Cycling Weekly had Ed Laverack (SwiftCarbon Pro Cycling) down as pre-race favourite but with three recent national champions all defying gravity well in recent weeks – Messrs. Andrew Feather, Dan Evans and Richard Bussell – it was by no means certain he would win, despite slicing nine seconds off the course record in the Bristol South CC hill climb the Sunday prior.
But ‘The Comic’ got it right and 25 year-old Laverack was the fastest man up Haytor on Dartmor in the CTT National Hill Climb Championship relegating Italian continental Colpack team roadman Paul Double – in the colours of