Published: 03rd Feb 2025 Images: Scottish Cycling

Scots battle bravely at Cyclocross Worlds

Arabella Blackburn and Cam Mason were in action at the Cyclocross Worlds, with Blackburn making waves on debut.

UCI Cyclocross Worlds

The past weekend saw the UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Lievin in Northern France, with Arabella Blackburn and Cameron Mason in action in the junior women’s and elite men’s races respectively.

Saturday’s junior event saw a frantic race, with Blackburn finding herself on the precipice of the top 20 throughout the early stages of the five lap race. Heading into the third lap, the testing conditions of the course, which had begun to thaw out, resulted in the race being split into small groups, the Trinity rider’s hard work was rewarded, moving into a high of 16th place. As positions changed throughout the steep ramps and off-camber sections in the final tour of the course, Blackburn would come home in an impressive 17th place, the highest-placed of the three British riders – and only two places behind the highest-ever finish from a Scot in that event (Anna Flynn in 2019).

Sunday’s men’s elite race would round off the weekend’s racing in France, with newly-minted British Champion Cam Mason flying the flag. The Scot had suffered in the days previous with illness but had recovered in time for Sunday.

Starting in the fourth row, Mason would have his work cut out to ride through the field. A strong opening lap would see the Linlithgow native rise ten places on the opening lap from 38th to 28th,  giving the Lettuce Club Cam Mason Ultras something to shout about.

 

The Scot would find himself in the top 20 at the halfway mark of the race, lapping on par with the top ten, but would unfortunately succumb to the fatigue,  and fall to 26th place at the finish, explaining afterwards that he didn’t have the physical level to be competitive after illness. However, with a few weeks of the season still to come, Mason will be chasing the top end of the field with the finale of the Belgian season.

As well as the end of the Belgian season, the finale rounds of the Superquaich Series and the HUPcc Scottish Cyclocross Series are still open for entries – you can enter them here.

Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race

Oscar Onley (Team Picnic-PostNL) continued his antipodean start to the season with the one-day Great Ocean Road Race in Victoria. The last race of the Australian block saw one of the hardest and most attritional editions of the event starting and finishing in the city of Geelong. With temperatures in the high 30s – riders were cooled down by spectators spraying water from garden hoses on the peloton.

The final ascent of the Challambra Crescent climb split the race apart with Onley making the key selection. A well placed attack by Mauro Schmid (Jayco AlUla) would see the Swiss champion take the win.  Gambling on those with numbers to close things down, Onley was attentive and followed the wheels in the group after trying to bridge to Schmid on the last kicker, but in the end the catch was never made. Onley sprinted to the line for ninth place – another strong showing down under.

Speaking to Team Picnic-PostNL in-house media Onley said: “We came into the race with a couple options; with myself and Tobi for the final. I just followed the wheels on the last climb hoping Tobi [Lund Andresen] could make it in our group. I’m frustrated with myself for not trying to follow Schimd but I tried to gamble and hoped others would close it down. Overall, it’s been quite a successful trip for the team but I’m hoping to step up a level in the coming races.”

AlUla Tour

Calum Johnston (Caja-Rural) opened his season in Saudi Arabia at the AlUla Tour. A strong showing in the hilly race saw the Glaswegian come home in 22nd on the general classification – included in that was a very strong performance on the summit finish to Bir Jaydah – where Johnston came home in 17th just 40 seconds down on winner Tom Pidcock. The Scot will head back to Europe with a busy month of racing on the Iberian peninsula in the Pamplona-based squad’s calendar.