CW's top 30 British riders of 2009: No. 21

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No. 21 Kristian House
Last year's position: N/A

Arriving at the finish of the British National Championship road race with Cervélo's Dan Lloyd, Barloworld's Chris Froome and young talent Peter Kennaugh, House knew he'd have to use all his cunning to win the gold medal and prestigious jersey.

The Kent-born rider, who grew up in Texas before returning to Europe to race as a teenager, can say he won the national title against arguably the toughest field that has ever assembled for the title race.

All the stars returned to Abergavenny in late June to contest the championship, and most people were expecting one of the European-based heavyweights to win it.

It was an extremely aggressive race, enlivened by a brilliant two-man escape by Bradley Wiggins and Froome.

And as most of the most domestic-based riders tailed off, House dug in and stayed with it, despite the fact that his preparation in the month leading up to the hilly 100-mile event was almost exclusively circuit racing.

But that may have counted in his favour when it came to the final bend and tricky sprint, because the Rapha-Condor man was too fast for the other three.

It was by far the best result of his year, although he was sixth overall in the Mi-Août Bretonne race in north-west France, and a fine 10th overall at the Tour of Britain.

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