Bell begins Nationals build-up

2021 hill-climb champ kicks off campaign with a win

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Tom Bell has his sights set on reclaiming his national hillclimb title after opening his 2023 season with victory at the Cheltenham & County CC event in Gloucestershire on Saturday morning.

Having won the national title in 2021, Bell was runner-up to Andrew Feather in 2022 after a disrupted climbing season, but the High North Performance rider posted an encouraging 4.09 to finish clear of Gabe Dellar (Stolen Goat Racing) in second place.

Third place on the 0.82-mile ascent of Bushcombe Lane went to Joe Rees (Kalas Motip) in 4.26.4 - just five-tenths of a second ahead of fourth-placed David Fellows (Solihull CC).

"That was my first of the year so it is good to get it out of the way and always nice to get a win," said Bell. "A few things got in the way of training last year and I was just playing catch-up through the season, and that told at the National Championships.

"It's been a little bit of a similar story this year, a few other things going on and I planned to start training a little earlier.