THE sportive may have been disrupted by tacks on the road in Caerleon and Caerphilly but the professional cycling stars had nothing but praise for the first ever Velothon Wales.

Around 15,000 riders, both amateur and pro, took to the closed road circuit around south Wales, starting and finishing in Cardiff and taking in the stunning scenery of Gwent and Monmouthshire along the way.

The morning sportive for the amateurs – riding either 50km or 140km – saw isolated incidents of tacks causing punctures.

But the afternoon pro race, all 174km of it, went without a hitch and the event was praised by all the riders.

The winner of the pro race was Martin Mortensen of Cult Energy Pro Cycling.

The Dane said: “It was pretty tough but I've got good teammates and I think we did a good job.

“It is my first time in Wales. It's really beautiful here, the people are nice and it was great to do the ride on quiet closed roads.”

Gwent riders Sam Harrison and Jon Mould didn't finish after acting as domestiques for their teams, but Cardiff cyclist Owain Doull was in the chasing pack for Team Wiggins behind the leading three and ended up in 10th position.

“It went alright for me,” said the 22-year-old. “I didn’t see anything negative at all.

“I just saw a lot of people out supporting the race, which was nice to see.

“The group of three got away before the climbs and it was three strong guys so it was always going to be a tall order to get them back.

“It was a 30 or 40 second gap and I know the roads pretty well but it was always going to be difficult to catch the leaders around Caerphilly because they are quick roads and technical.

“A lot of the guys I was with had teammates at the front so they weren’t too committed to chasing them down.

“It was real hard but I expected that,” he added.

“It went past my house in Llanishen just before the lake with about 4k to go and I was leading the chase group.

“It was a bit surreal to see my nan on the side of the road.

“If I’d been further down I’d probably have popped in for a cup of tea and not bothered finishing!”