Belgian Open
A large contingent of Scots, as part of Great Britain Cycling Team, headed over to Gent in Flanders for the Belgian Open Track Meet over Easter Weekend. The Gent event carries a UCI Class 1 weighting and as such carries extra importance as a qualifying event for next summer’s Commonwealth Games.
Elite
Friday started off with success for Katie Archibald, after a solid ninth place finish in the points race was followed with an impressive victory in the evening’s elimination race.
Saturday would see Archibald take on the omnium, victory in the scratch race would be balanced by third place in the tempo race, keeping Archibald tied for the lead after two events with Anita Stenberg, with Clara Copponi also in the hunt. A strong elimination race showing would see Archibald into the sole lead before the final points race.
It would be a display in controlled riding from the two-time Olympic champion, picking up points in the sprints and marking key moves from rivals to maintain her lead before winning the final sprint with double points on the line to secure Archibald’s second event victory of the weekend.
Archibald’s golden hat-trick would be complete in the event she claimed her second Olympic Gold; the madison. Riding alongside Jess Roberts, the duo would claim top spot in six of the sprints to ride to a dominant victory – and complete a near-perfect week in Flanders for Archibald.
Since becoming a Great Britain programme rider in the winter, it’s been a story of progression for Lyall Craig, with the sprinter producing his strongest sprint campaign yet in Belgium. After qualifying sixth in the flying 200m with a time of 9.904, Craig dispatched French sprinter Florian Grengbo and Czech rider Matej Tamme to reach the quarter-finals. Victory in straight rides over French rider Etienne Oliverio would set up a Saturday semi-final with fellow Frenchman Tom Derache, where Craig would fall just short of the gold medal final. Craig would end up fourth in the competition after defeat in the bronze medal final to Henrick Hackmann.
Lauren Bell and Iona Moir were also in action in the sprint events.
In the sprint, strong performance in qualifying, which would see Bell take second (10.574) and Moir fifth (10.674) would see the duo straight into the Last 16. A brace of Scottish victories would set up a couple of Alba-German clashes in the quarter final stage with Bell facing Alessa Propster and Moir taking on Olympic silver-medallist Lea Freidrich. Bell would progress, but Moir would come up short against the eight-time World Champion.
Bell would just narrowly miss out to Sophie Capewell in the semi-final, on her way to fourth place in the competition, with the aforementioned Freidrich claiming the win in the bronze final.
In the keirin, the Caledonian duo would make the major final after strong riding through the early rounds. Bell would lead it out in the final after the derny pulled away, with Moir right at the rear of the field. A classy ride would see Bell hold the wheel of Finucane and Friedrich to claim third place – and a well deserved trip to the podium. Moir would work gard to come home in fifth place – as one of four Brits in the final.
Junior
Glasgow’s Erin Boothman claimed victory in Friday’s Madison alongside teammate Phoebe Taylor, in empthatic style. The duo would take a lap and claim maximum points at sprints to win with panache, and for the Scot to open her account for the weekend.
Boothman’s weekend would see continued success on Saturday in the omnium. Three race wins in the tempo, scratch and points races would see another trip to the top step of the podium, despite being pushed very hard by 2024 Youth Tour of Scotland winner Taylor.
Good Friday
Slightly closer to home, the annual Good Friday track meet went ahead at London’s LeeValley Velodrome.
Jenny Holl (Loughborough Lightning) would claim a hattrick of victories with wins in the 10km scratch race and elimination race followed by a dominant display in the points race – which included lap gains and sweeping up points across multiple sprints.
Logan Maclean and Fin Graham were in action in the men’s events. Maclean would claim three solid results in a star-studded field. Second place in the scratch race, would be followed by fifth in the elimination. A battling performance in the points race would see the Stirling-native attack first in the race and gain two laps on the field on his way to sixth place.
Graham would produce some solid riding in the elimination race as he looks to get back into form as the Para-Road World Cup kicks off in Ostend next week.
Scots Abroad
Morven Yeoman (DAS-Hutchison Brother UK) would ride her first Women’s WorldTour event at the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday. The Lanarkshire native would finish mid-pack and have no issues on the Cauberg.
Alfie George (SCO-Dijion) would be Mr Consistent at the 2.2 Tour de Loir et Chet in France. Four top 10 finishes across each of the stages would see the former Discovery Junior come home 10th overall – perfect preparation for the CiCLE Classic this weekend.
BMX
The third round of the Scottish Regional BMX Series took place at Broadwood, organised by Cumbernauld Centurions, on Sunday.
97 riders, including many from South of the Border would be in action. There would be victories for Lewis Collins-Nimmo (Western Titans), Lewis Cook (Cumbernauld Centurions), Eilidh Watson (Centurions) and Tillie McCrum (Centurions).
Images: ENvision
Forres and Fife
Alex Ball and Anna Flynn (University of Edinburgh) would be top of the class at the Scottish Student Sport Criterium Championships at Fife Cycle Park.
Up in Moray. was the Bill and Chrissie Stuart Memorial 10, organised by Forres CC. Full results will be available here soon.
Melanie Rowe (Deeside Thistle) won the second round of the National Youth Circuit Series after an attacking ride which saw the win in Stage 3. This came after two strong rides to second place on Stage 1 and 2.