After 61 kilometres, three mountains and more than 1,500 metres of climbing, the 2026 3 Peaks Cyclo-Cross came down to something almost unheard of at Helwith Bridge – a sprint finish.
Lachlan Morton edged two-time winner Giles Drake by little more than half a wheel at the end of an extraordinary battle across the Yorkshire Dales, producing what has been described as the closest finish in living memory and quite possibly the closest in the long history of the race.
Morton’s winning time was 3:02:19, with Drake just one second behind, but the numbers hardly tell the story. After more than three hours of racing over Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-y-Ghent, the pair arrived at the finish together and the victory was ultimately decided by inches.
For a race normally won through attrition rather than outright sprinting speed, it was a remarkable conclusion.
Morton had come agonisingly close twelve months earlier, finishing second behind record-breaking 2025 winner Jenson Young. This time the Australian finally took the victory on his third appearance at the event, having originally finished fourth on his debut in 2019.
But Drake made him work for every inch of it.
The former 2023 and 2024 winner once again demonstrated why experience counts for so much at the 3 Peaks. The 40-year-old matched Morton across one of cycling’s most unusual courses and was still alongside him as the race reached its final decisive metres.
After carrying bikes up brutally steep slopes, negotiating rocky descents and racing long stretches of Yorkshire road, the sight of the two leaders sprinting shoulder-to-shoulder towards the line provided an extraordinary ending to the 62nd edition of the race.
Jack Lucas completed the overall podium in 3:04:24, only a little over two minutes behind the leading pair, while 13-time winner Rob Jebb produced yet another remarkable 3 Peaks performance to finish fourth.
There was history in the women’s race too.
Isla Short made an extraordinary 3 Peaks debut, winning in 3:36:30 and apparently breaking one of the event’s longest-standing records in the process.
The Scottish mountain biker finished 2 minutes 18 seconds ahead of three-time defending champion Bryony Halcrow, whose 3:38:48 was itself an impressive performance. Madeline Moorhouse-Smith completed the women’s podium.
Short’s time was more than three minutes quicker than Louise Robinson’s 3:39:33 from 2003, which had stood as the benchmark for more than two decades.
There were also strong performances from two high-profile 3 Peaks debutants. Leading trail runner Tom Evans finished 21st overall in 3:27:03, while double Olympic triathlon champion Alistair Brownlee completed his first edition in 3:57:18.
Yet for all the impressive performances across the field, the lasting image of the 2026 race is likely to be its finish.
The 3 Peaks has produced legendary rides, huge winning margins, mechanical dramas and spectacular collapses over more than six decades. A genuine head-to-head sprint for victory after three hours across the Yorkshire mountains is something altogether different.
Morton finally has his 3 Peaks victory.
He could hardly have won it by less.
Dave Haygarth, veteran 3 Peaks rider has some great post-race interviews on his blog, worth a look!
