Downhill World Cup
It was a fantastic weekend in Lochaber with the Scots turning up the style at the UCI Downhill World Cup at Nevis Range.
The young team stole the show, with a dream debut victory for Heather Wilson and first podium for Fort William’s Daniel Parfitt on a stunning Sunday.
Read the report from the racing below.
Scottish Cycling also held the Mini-DH Final on Saturday morning, with sixty riders from across the country competing at Nevis Range before their idols.
Read the report from that here.
Para World Cup
The Para Cycling World Cup series headed to Ostend in Belgium for the latest round of the World Cup series.
Fin Graham claimed victory in the Men’s C3 Road Race in the rainbow stripes, which he claimed last August. The Scot also scored a strong fourth place in the test against the clock, showing his strong form as we have just over 100 days to go until the Paris games
The dynamic tandem duo of pilot Jenny Holl and Sophie Unwin were also in stunning form with their tandem claiming the win in the Women’s Tandem Road Race as part of a British 1-2-3, the pairing claimed the win by over two and a half minutes over the next bike. They also claimed the win in the time trial, claiming victory by 10 seconds on the Irish tandem.
Calum Deboys was in action in the Men’s C2 events, the Scot picked up 18th in the road race and 21st in the time trial.
SXC
It’s not all about Downhill this weekend, though, as the SXC travelled to Lochore Meadows for Round 2 of Scottish Cross Country Series.
An overcast day in Fife, but the sporting course led to plenty of fast and close racing in the grounds of the Country Park.
The Elite open riders completed nine tours of the course, with Murray Soutter (Torvelo) powering away from Barnaby Walkingshaw (Spokes RT) in the final lap to take home the victory by ten seconds.
Innes McDonald (Scotia Offroad RT) and Ben Allan (Peebles CC) spent last weekend in the south of Germany competing for Scotland in the UCI Junior Series and the two rising stars put that form to good use, claiming first and second in the open junior race with McDonald setting the fastest lap of the day on the 4.6km course. Fellow Peebles rider Feargus Pearson came home in a strong third place.
Elena McGorum (Peebles CC) claimed victory in the Elite female race, with Amelia Cleathero (Reifen Racing) coming home as the junior winner.
Daisy Wilkinson (Scotia Offroad RT) held off teammate Freya Mowbray by seven seconds to take the youth victory, with Zoe Blyth in third in an all-Scotia Offroad podium.
In the open youth race, Gus Lawson (Pentland Racers) continued his impressive form to take the win by just over a minute from Joseph Wooliscroft (Shibden CC), with Finlay Barr (Royal Albert) winning a title battle for third
Mini-DH winner Zach Buchan (Pentland Racers) enjoyed another win on Sunday in the Juvenile race, with Mairi Dowens (West Lothian Clarion) taking a great win in the female ranks.
Full Results can be found here.
Dunfermline Road Race
(Image: Ian Henderson)
The Kingdom was obviously the place to be on Sunday for domestic racing with Dunfermline CC hosting their annual road race, including the Jack Murray Trophy for Junior riders and Eileen Roe Shield for the best female rider.
Adam Baker (Royal Air Force) claimed the victory from Jed Scott (Torvelo) by four seconds, with Elliot Bain (Vanelli-Project GO) in third. Struan Shaw (Tofauti Everyone Active) came home in fourth as the top junior with Lauren Dickson (Edinburgh RC) claiming the Eileen Roe Shield.
British Eagle Road Race
Saturday saw the turn of the Musselburgh RCC’s British Eagle Road Race with Liam Scott Douglas claiming the win from Elliot Bain (Vanelli-Project GO) on the damp roads of the Humbie course.
Isle of Man Youth and Junior Tour
Over on the Isle of Man a number of Scots were racing the Youth Tour of the Island.
Elliot Speedie (Edinburgh RC) came home 13th in the Youth A race while, in the Youth B racing Josh Stewart (SteppingStanes) claimed a strong ninth, with Edinburgh RC’s Andrew Levinson in 12th place, with Edinburgh’s Composite team coming home second in the team classification.
Lucy Sweeney (Edinburgh RC) was just outside the top ten in the Youth B Female while Eva Murphy (Deeside Thistle CC) rode to a strong top 15 on Stage 2 in Youth A race.
Scottish Regional BMX Series
The latest round of the Scottish BMX Series took place yesterday at Cumbernauld’s Broadwood BMX Track.
You can see the full results here.
Abroad
Alba Development RT were back in Belgium racing a brace of UCI races, with Wednesday’s Cyclis Classic (1.2) followed up by the 1.1 Trofee Maarten Wynants on Sunday.
Eilidh Shaw was in contention come the sprint at the Cyclis Classic, but came down hard in an awful crash in the sprint. The Scottish road race champion miraculously escaped with only minor injuries and was able to race on Sunday, where she was the top Alba rider, coming home in 23rd and claiming her first UCI points against some WorldTour opposition.
Another Scot bouncing back from injury was Kate Richardson (Lifeplus-Wahoo) who returns to racing after a broken collarbone suffered in Belgium. Richardson was in action at the GP de Plumelec-Morbihan (1.1) in France, and came home 39th in her first race back.
Elliot Rowe (Fensham Howes) was in action at the GP Bob Jungles in Luxembourg and rode to an excellent second in the prestigious Junior race.