Scottish National 10 Champs
Adam Wild (GS Metro) and Lorna Breeztke (Elgin CC) claimed the senior honours at the Scottish National 10-mile Time Trial Championships in Moray.
Make sure to read our report from yesterday’s action by clicking below.
European MTB Champs
While the sun was blazing in Scotland, it was a horrific weekend of weather in Romania at the European XC Mountain Bike Championships.
Thursday saw Charlie Aldridge finish in a fantastic fourth place in the elite men’s short track cross-country race, the U23 World Champion strong start to stay in contention with the podium but came up just short to finish just outside the podium places.
The best of the weather was on Friday, when in the sunshine, the Great British relay team which included Isla Short, Corran Carrick-Anderson and Charlie Aldridge came home in fourth place.
Saturday was a tough day in the Men’s Under 23 ranks, Corran Carrick-Anderson started with confidence and was very active in the top-20 riders for the first two laps. The Scot however suffered rotten luck on the final lap, with his wheel shredded underneath him on the final lap, forcing the under-23 rider to withdraw.
Sunday saw extreme conditions in the Carpathian Mountains with torrential rain and a high of 3 degrees giving the elite riders a hellish task to contend with.
Charlie Aldridge scored a ninth-place finish after suffering through tough conditions in the elite men’s Olympic cross-country race.
Aldridge powered off the start line, leading the pack from the off. The Scot glided over the slippery rocks and thick mud to sit in second behind Danish rider Simon Andreassen as the two worked together to force a gap within the first lap.
The conditions worsened throughout, with mechanicals causing problems and shook up the race, seeing Aldridge drop back to 16th place. In the final few laps, with the course becoming more difficult to race, Aldridge continued to battle his way through, picking off those ahead of him to come home in ninth place, two minutes behind the winner.
In the elite women Isla Short started well, sitting in ninth position in the first lap. Short continued to race in the top 10, the freezing rain and mist, putting the riders on their limits, especially with the reduced visibility. The soaking conditions ultimately provied too much though as the Peebles native was forced to step off on the final lap, shaking with cold. There was similar misfortune for Daisy Taylor in the Junior Women’s race, a crash in practice meaning she was unable to start.
Margam Park
Port Talbot was the venue for the second round of the British Cross Country series, with several Scots making the journey south.
In Saturday’s Short Track, Grace Inglis (Saint Piran) claimed the female win, with a strong second in the youth field by Freya Mowbray (Scotia Offroad RT).
Sunday’s Olympic event saw Inglis not only double up for the weekend but the series too. Battling the heat, Inglis powered solo from the start all the way to the finish, opening up a two-minute gap on the rest of the field. There was a second top ten of the series too for Isla Hedley in ninth.
In the open junior race, there were top ten finishes for the Peebles CC duo of Ben Allan and Sam Ferry in sixth and tenth, respectively.
Daisy Wilkinson and Freya Mowbray made their way on to the youth podium, with the Scotia Offroad RT duo producing great rides. Wilkinson came home in second, with Mowbray two minutes further back in fourth. There was also a podium visit for Guy Rorke (Peebles CC) in fifth in the juvenile race.
Lincoln GP
Kate Richardson (Lifeplus-Wahoo) claimed a stunning solo win at the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix yesterday.
After a chaotic race, the Scot attacked at the bottom of the seventh of eight ascents of the iconic Michaelgate climb.
Richardson built up a 30-second lead on the final tour of the Lincoln circuit, but she was tiring and the chasers were bearing down fast. The gap fell to just 13 seconds, and it looked as though the race was destined for a sprint up Michaelgate, but with 5km to go, the two chasing groups behind merged and a lack of cohesion strangled their pursuit.
As the big teams looked at one another to chase, Richardson pressed on alone and was able to hold on to take an impressive victory in just her second race after breaking her collarbone in the spring classics.
In the open race, John Archibald (Huub Wattshop) was one of a number of riders on the attack in the baking sunshine, however it was Scottish Road Race champion Tim Shoreman (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli) that came home best Scot in 11th, and importantly takes the lead in the National Road Series.
West Lothian GP
Closer to home Sunday saw the West Lothian GP at the eponymous cycle circuit in Linlithgow. It was great to see such a mix of racing from Youths through to Masters-specific races at the cycle circuit. Top billing goes to Noah Bleteau (The Cycling Academy) who claimed an excellent solo win in the open Regional A race.
You can see the full results here.
On Saturday, volunteer coaches Steven Moore and Chris Main led a Scottish Cycling RACE National and Youth Cluster session. The coaches worked with the riders, building on what they had learned from Kames a few weeks ago, focussing on starts, clipping in and dead-turns.
The riders built up some chaingang skills with Scottish Cycling Endurance Coach Evan Oliphant joining them and building their bunch skills, with drills based on riders moving through the group; they finished the session off with a fun but competitive APR.