TEAM Enable rider Nick Whitley suffered last lap heartbreak at the UCI Masters Cyclo-cross World Championships in Hamburg, Germany.
Whitley finished fourth in the men’s 55 to 59 age category race following a sprint to the line with two other riders as he just missed out on a place on the podium by a single second.
Riding for Coventry-based Team Enable-MI Racing-Townsend Vehicle Hire, as Whitley opened up for the final sprint he managed to unclip a foot from a pedal.
This cost him valuable power which led to an agonising fourth-place finish. Coventry-based teammate Darren Atkins finished 10th in the same race.
German rider Jens Schwedler won the race by a margin of 12 seconds.
Also competing for Team Enable at the World Championships, Philip Roach finished 32nd in the men’s 60 to 64 age category race.
And Lynsey Whitley finished 20th overall and was the fourth British rider across the line in the women’s 45 to 49 age category race.
The event saw the world’s best age group riders compete against each other to win the coveted rainbow jersey.
Elsewhere, as Storm Darragh began to sweep across the United Kingdom, Whitley made the ong journey down to Clanfield in Hampshire to race in round four of the National Cyclo-cross Trophy Series.
On a difficult course, Whitley secured a third place finish in the men’s 50 to 59 age category race.
And in the men’s 60-plus race, Roach finished 19th with the fifth and final round to take place in Tong in Bradford early in the New Year.
Team Enable’s riders also competed in domestic races as Sandwell Valley Country Park played host to the 11th and final round of the West Midlands Cyclo-Cross League.
Overnight rain led to a sticky and slippery surface as Alan Buxcey finished 45th in the men’s 50 to 59 age category race.
And Pete Busby rode to an excellent third-place finish in the men’s 60-plus race with Mark Garrett further back in 10th place.
In the men’s senior race, Warwick-based rider Tom Bradley produced his best performance of the season to finish 11th while Colin Miller placed fifth in the men’s 40-plus race.
