Wood hopes foiled by the mechanics

Torquay’s Harrison Wood finished a frustrated 43rd out of 146 finishers at the Tour of the Algarve, just under seven minutes down on former Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard.

Wood, 24, riding for his new Portuguese team Anicolor-Tien21, was hampered by mechanical problems on two of the five stages.

His eventual placing was pretty good in the circumstances, against a high-quality field led by Vingegaard (Team Visma/Lease a Bike).

Wood will hope to take his form into the hill-packed Gran Camino three-day race in northern Portugal.

Fellow Mid-Devon CC graduate Ewan Warren finished 20th, in a reduced bunch 19 seconds behind the local winner in the Circuito del Guadiana.

The race in Andalucia was the first round of the Copa a Espana series, featuring four steep climbs but none of them long enough for riders like Warren to drop the sprinters.

Warren ended up leading out one of his Natural Greatness/Rali-Ale teammates, who finished sixth in the same time.

Younger Mid-Devon riders took part in several events across the UK at the weekend, including Ed Selwood at the British Track Championships at Manchester and Lara Dix, who was 10th at the latest round of the Odd Down Winter Circuit Series near Bath.