UEC European Track Championships
Zolder was the venue for the UEC European Track Championships, with five Scots making the journey across the Channel to represent Great Britain.
Lauren Bell kicked off the Championships in earnest with silver in Wednesday’s team sprint, the Highland sprinter riding in position two in the sprint, with the squad qualifying third with a time of 47.168 behind last year’s winners, Germany. In the first round, the British trio delivered a time of 46.905, over two and a half seconds faster than rivals Czechia, putting them through to the title ride-off against the Netherlands. In the race for the European title, a sterling ride from the trio wasn’t quite enough to usurp a dominant Dutch squad, but they could be delighted with silver.
Sunday’s keirin would see an excellent sixth place finish from Bell – making her debut in the event at this level – and despite being boxed in in the final, the Scot rode two excellent rides in earlier stages in the competition to impress.
There was double debut delight for Michael Gill in the tests against the clock. An excellent performance in the team pursuit saw Great Britain qualify second with a time of 3:51.7, a time which would be smashed out the park by nearly two seconds in their First Round tie against Switzerland – that effort qualified the British quartet for the gold medal ride against world champions Denmark.
An incredible final showdown between Great Britain and Denmark saw pure class from both nations, but ultimately ended with the Brits taking home the silver medal. Joined by Josh Charlton, Noah Hobbs and Rhys Britton, this new look GB team took a confident lead and by three laps in, held half a second over the Danes. This didn’t stay the case for long as the Danes pushed back to take the lead themselves. This started a tense back-and-forth between the nations, as neither took a lead of more than 0.2 seconds for the meat of the race. With just 500m to go, Denmark put their foot on the gas and went all out to create a half-second lead, crossing the line first and taking the win, with Great Britain securing a sensational silver.
Gill would have further success in the individual pursuit – after setting a brilliant third-fastest time of 4:06.915 to qualify for the bronze medal ride off, Gill was undeterred by an early lead for Italy’s Renato Fevaro and pushed the pace to take the advantage himself and open up a half-second gap within the first kilometre. Meeting fire with fire, Fevaro pushed back to reduce the gap and commence a back and forth of the tiniest margins between the two riders. Gill maintained composure and his steadiness allowed him to take advantage of Fevaro’s fatigue, taking the lead then increasing the gap in the final 500m to clinch his first international individual medal.
Like Gill, Neah Evans was part of the Great Britain medal winning pursuit squad, as they claimed the bronze medal, Evans an important member of the quartet that set a strong pace in qualifying. Thursday’s Elimination race would be one of frustration for the Aberdeenshire rider. An early crash was followed by a controversial relegation halfway through to end her race in ninth. The new Handsling-Alba pairing of Neah Evans and Maddie Leech delivered a strong ride in the madison that saw them work hard to be in the mix for a medal, but unfortunately the podium wasn’t to be, and they took a commendable sixth place finish.
A new event for women is the Kilometre – replacing the 500m TT – where both endurance and sprint riders can test their mettle. Neah Evans and Iona Moir were both in action. Evans would reach the final with two times either side of 1:08 to come home in eighth. Iona Moir’s 18th place would be sweetened by a massive personal best for a standing 250m of 18.878 – showing her explosive starts as a potential option for the P1 position in the Team Sprint.
There was a European debut too for Lyall Craig, with 13th in the Men’s Kilometre – his first effort in the event for five years – and a ride in the Keirin acting as a useful benchmark for the Glasgow Track RC rider for 2025.
As a result of their strong performances across the week, Lauren Bell, Michael Gill and Neah Evans have also become the first Scottish athletes to meet the Team Scotland selection criteria for next summer’s Commonwealth Games. No selections will be made until later this year, but riders can be considered for selection by meeting any two standards, which Bell, Gill and Evans all did in Belgium; with Iona Moir also making one of the two required marks.
Internacionales XCO Chelva
Over in Spain at the UCI .HC class event at Chelva there was more Scottish success.
Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory Racing) continued his strong start to the season with a fantastic victory in the men’s elite race. The Crieff man led from the front and forced a key selection of five riders including for World XCC Champion Sam Gaze. After others struggled on the rock section with three of the seven tours to go – Aldridge attacked and was able to power away from the chasers to claim his first elite .HC victory.
Isla Short (Short Factory Racing) continued the strong Scottish presence in Valenciana with an excellent sixth place finish in the women’s elite – with the Peebles rider showing that’s she’s back to her best.
Only four months since breaking his leg, Innes McDonald (Scotia Offroad RT) claimed an excellent fourth place in Chelva in the junior event – which is part of the UCI Junior Series. The result is Innes’ best international performance to date by quite a way – and shows that the industrious rider is looking to take 2025 head-on after a disappointing end to last year.
There was further success from the young team in Chelva with Oliva Poole (Deeside Thistle) winning the Under-17 event. The British Champion dominated the race, beating the mostly Spanish field by over three minutes.
Clásica de Jaén Nations Cup
Erin Boothman scored an excellent victory at the opening round of the UCI Nations Cup in Andalusia. The first edition of the race, which supports the UCI 1.1 Men’s event on a similar course, started and finished in the World Heritage City of Úbeda, and covered 77km and four gravel sectors in its second half, in a race resembling Strade Bianche.
Boothman was able to rely on the support of her Great Britain teammates – including Arabella Blackburn – throughout the early stages to control the race. Eventually a key eight-rider move would form at the front of the action with the Glaswegian part of the selection
Despite a number of attacks by the Spanish national team to split up the racing, Boothman was able to keep in the lead group and take the sprint into Úbeda, claiming her biggest road win to date. Arabella Blackburn would come home in the second group on the road in a fine 13th place.
After the race Boothman told media:
“I knew the race was going to be very tough. My tactic was to wait for Paula [Ostiz] to attack, because we knew she would go for it sooner or later, and she did in the first ‘sterrato’ sector. At one point, I found myself alone with three girls from Spain and three from NXTG . I didn’t want to work, because they were outnumbered. I did my best to keep a fast pace to prevent any more attacks. On the home straight, the Spanish girls went for it very early and I was able to fight back to win. This victory means a lot to me. Last year I was barely able to compete on the road, so to win the first race of the year is incredible. I’m on cloud nine. I loved the race; especially the Caminos de Olivos was so much fun.”
Cyclocross
On the penultimate weekend of international cyclocross action, and in fact the final televised races of the year, Cameron Mason (Seven Racing) reminded onlookers that he is one of the best riders in the world with a strong ninth place finish at the Brussels University Cyclocross on Sunday. Sitting in about 15th place after a lap of racing, he used the technical course to his advantage, picking through the field for a top 10 – with another lap he’d have probably ended up seventh such was his progression.
There was also a good ride from Ishbel Strathdee (Team HUPcc) who made the trip to Belgium for one final weekend of ‘cross racing this season. Like Mason, the course suited her skillset, and she came home in 19th place, with a number of quality riders just in front of her. For Strathdee, plenty of motivation to build her engine through the summer and make another step up next winter, whilst for Mason, it’s onwards to Oostmalle on Sunday, and then a well deserved rest.
Back in Scotland, the HUPcc Scottish Cyclocross Series finale is this Sunday at Chatelherault (click here for entries, which close at midnight on Tuesday) hosted by Royal Albert & the Clydesdale Colts, before the last race of the season at Strathallan Castle CX the following weekend.