Rory Townsend finished fifth in the Sheffield Grand Prix on Wednesday night.
Team Wiggins talent Joey Walker won the race – which doubles as the fourth round of the National Circuit Series.
The 20-year-old attacked a six-man breakaway with three laps of the contest remaining and held on to triumph by a handful of seconds.
Jon Mould, of JLT Condor, outsprinted Madison Genesis’ Tobyn Horton for second spot – with Townsend rolling over the line a few lengths behind fourth-placed Fred Wright.
In a season hampered by injuries, including a broken collarbone in the build up to the Rás Tailteann, the Canyon Eisberg 23-year-old is now beginning to rediscover his best form.
After a handful of early digs, it was Wright who sparked the decisive break on a warm evening in Sheffield.
Walker, racing in his home city, set off in pursuit – dragging Townsend, Mould, Horton and Lampier with him.
The escape group had joined forces by the midway point of the hour-long battle in the Steel City.
And they worked hard to stretch their lead to the best part of a minute as they raced towards a thrilling finale.
Townsend’s team-mate Alex Paton hit out from the front of the peloton in a bid to bridge across to the leaders.
He had JLT’s Tom Stewart for company but they were quickly brought to heel before Tom Pidcock was next to try his luck.
The Team Wiggins star, who surrendered his title as national circuit champion to Matt Gibson last week, soon put 10 seconds into the main bunch.
But as Ian Bibby attempted to jump across, Madison took charge of the chase and gradually sucked them back in with five laps remaining.
The peloton were resigned to their fate now and the deficit soon ballooned back out to more than a minute as the front six wrestled for glory.
Mould attacked with four laps to go but it was Walker’s move a couple of minutes later which proved pivotal.
With Townsend and his other rivals unable to follow, the hometown hero set sail for the finish line.