Ill Draper wins BC National Series round

Teenage Manx cyclist sprints clear on final climb

Young Manx cyclist Nathan Draper pulled another BC National Series round win out of the bag on Sunday at Hatherleigh in South Devon.

Draper has been in good form recently, picking up gold and silver medals at the Island Games, but he was not feeling well at the weekend.

He looked like he was struggling, riding at the back of the peloton a quarter of the way through the race, and was urged by his dad to pull out at the end of the first of two, 30-mile laps.

He said he was okay and carried on.

A breakaway was reined in, after which Draper began orchestrating attacks with around five miles to go.

With around 500m to go a touch of wheels in the breakaway saw a couple of riders go down and Draper braking hard to avoid the crash.

At this point, with the bunch almost upon them and a long draggy climb to the finish it was now or never and somehow he found the energy to attack once again, winning the stage by three seconds.