Team Sky dominated the British National Road Race Championships with Geraint Thomas, Peter Kennaugh and Ian Stannard completing a remarkable 1-2-3 in sun-baked Lancashire.

The trio had formed part of a five-man lead group early in the day, but dropped their accomplices with three of the 15 laps to go and powered on to the finish line where Thomas outsprinted Kennaugh for a narrow victory.

Stannard completed the clean-sweep a few minutes later to cap another memorable day in the short history of Team Sky.

Perfect conditions had greeted the riders at the start of the day and Jeremy Hunt (Cervélo) brought the race to life with his early attack on the first, 12km lap.

Thomas, Kennaugh and Stannard were the first to react and also broke free of the bunch with Simon Richardson (Sigma Sport) joining them as they bridged the gap to Hunt.

Those five riders worked together productively and built an advantage of around three and a half minutes as they pressed on around the constantly-undulating circuit.

Behind, the peleton quickly splintered, with Russell Downing joining David Millar (Garmin), Ian Bibby (Motorpoint Marshalls Pastar) and Dan Fleeman (Raleigh) in the front chase group.

Over the next few hours that quartet battled valiantly to try and reel the five leaders in, but their efforts would ultimately prove fruitless.

With just under 36km to go, Thomas, Kennaugh and Stannard turned on the gas on the longest ascent of the day and the others were unable to react. From then on it was all every man for himself, with Isle of Man youngster Kennaugh kicking on the first climb; Thomas stayed with him but the move put distance between the pair and Stannard.

There was virtually nothing between the front two from that point onwards but it was Thomas who went for home with 200m to go and he just had enough in reserve to hold off one final surge from Kennaugh.

Chris Froome was the only remaining Team Sky rider to finish the punishing route and he finished in a highly-respectable 11th place.

Extra special

Speaking straight after the race on British Eurosport, who were televising the national championships live for the first time, Thomas paid tribute to the man he pipped on the finishing straight.

He said: "I was worried about Pete on the last lap - I take my hat off to him and he's going to win this race in the coming years.

"It was a weird race but you've got to take it by the scruff of the neck and that's what we did, we rode it really well."

Thomas will now sport the national champion's jersey when Team Sky make their debut at the Tour de France, which starts in Rotterdam on Saturday, and he added: "It's a great honour riding in the Tour for Team Sky and to have that jersey representing Great Britain on my back makes it extra special."

European round-up

Team Sky's British riders were not the only ones who were competiting in national championships over the weekend. In Norway, Edvald Boasson Hagen (fifth) and Kurt-Asle Arvesen (eighth) both claimed top 10 finishes in Trondheim, while Serge Pauwels (25th) and Sylvain Calzati (45th) also competed in Belgium and France respectively. Kjell Carlström rounded off the weekend with his fine second-placed finish in Finland.