Scottish National Champs
10-Mile Time Trial
Sunday morning in Invergordon saw a test against the clock, with riders competing for the 10-mile championship.
Despite a fierce crosswind, some strong times were set on the northern course.
Oliver Pemberton (Vanelli-Project GO) was the quickest on the course to take the Open title, with a time just outside the 19:30 mark. Graham Hollinger (Torvelo) added another Scottish medal to his collection; the 50-mile champion came second, just 11 seconds behind the Vanelli rider. Olympic Distance champion Matiss Robertson (RT23) would take bronze, with a 20:21 effort.
Lorna Breetzke (Elgin CC) would add another distance title, with an excellent 23:09 to take the senior female title, Millie Thomson (Solas Cycling) would take second, with Alison Roger in third – with the female podium separated by a mere 20 seconds. Junior honours would go to Vanelli’s Colin Johnston with a time of 21:16, ahead of Elgin’s Andrew Paterson.
A big thanks to Ross-shire RCC for their efforts organising the Championships.
Cycle Speedway
Sunday afternoon saw Dunfermline’s Queen Anne High School play host to the Scottish National Cycle Speedway Championships, organised by Fife Cycle Speedway. Supported by Forth Ports, 39 riders competed over 8 categories. Fife, Edinburgh Falcons, Glasgow Cyclones and Border Raiders riders claiming the champion spot or podiums.
Kayden Davidson won out in the senior open to take the gold from Jake Slight in second, and Calan Cuthbert taking bronze. Marianne Cameron scored senior female victory from Esme Cameron, with Nyla Whitehall in third.
In the under 18 event, Sam Stansfield won out from Calan Cuthbert and Joshua Falconer; while Alexander Rudge beat Mac Brodie and Nathan Slight to take the under-14 top honours, with Esme Cameron scoring the female win from Nya Whitehall.
UCI MTB Worlds
The opening week of the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Switzerland saw a lot of action from the Scottish riders.
Enduro
Ella Conolly bagged a superb silver medal in the women’s elite enduro to claim the first medal of the Championships for the British squad on Monday.
After two great days of racing in the category, Conolly would earn her place on the rostrum. After day one, hopes were high as she led the standings after her opening ride. However, on the last stage on day two, she just got pipped by Canada’s Elly Hoskin to the gold with the Briton a narrow four and a half seconds behind to earn her spot on the podium.
Downhill
In the elite women’s final, Phoebe Gale battled well for 11th with Louise Ferguson two places back. Mikayla Parton grabbed a top 20 finish in 18th while Emily Carrick-Anderson was 25th in her first elite final.
The junior final saw Forfar’s Heather Wilson finish 14th, with reigning British Champion Megan Horne a place further back. Stan Nisbet finish in 23rd in the junior men’s.
Tour of Britain
There may not have been any Scottish stages this year on the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men (we did have two fantastic stages of the women’s race), but there was plenty of Scottish excitement as Oscar Onley and Sean Flynn were targeting success in England and Wales.
After successfully navigating the opening three sprint stages, Onley kept in touch at the Stage 4 summit finish where Romain Gregoire (FDJ) claimed victory, to move within 12 seconds of the overall lead.
Saturday’s queen stage to the Tumble in Wales saw plenty of attacking, and a little bit of brake-checking, but the headwind on the summit made it nigh on impossible for a move to go. Onley and Bahrain’s Alfonso Eulalio both attempted moves, but were blown back on the exposed moorland. A very much-reduced bunch kick to the line saw Remco Evenepoel take the victory with Oscar in third – moving to fourth and within eight seconds of the French race leader.
Stage six from Newport to Cardiff was fast and frantic with attacks going early to try to force separation. A fantastic move by Picnic-PostNL that included Onley looked to have succeeded in dropping Gregoire, but a disruption on the road brought the leaders back together.
Late attacks on the final climb of Caerphilly Mountain – nearly snapped the elastic, and a litany of late moves on the descents were unable to dislodge the stubborn Frenchman, with a bunch sprint deciding the stage. Oscar Onley secured a rare double – fourth at the Tours of France and Britain, and the accolade of Best British rider.
Scottish Series
SDA
The final round of the Scottish Downhill Series took place at Ae Forest on Sunday.
Joseph Connell claimed the elite victory with his 2:04.611 besting Calum McBain by a mere 46 thousandths of a second, with Drew Carters (Steampunk) only a tenth further back in third. All three were actually bested by the quickest open time of the day from junior winner Sorley Swabey – his 2:04.370 in run one – remaining unbeaten.
Katy McGowan scored the quickest time of the female categories on her way to winning the Youth event – her 2:47.812 – just besting that of the elite winner Emma Wood (Royal Navy) and top junior Lacey Homes.
IGNITE
The final round of the Youth Circuit Series was held at the Scottish Fire and Rescue HQ in Cambuslang.
Andrew Levinson (Edinburgh RC) won out in the Youth A race from teammate Micah Myles in second with Henry Sharp in third. Zara Main (Deeside) out sprinted Izzy Barbour (Edinburgh RC) and Eve Fairbairn (Discovery Junior CC) to take the female victory.
Eilidh Scally won out in the Youth B from Johnstone Jets clubmate Olivia Lyne with Emma Nicholson (Glasgow Riderz) in third. Gregor McNaught (Falkirk Junior BC) scored the Youth B open win, with Josh Stewart (SteppingStanes) in second and Alexander Mullen (Falkirk Junior BC) in third.
Elsewhere
There was also plenty of Scottish action abroad at the Giro Toscana, Erin Boothman went into the race lead (and it’s incredibly funky designed leaders jersey) after taking the opening team time trial with her Liv-AlUla Jayco Development squad. The Scot unfortunately crashed on stage two, but there was to be more Scottish success with Eilidh Shaw (UAE ADQ Devo) picking up the Queen of the Mountains jersey for a couple of stages and briefly rising into the top ten overall.
Over the Adriatic in the Balkans, Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT were racing at the three-day UCI 2.2 Tour of Kosovo, in Europe’s youngest country. Top ten results on the stages from the team, and a solid showing in the general classification from Finn McHenry showed the competitiveness of the team in the race held in extremely warm conditions.