Mid-Devon cycling stars set for big moves as Dexter Townsend joins Ineos

Four young graduates from the Mid-Devon Cycling Club’s Academy are set to join new higher-level teams next year, headed by Dexter Townsend’s eye-catching move to top GB squad Netcompany Ineos.

Townsend, Meryn Kitching, Bayley Woodger and Matt Holmes, all of whom have cut their racing teeth on the Mid-Devon’s talent pathway, are moving to pastures new.

Eighteen-year-old Townsend has been headhunted by the Ineos Academy Under-23 team after an impressive 2026 season littered with wins and podium places at home and abroad.

The Somerset-based teenager, who has also been riding for Yorkshire’s Harrogate Nova team this year, celebrated victories in Spain and his ‘home’ Tour of the Mendips, plus top-three places in France and Germany.

But it may have been his gutsy ninth place in the prestigious Philippe Gilbert Juniors race in Belgium recently, where he chased solo from the peloton to the winning breakaway, that clinched his Ineos selection.

Like Woodger and Holmes, Kitching has ridden for Mid-Devon on and off road since he was eight years old.

He is following former clubmate Piers Mahn to the well-established Halesowen CC, one of the UK’s leading race teams which is based at its own velodrome in the West Midlands.

Paignton’s Woodger, who spent 2026 with Holland’s Grouwels-Watersley R&D squad, is returning to the UK with Lea Valley CC, which is based at its own closed circuit in Walthamstow, London.

Holmes, 16, from Ivybridge, is expected to ride for a new junior team in South Wales being backed by former international stars Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe.

Thomas and Rowe are leading contributors to popular podcast Watts Occurring, which is sponsoring a squad spawned from Cardiff’s Maindy Flyers club.

For all four, these are steps on the ladder beyond the South West bike racing circuit.

Holmes showed another glimpse of his potential with a fine ride in the National Hill Climb Championships on Porlock Toll Road on Sunday.

A huge field of 520 riders, roared on by thousands of supporters, recreated the championships’ unique atmosphere on the 4.1-mile test on Exmoor.

Holmes is only 16, but he finished 16th in the Under-19 class in a time of 17mins 41.1secs. Kitching (21st) clocked 18.52.9.

A sensational overall result saw brilliant 16-year-old Ezra Bateman from Scarborough ‘win’ in 14.31.9.

Bateman just held off Welshman Ed Laverack (14.32.1) , who had last won the title on Haytor in 2019, and reigning champion Andrew Feather (14.33.3).

But under Cycle Time Trial rules, a junior rider cannot be crowned senior champion.

That regulation has been widely criticised since Sunday’s event, especially as a veteran (O40) is allowed to win it.

Lili Gardner from Cardiff justified her favourite’s tag to win the Ladies title in 17.33.1. The previous weekend marked the first round of the National Cyclo-Cross Trophy Series.

The competition does not include a round at the Torbay Velopark this year, but MDCC veterans Robin Delve, Cathy Kilburn and Jackie Shute all left their mark on Round One at Derby.

Kilburn was second in the Women’s 60-69yrs, Shute finished eighth in the 50-59yrs group and former World Masters champion Delve was ninth among the Men’s 60-69yrs field.