Track Euros
Looking to claim more medals after team pursuit success Katie Archibald rode with partner Anna Morris in the madison. They would deliver a tactical ride, staying aware of the danger and reacting throughout, to secure a silver medal overall.
After a cagey start, the British duo found their rhythm picking up regular points and winning three sprints to put them in a comfortable lead.
However, the Belgian duo of Lotte Kopecky and Shari Bossuyt were on a mission and used a sprint opportunity to coast through and make their move for a lap take. Over a huge portion of the race, Belgium chipped away at the lap, picking up sprint points on the way while the bunch were unable to bring them back into their grasp.
Eventually sealing their lap as the race approached its final stages, Belgium overtook GB with an unassailable lead. The Brits collected the final points as the race came to a close but were all out of opportunity to pull the title back and won the silver medal overall.
Lauren Bell was looking to add to her own medal tally in the keirin. The Highland sprinter delivered a strong semi-final ride, crossing the line behind Lea Sophie Friedrich (Germany) to make her way into the medal ride.
In the final, Steffie van der Peet led out early, with Bell right on her wheel, taking a strong lead around the outside. With a lap to go however, the pack wrapped around her, blocking Bell in and after a valiant effort was left with nowhere to go and finished fourth.
Tim Shoreman was making his Great Britain and European Championships debut in the 16 lap test against the clock. The Scottish individual pursuit champion setting a time of 4:07.231 which saw him finish 10th overall. Importantly, it would be another Team Scotland standard for this summer games- and only three tenths off the Scottish record set by Michael Gill last year.
Kate Richardson also staked her claim for selection this summer, after her strong ride in qualifying for the team pursuit, the endurance rider opted to target the kilometre. The new event is one that both sprinters and endurance riders are targeting, while Richardson’s ime of 1:07.834 was enough to finish 19th overall, and inside the Team Scotland standard.
The well-established duo of Mark Stewart and Ollie Wood built steadily into the men’s madison race, putting three points on the board in the third sprint before deciding to make their move.
Without challenge from the bunch, Wood got out front to pick up more intermediate sprint points and move up the ranks before eventually being pulled back into the fray by Denmark.
The Brits worked hard to keep themselves in the mix, however big moves were being made around them as the Germain pair of Roger Kluge and Moritz Augusten dominated the race gaining an impressive two laps and sealing an untouchable win.
Behind them were Portugal, who joined them for a lap take to leave the Brits as one of five in the mix for the race for bronze.
However, as the tempo became more ferocious, attacks where coming thick and fast and the laps were running out, Wood and Stewart were unable to contend and took a 10th place finish overall.
Cameron Mason turned his attention back to Belgium with a double header of races – the first of which was Saturday’s Superprestige round – the Noordzeecross in Middlekerke. A strong showing from Mason on a fairly dry course would see the Scot take home a respectable seventh place.
Sunday, meanwhile, saw the penultimate round of the X2O Trofee in Lille (the Flemish town, not the French city). Fatigue played its part with the British champion take 24th on the day. The result sees Mason now fourth in the series with one round to go.
He needs to beat Toon Aerts by around 50 seconds at the final round – the Brussels Universities cross next Sunday – to take his place on the series podium and lucrative prize money on offer. A hard task, but certainly possible – Mason put 44 seconds into Aerts at the Maasmechelen World Cup round a fortnight ago, and nearly 90 seconds in Flamanville earlier this winter.
Pic: SCOTT Mediterranean Epic
Spain was the venue for many of the world’s cross-country riders with both the Mediterranean Epic and Shimano Supercup both underway.
Castelllion’s Epic is a four-day multi-stage event, with Charlie Aldridge right at the forefront of the action. The Crieff rider claimed the final stage win on his way to fourth overall, which builds him nicely towards the UCI World Cup season which gets underway in Korea in May.
Further north along the coast, the first round of the Supercup in La Nucia saw strong performances from Isla Short and Corran Carrick-Anderson, with the Borders duo finishing in tenth and 15th respectively, in Catalonia.