A COUNTY cyclist is preparing to line up against the likes Team Sky this weekend competing to be crowned National Road Race Champion.

Andy Turner, 23, from Ross-on-Wye is travelling to Northumberland this week for the time trial on Thursday over 24 miles and the televised road race championships over 114 miles on Sunday when the British titles will be decided.

"I haven't been riding from time trial bike much so that will be a case of seeing how it goes," said Turner.

"I did the national road race in 2016 and then there was only six World Tour professionals but this year there are 15 riders including Team Sky.

"All the best British riders will be there and they will probably set a high pace last year there was less than 20 finishers from 150 starters. So it will be a case of seeing how things go.

"I think the course is rolling so I won't be able to sit in the bunch and the pressure will always be on for the five and a half hours duration."

Turner has been preparing for the National Championships by taking part in several weeks of UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) stage races with his sponsored Team KTM UK.

He recently took part in the Ras Tailteann in Ireland over eight consecutive days when riders cover 725 miles of arduous and often mountainous terrain.

In a field which included international teams from as far afield as the USA, the team worked well together to achieve the highest overall General Classification placing for a British rider, as well as a coveted stage win.

This was no mean feat against riders from National squads, some of whom have ridden at Olympic level.

Along with spending many kilometres working on the front of the race for his team, Turner also managed a day in the breakaway group which resulted in him finishing with an overall ninth place in the King of The Mountains competition.

A couple of days at home provided an opportunity for vital recovery work – both to Andy’s legs and his race bike – courtesy of fellow Herefordians Sam Griffiths at Kinesis Sports Therapy and James Russell at Veloshop.

The Tour of Bihor was next and saw the team heading off to the city of Oradea in Romania.

Again, there was a varied international field, including a professional team which had just raced the Giro d’Italia (won by Chris Froome).

With five of the seven-man team having just completed the Ras, it was a demanding three days of racing, with a significant amount of climbing in temperatures which reached 36 degrees.

Once again, the team worked well together and managed to deal successfully with extremely challenging race conditions. Overall, Team KTM UK finished ahead of six UCI professional teams – a great achievement from an amateur UK team.

"I hadn't done a UCI stage race before and going into them I didn't know what to expect," added Turner.

"I sent a lot of the races sitting near the front and sharing up the pace so our team leader had a wheel to sit on and wasn't fighting for position."