Unfinished Business: Jenson Young Returns to the Three Peaks

The Three Peaks Cyclo-Cross is a very British kind of hard. Long road drags that seem to have no end, stone steps and flagstones that throw you off the bike, and wind that cuts under your jacket and into your head. The course loops over Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-y-ghent, starting and finishing near Helwith Bridge, and you ride when you can, you run when you must, and you shoulder the bike when the ground leaves you no choice.

It’s part race, part ritual. First run in the early sixties, it has grown into a one-day classic that sits somewhere between cyclo-cross and fell running. The rules keep it honest: drop bars, cross bikes, no easy way out. You earn every metre. Because the route crosses private land, the full course only really exists for one day each year, and that scarcity gives it weight. Riders turn up with respect, because the hills aren’t theirs to take, only to borrow for a few hours.

For Ribble Outliers rider Jenson Young, the race is unfinished business. In 2024 he was right there, close to the win, only for a puncture on Pen-y-ghent to strip it away. He still fought to hold on to second, but he left with a sense of something unsaid, a result that stuck in the throat rather than satisfied it.

The race runs in his blood. His dad, Mike, lined up here across the years, taking his own second place as a career highlight. That history doesn’t weigh Jenson down; it shapes the way he races. Knowing how to suffer without panic, how to stay moving when the clock feels cruel, and how to treat the course with the respect it demands.

This year Jenson comes back sharper, with a season on the gravel that has taught him how to hold pace and make decisions when the course is working against him. He took gold at the UCI Graean Cymru, now wears the British Gravel time trial jersey,, and learned how to win big races, like UCI Graean Cymru. None of that makes the Peaks easy, but it does mean he arrives ready.

He won’t be the only one. Lachlan Morton returns too, chasing his own unfinished business after first touching the race in 2019. Riders like Morton don’t need the Peaks on their CV, but they come back because it’s honest. The road sections test your engine, the slabs test your balance, the moor tests your patience, and the descents test your nerve. The Peaks don’t care about reputation, but they do reward tidy days and punish lapses.

So why keep coming back? Partly it’s the place, with its walls and gates and thin paths that make speed something you have to earn. Partly it’s the company, from farmers leaning on gates to families on the hillside and spectators who’ve walked far enough to deserve what they see. Mostly though, it’s the answer the race gives you. You line up with a question in your head, and the Peaks answer, in tired legs, in cut hands and in the taste of effort that stays with you for days.

For Jenson Young and the Ribble Outliers, 2025 is about finishing a remarkable debut season. Jenson knows the Peaks don’t hand out second chances lightly, but if the weather holds and the bike runs clean, there’s room for a different ending. From Helwith Bridge to Pen-y-ghent and back again, the only way to know is to line up and ask the question.

Want to discover more about the Outliers and follow their journey? Explore the Outliers here.