MIKE Northey became only the second man to win both of the Abergavenny Festival of Cycling’s principle weekend races when he stormed home ahead of the field to take the Grand Prix of Wales on a baking hot Sunday afternoon.

Yorkshireman Russell Downing claimed the double back in 2008 and, after New Zealander Northey won the Wales Open Criterium on Friday night in a thrilling finish, he rode down the centre of the town in triumph yesterday to come home by three seconds from team-mate Steve Lampier.

The two of them had ridden away from third-placed rider Mark Christian on the final lap of ten closing loops of the town but the 24-year-old Kiwi still had a sprint in him after nearly four hours of exhaustive effort which included a climb up the notorious Tumble Mountain between Abergavenny and Blaenavon.

And the Grand Prix of Wales paid its’ own tribute to Ben Carroll, of Cardiff, who died in a club handicap race on Tuesday by stopping the race for a minute’s silence at the spot just outside Abergavenny where the rider was killed in a head-on crash with a van.

Northey said the tribute was ‘moving’ and that he was delighted with his victory.

He said: “The group got away but I managed to get back to the front of the race and, from then on, it was my style of racing.”