale of the Sotonia CC rounded off the top ten with a time of 35 minutes, 58 seconds.
The final Revolution track meeting in Manchester was a who's who of world famous track cyclists.
Double Olympic medallist from Athens Rob Hayles from Cowplain now enjoys the position as one such headline rider.
With his Olympic partner Bradley Wiggins taking a break from track cycling to concentrate on the road, Hayles was paired with Re-Cycling. co.uk teammate Chris Newton.
Taking second place in the madison kilometre time trial by only a second from Swiss pairing of Bruno Risi and Franco Marvulli, it was clear that the Brits would have to pull something special out of the bag in the final madison if they wanted victory in front of their home crowd.
The Revolution series is fast becoming one of the most popular series in the world for the sport's top riders and Risi is one of the most successful track cyclists in the sport's history.
The final madison of the evening was a thrilling climax to the series.
The madison is an event that sees riders relay each other into the race by grabbing their hand and sling shotting them into the action - all at over 30 miles and hour and inches from your opponents.
The Swiss stars once again came home as winners, ahead of Belgian pairing Matthew Gilmore and Iljo Keisse, with Newton and Hayles in third.
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