This year’s Brompton World Champs took place on a typical UK summer’s day – torrential rain poured from the dark, grey skies.
But the heavens opening didn’t stop 400 riders from 27 countries adorning their finest city garb to ride their folders around the temporary St James Park race track.
The race started with a Le Mans-style dash, riders unfolding their bikes before taking on the 16km circuit. Mark Emsley, thrice Bromley world champion, took an early lead but, for once, misjudged his pacing and was soon swamped by his competition.
Still, come the final lap, the world title remained wide open… and what an amazing last lap it proved to be. Unbelievably, a sextet of riders finished the race at 26:25mins, but by just a single centimetre, Catalan cyclist…