Corrin Leeming won the UCI Gran Fondo Isle of Man event for the first time on Sunday, 24 hours after also winning the time trial.

The Greeba-raised triathlete, who has been studying at Loughborough University in recent years, enjoyed a close battle with former winner Will Draper in the closing stages of the feature event, but Leeming proved sharper in the final sprint at the end of the gruelling 83-miler to oust Draper by two seconds win by two seconds in 3hr 48min 41sec.

Marcus Christie, of Bready, Strabane, grabbed the final step on the podium in the closing stages.

The leading female was Cheltenham-based Jennifer Powell of the Performance Development team.

Powered by Santander International, the ninth running of the two-day event certainly attracted a global field. More than half of the total entry of 1,000 riders from off-island, many from overseas - indeed a total of 30 countries were represented.

Much of the three Sunday events (over varying distances) took place on closed roads over mixed terrain, the longest including a total of 7,300 feet of ascent.

Leeming, Draper, Christie, Callum Salisbury and Ivan Sorby got away after attacking up Druidale. They had a few minutes advantage on the next group, but Sorby eventually double punctured out. Christie also got a flat but got a wheel change and was able to continue.

The three leading locals - Draper, Leeming and Salisbury - were something like six minutes ahead at Injebreck, but the latter began to cramp up, enabling the other two to pull a gap.

The Tholt-y-Will descent was fine for teenager Salisbury, but when he got to Jurby Road, with around three miles remaining, the cramp got really bad.

He had to stop and stretch his legs, and soon after Christie caught and passed him in Ramsey to grab the final place on the podium.

Salisbury’s only consolation on what was his 19th birthday was receiving the white jersey for the best under-21.

Full round-up from the Gran Fondo weekend in this week’s Manx Independent.