Mark Spessot finished strongly to win a revised Palmerston handicap race on Saturday.
On a challenging course and in difficult conditions, Maaike Duncan was set off on limit 27 minutes ahead of a scratch group containing Spessot and Scott Lyttle, who knew what was needed to catch the leaders.
The bunch started to break up past Dunback as the climbers got into their work on the bigger hills.
Duncan was still out in front, and with 10km to go the scratch group caught the first and second breaks.
At the 4km point, the riders came together.
Not wanting to wait for the sprint finish, Lyttle pulled away from the bunch.
The only rider to react was Spessot, who closed the gap.
As the line approached, the two elite riders battled it out, with the wiser Spessot taking the win.
As the bunch descended on the line, Patrick Jones, who had started on second break and had a solid ride, pipped Stu Crookes for third place.
In a sprint to the line to decide the fastest female for the day, Caroline Jenkins was pipped at the post by Katri Laike.
- Steve Havard
