Wood races to the winter with Haytor and Widecombe climb victories

Harrison Wood (Anicolor-Tien21) duly delivered wins in both the Mid-Devon Cycling Club’s back-to-back Hill Climbs of Haytor and Widecombe.

It was an expected end to the Torquay pro’s 2025 season, and he will spend the next few weeks resting and considering his options for next year.

A return to Portugal, where he has impressed during Anicolor’s all-conquering campaign, is a possibility.

But the 25-year-old climber goes into the winter saying: “I’m a bit frustrated that I haven’t been able to deliver the individual results that I’m capable of.

“I haven’t had much luck with mechanical problems at key points in big races, where I had a chance of doing the results that people notice.”

The former WorldTour (Team Cofidis) rider believes he’s still good enough to ride at the top level.

He added: “I’ve had a few approaches for next season, and it’s a case of thinking carefully before I decide what to do next.”

It was a glorious clear day on Dartmoor, but a headwind on Haytor ruled out fast times there.

Wood still clocked 12mins 56secs, beating MDCC junior Henry Cadwallader (14.01) and University of Bristol CC’s Joe Fenney (14.41) into second and third places.

There was a slight tailwind on the much shorter, steeper Widecombe Hill, where Wood won in 5mins 1sec, only 50 seconds down on former Olympian Chris Boardman’s long-standing course record.

Fenney was second again (5.34) with 1st Chard Wheelers’ Ollie Pennington (5.41) third.

The fastest Lady on both hills was Hannah Bayes (Team BoomPods), who recorded 18.30 on Haytor and 7.13 on Widecombe.