BRITAIN'S Tom Stewart claimed victory in the pro race at the second Velothon Wales, as thousands of amateur riders tackled the 140km sportive.

Sunday’s event mixed one of Europe’s biggest closed-road sportives for the general public with a UCI Sanctioned 1.1 professional road race.

After a thrilling 194km pro race it was Stewart, riding for Madison Genesis, who hung on to his breakaway lead in the finishing straight to take the victory ahead of Stolting Service Groups’ Rasmus Guldhammer in second and NFTO’s Ian Bibby in third place.

Victory for 26-year-old Stewart came a week after he won the Lincoln Grand Prix and an impressive showing in the Tour de Yorkshire.

“I am so chuffed. I have never gone as deep as this over the last four weeks in my life and today was another record again,” admitted Stewart.

“As a team we really deserved what we got in Lincoln last week and this is another great moment for us. It was a brilliant race, really hard and I decided to take it on.

“First time up the Tumble was steady and then the second time was much harder and that’s when I made my move.

“I felt really good on Caerphily the first time, got away with a couple of other riders and then got caught. Then I just went again and got a gap going over the top.

“I can’t sprint for toffee so I decided to go for it. I kept telling myself ‘don’t get home tonight and regret anything, just dig deeper and deeper’. What a relief it was to win.”

Building on the success of last year’s inaugural event, Velothon Wales welcomed 12,000 registered amateur riders to take on the challenge of the 140km route around South Wales.

The challenging course takes in some of the country’s most scenic roads, as well as the infamous ‘Tumble’ and Caerphilly Mountain climbs.

Matt Newman, chief executive of Run 4 Wales, the local partner supporting IRONMAN in delivering Velothon Wales 2016, said: “Congratulations to the many thousands of riders who completed today’s Velothon Wales and thank you to the huge number of people who lined the 140km route to show their support.

“The success of today’s event is testament to the hard work of all the stakeholders involved in the planning and delivery of the event and more than 1,500 staff and volunteers working on the day.

“Initial feedback from those who took part has been overwhelmingly positive and the increased communication to residents and businesses prior to the event helped to reduce disruption on the day.

“We will continue to make improvements to all aspects of the race for next year and we are already looking forward to the third Velothon Wales in 2017.

“Anyone wishing to register their interest in taking part in 2017 can visit www.velothon-wales.co.uk for information.”

First across the line in the 140km sportive was former time-trialist Jamie Wilkins. He made a huge solo effort to break away from the rest of the field 60 kilometres from the finish.

It was a bold move, but one which allowed him to come home four minutes ahead of his nearest rival. He was the quickest rider up the Tumble climb at the inaugural event in 2015 and has vowed to return for a third year in 2017.

“The front group was a very high standard and we were clocking 28-30 mph. Five of us broke clear just before the Tumble and I then found myself out in front with 60k left to ride and I just went for it,” said the 35-year-old Wilkins.

“It was great being on the closed roads, the scenery and challenge of the course are fantastic and the support was amazing. I’ve competed big sportives before, but this is among the best.”

Wilkins was the first of the finishers in the amateur sportive, with a number of famous faces including former Wales rugby internationals Shane Williams, Colin Charvis, Ian Gough, Ryan Jones and Rhys Williams.

Wales wing legend Shane Williams is building towards IRONMAN Wales in Tenby later this year and was delighted to have cracked the four-and-a-half hour mark.

“I’ve got absolutely nothing left to give and my legs are shot but it was a fantastic experience and a magnificent event,” said Williams.

“The only part of the course I’d been on before was the Tumble climb, and that was tough. I managed to overtake two of my old team mates, Ryan Jones and Ian Gough, on the climb and I was happy to beat both of them.

“The climb in Caerphilly was even tougher and at one point I thought I was going to have to stop. If I’d done that then I don’t think I’d have been able to get back on the bike.

“Other than those two climbs it is a really fast course and the views were fantastic. It was an event that showed off Wales at its best and the organisers did a great job – I‘ll definitely be back next year.”

Organisers dealt with one incident of a car accessing the closed roads during the morning of the event, leading to the amateur race being paused briefly while the route was cleared. All riders were then able to continue with minimal disruption.

Full results and pre-registration for Velothon Wales 2017 can be found at www.velothon-wales.co.uk