With the racing season now in full flow, we bring you a bumper round-up this week, with action from across the world, as well as closer to home with the Alba and Scotia Series getting underway in Ayrshire and the SXC continuing at Nevis Range.
Track Nations Cup
Katie Archibald turned up the panache on Sunday night as she claimed an excellent victory in the Omnium at the Track Nations Cup in Canada.
The European Champion rode away from the field in every event on her way to a crushing win. After coming around the top of the field in the Scratch Race, Archibald built on her advantage in the Tempo race with a win, before making it a threepeat in the Elimination. With enough of an advantage, the Scot was able to be assured of victory by marking moves in the Points Race, and having a 23 point lead over her nearest rivals heading into the final sprints, to sail to victory.
Sunday’s gold was the third medal won by Archibald in Milton, with the Scot combining with Neah Evans to ride to the silver medal in an enthralling Madison on Saturday evening.
Archibald and Evans were also part of the Great Britain quartet that powered their way to the gold medal on Friday night in the Team Pursuit, with the team consistently getting quicker throughout the rounds, with a 4:12.539 enough to win the final.
There was double delight in the Team Pursuit, as Michael Gill was part of the Great Britain Men’s squad that also produced a brilliant gold medal winning ride, with their First Round ride of 3:49.527 becoming the fastest ever ride involving a Scottish rider in the event.
Mark Stewart rode for Great Britain for the first time in four years this week, with some very strong performances in Milton. A solid eighth place finish in the Omnium, was added to by a brace of fourth places, first in the Elimination Race, and in the Madison – where the Scot rode with Oliver Wood, with the duo narrowly missing out on a bronze medal, not helped by a mid-race crash for Wood.
Alba & Scotia Series
Ayr Roads CC played host to the opening rounds of the Alba and Scotia Road Race Series, with the Straiton Struggle Road Race living up to its name.
A race of 84km for the women saw an excellent solo attack from Amelia Tyler (Alba Development RT) with two laps of the 15km course remaining, which powered the Edinburgh-based Irish rider to victory by a margin of 50 seconds.
There was a strong element of doubt as to whether the attack would stick after Tyler had initially gained a 40 second advantage, which had been halved with only a lap to go, however, the Alba rider found her second wind, and was able to ride away from the bunch.
Behind, Coralie Arthur (Wahoo-Le Col) claimed second place after winning the sprint from the remains of the bunch, with defending Scotia Series champion Heather Shanks (North Argyll) finishing in third.
The afternoon saw the weather take a turn for the worse, with the men’s race taking place in some terrible conditions. With only 18 finishers, the attritional racing led to many abandoning, with the main bunch no longer existing come the end of the race.
Craig Paterson (Spokes RT) claimed the victory by over a minute, having made the early break and riding away from his compatriots in the move.
Behind, Neil Scott (Deeside Thistle) was the only rider within two minutes of Paterson, while Rory Webster (Dooley’s Cycles) won the ‘bunch’ sprint for third place, from the largest group remaining on the road – a mere five riders in size.
Our friends at the The British Continental, courtesy of race organiser Tony Garnett, have written a full report from the Men’s race, which you can read by clicking here:
Despite the conditions, it’s great to see a very well run event to kick-off the 2023 series.
SXC Series
The second round of the SXC Series took place at a brand-new venue for 2023 – Nevis Range.
Jo Thom (TORQ Performance) demonstrated what great form she is in, riding away from Anna Flynn (Edinburgh RC) to claim victory in Elite women’s race. Winning by over four minutes, Thom improves on her second place in Comrie last month and takes the series lead, whilst Scottish National Champion Grace Inglis (Muckle CC) came home in third as she continues her comeback from illness.
Grant Ferguson (Hope Factory Racing) continued his strong start to the season by claiming the victory in the Elite Men’s race by over three minutes, as he gapped the field on the opening lap and didn’t look back. Joe Curran (Muckle CC) rode to a strong second place finish, with local rider James Shirley (West Highland Wheelers) a minute further behind in third.
In the Juniors, there were victories for Evan Mckenzie (Rotor RT) and Isla Hedley (Private Member), while in the Youth Boys the precocious Innes Mcdonald (Scotia Off Road Team) won by over five minutes. Gus Lawson (Pentland Racers) and Mairi Dowens (West Lothian Clarion) were winners in the Juvenile races.
Round Three of the SXC Series takes place at Lochore Meadows next month, and can be entered by clicking below:
Heutach XCO
Sticking with Cross County, the Scottish Cycling performance squad ventured to Germany for the XCO Heutach race – a round of the UCI Junior Series.
There was a strong ride from first year junior Daisy Taylor to finish in the top ten in the Women’s Juniors, against a quality field, with mechanicals and carnage galore on the savage course. Not muhc further back was Emily Carrick-Anderson who came home in 17th place.
In the Elite women, Anna McGorum suffered a puncture, but was able to come home in a strong 33rd place – her best result in a .HC level UCI race, whilst Rory McGuire also punctured in the Men’s Under 23 race, persevering to record a 26th place finish.
The mechanical luck – or lack thereof – extend in to the Junior Men’s as well with Reuben Oakley and Ruan Vorster both suffering snapped chains. Ben Allan did, however, make it to the finish in 51st place.
CiCLE Classic
A similar story was had in Melton Mowbray as the farm tracks of Rutland and Lincolnshire played host to the UCI 1.2 Rutland-Melton CiCLE Classic.
A six-man team representing Scotland were racing, as well as a few Scots racing for trade teams. The grim weather wreaked havoc with several mechanicals and crashes on the roads and gravel that makes up the 183km course.
Despite a chase of over an hour in length after a mechanical, Finn Crockett was in the lead group come the finish and sprinted to 11th place, with Tim Shoreman finishing in 17th place – an excellent ride by Shoreman in his first road race of the season.
Keep your eyes peeled to our socials later in the week, as we’ll be releasing some behind the scenes content from the one-day race.
UCI Gravel Series
Cameron Mason (Trinity Racing) rode to an excellent third place finish in Spain, after a long ascent from the start the Scot used his excellent bike handling skills to his beneift on the descent to the finish, and nearly caught the second place rider on the line.
There was a familar face on the top step of the podium as Alejandro Valverde won out in Almeria on his home trails.
Abroad
Sam Chisholm (The Cycling Academy) scored an excellent third place in Belgium on the final stage of the National Elite Arden Challenge, finishing 33rd overall.
Adam Mitchell’s (Team U Charente Maritime) strong form in France continues with a seventh place finish in the Boucles de la Haute-Vienne two day race, with the Scot winning the first stage – on his way to winning the best young rider classification. That’s four wins for Mitchell in April alone, with 8 trips to the podium in as many races this month.
Staying in France, there was a second place for Alfie George (Vendée U) at 151km Boucles de la Loire national elite race.
