The Portsdown Classic is well known as the first Nat B of the season and always draws a stacked field, with this year being no different. The race itself is only around 75km long, meaning it's an all out effort for a couple of hours, with intense racing right from the start.

Here is what HUNT athlete, Tom Couzens, had to say about the race:

"For me this was my first road race of the season and with it landing only a week after my off season I was pretty unsure to how I would perform. As expected at the start of February, the conditions were pretty cold and damp with a light wind. Considering this and also the fact the circuit was quite a rolling one, I chose the SUB50 Limitless wheelset which faired up perfectly and proved to be the perfect all rounder on the climbs, crosswinds and also the flat!

With so little training in my legs, I just wanted to try and enjoy the race as best as possible and treat it as a good bit of training with a focus on getting round. I managed to stick to that plan pretty well even when the break of the day went up the road pretty early on. I managed to resist the temptation to try and bridge as I knew I would explode and so had to save my matches. As the race went on, the bunch thinned out lap after lap, mainly through the pace that was set up the climb each lap. As things were so intense up there, it did mean things would ease up quite considerably over the top of the climb and in the slight crosswind, as everyone was just trying to recover a little from going so hard.