NEWPORT’S Jon Mould won the 2015 British Cycling Elite Circuit Series title on home soil in Chepstow tonight.

The 24-year-old ONE Pro Cycling rider went into the Chepstow Grand Prix – round seven of eight – with a 46-point lead at the top of the standings.

And even though Mould retired midway through the race on a wet and cold night he cannot be caught by his only challenger David McGowan, who did not start.

Pedal Heaven RT rider McGowan remains on 110 points to Mould’s 156 after seven rounds of the series with a maximum of 30 available to the winner in the final round in Abergavenny on Friday night.

The stage winner in Chepstow, where the tight twisting streets provided an extra level of challenge for the peloton, was Graham Briggs of JLT Condor.

The 32-year-old from Doncaster, winner of the British National Circuit Race Championships in 2011 and the 2012 Elite Circuit Series, attacked from the off and was a whole minute ahead of his rivals at the halfway stage.

Briggs very nearly lapped the peloton and was never in danger of being caught after his superb start.

The 73 pro riders raced for one hour plus five laps after amateurs young and old had taken to the closed roads.

The lap began on Bridge Street before a series of sharp turns took riders onto Nelson Street.

The race continued on narrow streets to Lower Church Street before a left-hander onto St Ann Street.

A final left onto Bridge Street brought the race back to the start.

The series concludes in Abergavenny on Friday night, where Mould will be officially crowned the 2015 Elite Circuit Series champion.

Mould has been a member of British Cycling’s Olympic Academy Programme since 2010 and represented Wales at the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and 2014.

He has previously won the British National Team Pursuit Championships in 2008 and the Madison races at the 2009 European Junior Track Championships and the 2009 British Championships.

In 2011 Mould won the omnium and the scratch races at the National Track Championships and he repeated the feat in 2013, when he also claimed first place in the Welsh National Road Race Championships and the Welsh National Criterium Championships.

On his way to the Elite Circuit Series title this year he crossed the line first in Redditch and Stafford, second in Beverley and Totnes and third in Otley.