While there was a brief respite from the racing action in Scotland over the weekend, Scottish riders were certainly not resting with an array of road, time-trial, mountain bike and track racing across the UK and Europe for them to get their wheels stuck into.
Scots Abroad
Mark Stewart left it late to reach the qualification standards that make him eligible for Commonwealth Games selection, as he rode to third place in the overall at the UCI 2.1 Tour of Hellas in Greece.
Requiring two Top 20 stage finishes heading into the race, the Dundonian-native racing for the New Zealand-based Bolton Equities Black Spoke outfit wasted no time, finishing seventh on the opening stage in Crete, and narrowly avoiding the awkward mishap of a Caja-Rujal rider, as his teammate won the stage by nearly two minutes.
Stewart, who won Gold in the Points Race at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games four years ago, finished in 12th position on Stage 2, to secure his eligibility for selection for this summer’s games in Birmingham. The same stage, saw some very aggressive racing from the other Scot in the race Calum Johnston, who made the breakaway and showed his progress at Caja-Rujal this season.
Stage 3, again looked like a great stage for Stewart as he made the front selection until a nasty crash in the final 200m which saw the Scot visibly injured, but did not deter him as he moved up the general classification to third. Both Scots narrowly missed a mass-pile up on the finish line of Stage 4, which saw Johnston and Stewart being awarded joint 15th – as the timing equipment was damaged in the crash.
The final stage went to plan for Stewart and his team, with the Scot again finishing in the Top 20, to secure a third-place finish on the overall, which adds to his 2022 palmares which includes a Tour of New Zealand win in January.
In Luxembourg, Anna Shackley built upon her Ardennes Classic experience with a 20th overall finish in the Festival Elsy Jacobs – a UCI Pro Race. The Scot’s attacking riding saw her take the Queen of the Mountains jersey on Stage 1, but narrowly lost it on the final stage in Luxembourg.
The Scot should look forward to action in Iberia soon, as the packed Women’s WorldTour schedule sees her SD Worx squad in a double header of stage races in Spain, before coming to the UK for RideLondon and the Women’s Tour in June.
Sean Flynn (Swiss Racing Academy) continued his fine form claiming another top six stage finish at the UCI 2.2 Tour de Bretagne. The Scot eventually finished in 32nd overall with some solid rides over the week.
Having already made the standard, Flynn, along with Shackley and Stewart, will have a nervous wait as the Team Scotland selectors will make their squad selections for Birmingham in the coming weeks.
Mountain Bike XC
There was another big result for Corran Carrick-Anderson (T-MO Racing) at U23 level; with a fourth place finish in the Under 23 event at UCI .HC class Ötztaler Mountainbike Cross Country in Haiming, Austria. The Scot builds up on his great ride in Germany last time out.
While he may be old enough to know better, Rab Wardell (Wahoo) turned back the clock to score a great tenth place on the intense course at the UCI Class 2 in at the Lousada – Portugal Cup Event, claiming so crucial UCI World Ranking points in the process.
Newport Sprint GP
The Geraint Thomas Velodrome played host to Newport Sprint GP with a number of Scottish riders in action. Anthony Young (Glasgow Track RC) won silver in the Men’s Sprint, after qualifying quickest in the flying 200m with a 10.331. While in the women’s event, Sylvia Misztal (Glasgow Track RC) won bronze as junior Kirsty Johnson (Edinburgh RC) finished in a credible fifth place after fighting her way through the repechage.
Road
A whole host of National B action took place this weekend with many Scots heading to the Oakenclough Road Race in Preston. In the Men’s race Logan Maclean rode to a great third place, while his Wheelbase CabTech Castelli teammate Callum Thornley came home in eighth.
In the women’s event, the Alba Development RT duo of Arianne Holland and Erin Murphy finished in 9th and 15th, respectively.
Time Trial
In his final race as a student in the colours of Stirling University, Cameron Richardson won the British Universities 10 mile time trial Championships with a time under 20 minutes, this adds to his Scottish Student Sport time trial victory last month.
