Scotland's best road riders headed down to England's North East for the British National Road Champs, while Cameron Mason was Poland-bound for the European Games in Krakow.
British Road Champs
Road Race
Anna Shackley claimed the U23 British Road Race title on Sunday, after an excellent performance in the National Road Champs in Saltburn-by-the-Sea.
The Scot returned to racing from injury in style, after bridging across the gap to the key move in the Elite Women’s Championship.
An aggressive display saw a number of attacks by the Team SD Worx climber on the brutal parcours which was enough to dislodge all the other Under 23 riders in the group, as the Scot came home to finish in fifth place overall and take the title as best Under-23 rider.
There were also a strong performance from Neah Evans to finish in 21st place, in her first road race since winning silver at Birmingham 2022.
The men’s race held over 189km was absolutely brutal with just a mere 21 finishing from the 150 that started.
A strong performance was turned in by Sean Flynn (Team DSM) who was seen off the front of the race on a couple of occasions. The WorldTour pro came home in 14th place in the end, a very good finish on a course that was not suited to him, finishing 12 minutes down on winner Fred Wright.
Finn Crockett (The Cycling Academy) came home in 17th, while Alfie George (Vendée-U) did in fact finish in 21st place but fell just outside the official time limit – both excellent shifts on the course that was designed with climbers in mind.
A word as well to Bolton Equities-Black Spoke, the team of Mark Stewart, who were offered their Team Car to Scottish Cycling in order to support to the Scots in the men’s race who would otherwise be without assistance, including Flynn, George, Adam Mitchell and Alex Ball.
You can read the full report from the Road Races here.
Circuit
Friday night saw Tim Shoreman claim an excellent bronze medal in the Circuit Championships in changeable conditions.
Keeping out of trouble was the name of the game on the slippy circuit, with crashes in both races ending the medal hopes of Finn Crockett and Katie Archibald (Ceratizit-WNT), Beth Maciver (Alba Development RT) among others.
After an excellent solo attack from Oliver Wood, which was enough for him to take the title, Tim Shoreman (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) made the key selection at the front of the main chase group, and was visible throughout the evening’s criterium, although that isn’t particularly difficult in the new neon yellow kit of the Cumbrian outfit.
The third place in Redcar is the Herriot-Watt student’s best result on the road, and comes after an excellent run of form that included a bronze at the British Student Road Champs.
Katie Archibald was on strong form in the women's circuit championships, with just a few laps remaining, the Scot attacked and built up a sizeable margin in the closing stages of the race. The victory looked to be hers, but she unfortunately slid out in a corner, ending her race. At the same time, the chasing bunch were involved in a huge crash as a touch of wheels saw a large group riders go down and caused the race to be paused.
The race eventually came down to a bunch sprint after the race was suspended following the aforementioned crashes. A strong kick from Jenny Holl (Tekkers CC) saw the Scot finish ninth place, a great performance from the para-cycling pilot.
Read the full report from the Criterium below.
Time Trial
Wednesday saw the Time Trial Championships take place at Croft Circuit.
Katie Archibald (Ceratizit-WNT) produced an excellent ride to come home in sixth place in a very tight female field, with just over a minute separating the top six riders. It was a brace of top six finishes with brother John Archibald also finishing in sixth in the men’s championship; while Michael Gill (Huub-Wattshop) came home in eighth place.
In an incredibly tight Men’s U23 championship, Callum Thornley (Trinity Racing) came home in tenth place.
Read the full report from Wednesday’s Time Trial below:
European MTB Championships
Cameron Mason was in action in Poland at the European Games, which doubled up as the European MTB Championships.
The course in Krakow was much closer to that of a Cyclocross course suiting the Linlithgow native, and the Scot was able to put in an excellent ride from near the back of the grid to finish 12th in the Men’s Elite – his best result on the MTB to date.
With the 2023 UCI World Championships on the horizon, it’s a great time for Mason to be hitting some fantastic form.
3Nations Cup
The Scotia Offroad Race Team duo of Daisy Wilkinson and Innes McDonald were in action at the 3Nations Cup in Belgium.
Wilkinson produced an excellent ride to come home in seventh in the U17 Female category against some top riders from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and England. McDonald came home in 16th place in the U17 Male, with a very strong performance in the Ardennes.
Crankworx DH
At the latest round of the Crankworx World Tour in Innsbruck, Scotland’s Phoebe Gale (Canyon Collective FMD) produced an excellent ride to finish third in the Pro Female Downhill race, with Louise Ferguson (Continental Nukeproof FR) coming home in sixth place.
British Youth Circuit Series
The British Youth Circuit Series continued with the London 2 Day and once again the Scots were to the fore across the board. Deeside's Melanie Rowe was in imperious form, winning three out of four stages to wrap up the overall U14 Girls victory, whilst in the U16 Girls there was an opening prologue win for Erin Boothman. The East Kilbride rider was in the mix for the overall after third place on stages two and three, but unfortunately a DNF on the fourth and final stage took her out of the running.
On the Boy's side Jamie Sweeney (Edinburgh RC) enjoyed a great weekend as he took fourth place overall, two podium places marking arguably his best effort at this level to date.
TFI Fridays
Friday night saw the latest racing at the new West Lothian Cycle Circuit in Linlithgow organised by West Lothian Clarion.
Anna Murgatroyd (Vanelli-Project GO) took top honours in the women’s race, while second place went to Beth MacRae (Jadan-Vive Le Velo) and third to Vanelli’s Katie Scott.
In the Men’s racing, Rory McGuire (Leslie Bike Shop/Boutique) won out from Alex Ball (Maglia Technosylva) in second with Sam Chisholm (The Cycling Academy) in third.
Vets RR
Mark Walker (Deeside Thistle CC) took home the victory at the Velocita Coaching Veteran’s Road Race in Aberdeenshire at the weekend, with Malcolm Bain (Granite City RT) in second and Greig Brown (Vanelli-Project GO) in third.
