'Our plan was to make the race as hard as possible for everyone else, from the first kilometre' – Otto van Zanden edges tight CiCLE Classic

Otto Van Zanden takes the win, with Tom Armstong and Magnus Lorents Nielsen on his heels.

After almost 180 kilometres of racing, the podium of the Rutland–Melton CiCLE Classic was decided during a frenetic 50-metre sprint for the finish on Sunday, as three riders duked it out, with Otto van Zanden (Azerion Villa Valkenburg) taking the win. But only just.

Having placed sixth during last year’s CiCLE Classic, this was the 21-year-old Dutchman’s first road-racing win. But it’s not just any road race. A class 1.2 event that began in 2005, the CiCLE Classic is the longest running single-day international cycling race in the country. Britain’s version of Belgian-style bike racing, it chucks everything at riders, from sections of gravel to rubbly farm tracks and brutal ascents.