Last week, a team of talented Scottish Cycling programme athletes embarked on a 10 day racing adventure in France. Logan, Jamie, Matti, Oscar and Alex have been documenting their trip to give you a behind the scenes look at what racing as part of the Scottish Cycling team is like.
Catch up on the first instalment HERE!
Day 6 Report Logan Maclean
Riders got a lie in today as breakfast wasn't until 8:30am, today was going to be a chill day with not much on the cards. Breakfast was cereal, pasta and meats... a very cycling related breakfast. After breakfast we went back to our rooms to get changed for the activation ride that left at 11.
Me, Jamie and Alex went for an hour with activation efforts in the middle up one of the climbs we do tomorrow. Oscar and Matti decided to do an hour longer and ended up missing lunch.
Lunch was the same as breakfast, pasta, chicken and yogurt. We watched a bit of Le Tour de France before cleaning the bikes and spare Bikes ensuring they are ready for tomorrow's first stage. We finished watching the tour in which Sagan won the stage which was very exciting. Me and Jamie spent some time with the new Zealand team before dinner discussing the race and life in each other's countries. All very good lads but will be hard to beat in the race. After dinner it was a quick turnaround to bed ahead of a big day on the pusher tomorrow!
Day 7 Matti Dobbins
The day started off with getting up for breakfast at 9, never an easy task getting everyone out of bed. Was a big day of racing ahead with 117km road race so it meant everyone was very pleased with the pasta for breakfast ahead of the race. An early depart from the hotel at 10:15am to drive the hour to the start of the stage. We arrived at the start of the stage to find some amazing scenery, but we couldn’t admire it for long is the race start was pending. Everyone made sure to spin the legs ahead of an odd neutral section which would last over 9km and we would climb up to almost 1000meters.
The goal for the day to was try and protect Oscar and make sure he has an easy day which was made difficult early on as just before the start of the descent there was a large crash that would split the bunch, again all our riders narrowly escaped danger.
Sadly, another unfortunate day for Jamie after getting caught behind a crash and missing the split meaning he lost contact with the main group. Logan was quick to get to the front to chase down the group of the 30 or so riders who missed the crash, we caught the group just as we finished the descent. The plan to protect Oscar involved trying to get a rider in an early break so they could get away for the day. In the approach to 2nd cat climb I attacked to bridge over to 2 riders who had just went clear, I made it across and feeling strong but things quickly went downhill as the gradient went up... my injury which has hindered me all year came to play and I wasn’t able to continue pressing on, I bombed it backwards through the bunch and going out the back, it would be a long day of just trying to make it the next 100km to the finish for me, riding the day with Jamie.
The warm weather made it difficult for everyone with a lack of water but everyone in the leading group persevered and made sure not to allow the heat to stop them with Alex attacking the race and Logan working hard.
Oscar managed to move up to 5th on the GC with Logan not far behind in 10t. A good day for the team with two riders in the top 10 by the end of it. With the stage finished everyone is looking forward to an easier day tomorrow with just a short 10km TT on the agenda.
Day 8 Jamie Johnston
Brilliant day for the team on the time trial stage, Day 3. After a much appreciated relaxed morning having breakfast/lunch, we all got into our kit, loaded into the vans and made our way on a 50 minute journey to the beautiful setting which held the TT. We did our course recon as a team, scouting out the best lines around the tricky corners and taking in the lovely scenery as the course went round a lake.
This meant that Jamie, Mattie and Oscar moved up on GC, especially Oscar now sitting in 4th and 1st first year rider. Team Scotland also now in an amazing 6th team.
Cool down done and all packed up we went back to the hotel, to start the recovery for the biggest day to finish. A successful day for the team as a whole which we now look forward to trying to carry on to finish the tour.
Day 9 Oscar Onley
This was the day we had all been waiting/dreading for the past few days. The stage, which consisted of four category 1 climbs with very little flat in between ensured we were all in for a tough day out. We had an early breakfast before packing the van and setting off to the small town for the start.
Nerves were high for the whole bunch with the climbs looming in the background we left in the baking sun to head straight up the first climb before repeating the up and down pattern all day.
At the end of the stage Scotland finished with Oscar in the main group whilst riding in the white jersey, Logan just tailed off the back of the group after putting in some big shifts in the previous days and Matti a little further back after starting strong on the first climb. Unfortunately, Alex and Jamie didn’t finish after the climbs, heat and fatigue caught up with them.
Scotland finished with 13th team and Oscar 7th on GC and 2nd best young rider and won a blue jersey.
This concludes the end of our fantastic trip out in France with some very good riding and results from all the boys. Now for a long journey home and plenty of sleep. Big thank you to Scottish Cycling for the trip and I hope to come back next year.
