DARREN Shepherd (Primera) scored his first ever national level win at the fourth round of the mountain bike National Points Series at Eastridge in Shropshire.

After an early season win at Gorrick, Shepherd has struggled against the might of the ridebike.co.uk duo of Mark Chadbourne and Roland Tilley in the veteran's category.

But last weekend saw him break his duck on the national stage.

"This win now makes it very interesting going into the final round between myself and Mark as the overall series win all hinges on the final race," said Shepherd.

It was a double win for the Shepherd family with eldest son Sam, nine, winning the Future stars race ahead of younger brother Aidan, who was fourth.

Other local riders included Roland Tilley in third and Steve Moors in 16th in the veterans.

Garrett Hill (VOtwo.co.uk) was 11th in the grand vets while Carol Tilley (ridebike.co.uk) came fourth in the veterans.

JONES TOP IN TRIAL

Paul Jones (Bournemouth Jubilee Wheelers) took another victory in the EDCA 15-mile time trial recording a time of 32:41 to take the honours ahead of the experienced veteran Ray Hughes (Clarence Wheelers).

The ever-green Terry Icke (Poole Wheelers) recorded 34:34 to place fourth and led team-mates Leighton Girling (seventh, 35.02) and first female finisher Louise Dutch (eighth, 35.13) to the team prize ahead of the Jubilee.

  • While Mark Cavendish will be one of the biggest spectator attractions at the Tour of Ireland, local rider Daniel Lloyd (An Post/Sean Kelly) will be hoping to impress.

Riding for the Irish registered team, Lloyd from Bransgore will be hoping to get the team's patriotic green jersey noticed on the hilly stages of the five-day race.

For the second year, ITV4 will provide highlights to every stage at 7pm which will also be available on their catch up service on itv.com.

DORSET DUO IN CHINA

After the incredible success of the able bodied athletes at Beijing, Great Britain's Paralympic cycling team made their final preparations this week at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester before flying out to China.

Dorset's Darren Kenny and Barney Storey were among Team GB riders training with their all-new bikes, clothing and equipment provided by the UK Sports Institute.

Kenny will be targeting gold in the 1km and 3km while Storey will be riding tandem with An-tony Kappes in the 200m and 1km.

Kenny will also take part in the road events where he will lock horns once again with his rival Javier Ochoa (Spain).