UCI MTB World Cup
Val di Sole was the venue for the latest round of the UCI Cross-country World Cup in Italy, with Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale) and Isla Short both looking to impress.
Sunday’s Cross Country Olympic event saw extreme heat in Trentino, with riders using ice socks and pouring water over themselves in futile attempts to keep cool.
In the men’s elite Charlie Aldridge was in the mix whole way, in what formed a really exciting battle for the victory. The Scot was among five in contention for the victory – with the lead swapping several times throughout. It was a race destined for a first time race winner, with all the contenders looking for maiden trip to the top step of the podium.
Aldridge would finish in fifth place, within 50 seconds of winner Martin Vidaurre; in what was the Crieff rider’s best World Cup performance of the season.
There was also a solid ride from Isla Short, who moved up through the race to finish 29th in the women’s elite field.
SXC
Back home, it was round four of the Scottish Cross Country Series, with Sam Chisholm (Team HUP) winning out at Tarland Trails in Aberdeenshire.
Chisholm, rode away from the field on the very hilly course at the new facility in the North East, with local rider Oliver Carter (Deeside Thistle) taking the junior victory. In the female field, there was an excellent ride from Freya Mowbray (Scotia Offroad RT) to win out.
In the morning’s youth racing Joel Gillan (Scotia Offroad RT) just bested Xander Graham (Grit Cartel) to take home the youth open victory by eight seconds., with Guy Rorke (Peebles CC) winning out in the juvenile event. It would be a family affair in the female events with Isla and Lily Cant (West Highland Wheelers) scoring the wins in the youth and juvenile races, respectively.
Tour de Suisse
Oscar Onley (Team Picnic PostNL) was on sensational form in Switzerland to claim a marvellous stage win and third place in the general classification at a thrilling edition of the Tour de Suisse.
After losing time on the opening stage, Onley made the key selections on the next two mountain stages – finishing behind João Almeida on both occasions to finish third and second.
However, on Stage 5 to Santa Maria, the Scot would go one better.
Onley attacked the group of favourites with three kilometres to go on the 184km stage, the steep inclines of the final three kilometres only saw Almedia follow the Scotsman in tow, before Onley held off the Portuguese rider in the final few metres to take the biggest win of his career – and importantly move him up to fourth in the general classification.
The former Spokes RT rider’s position would be further consolidated after second place on the summit finish on stage seven before Sunday’s final 10km individual time trial-cum-hill climb.
An exquisite ride from Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R) would set the pace, with Onley needing to finish within a minute to hold on to fourth place. A fantastic ride in the seering heat of the Stockhütte climb would see Onley come home second on the line – only 47 seconds down on Gall – with the final three riders still to come.
As the seconds ticked by, it confirmed that Onley would earn his first major European stage race podium, with Julian Alaphillipe unable to hold on to third place. In fact it would Onley’s fifth stage podium of the race.
Baby Giro
Back over the border to Italy, and it was an excellent performance by Callum Thornley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe Rookies) at the Baby Giro (Under 23 Tour of Italy) – bouncing back from his collarbone break.
Riding in support of teammates, with an added by product of maintaining a strong general classification placing, the Scot started the eight-day race last Sunday with third in the opening time trial and eighth on Stage 2.
A brilliant ride to tenth on the summit finish on Stage 3 would continue to show the Scots’ aspirations. Consistent riding throughout the week would keep Thornley on the edge of the top 10 before Sunday’s final stage in Pinerolo.
The final stage saw some of the best bike handling you’ll ever see – and another solid result in support of teammates Luke Tuckwell and Lorenzo Finn – which would see the Peebles native finish 10th on the general classification and in addition claim the teams classification.
RACE National can provide you with the skills to become a better rider.
From bike-handling to nutrition and coaching support – the programme supports riders wholistically.
Previous graduates include Callum Thornley amongst others.
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— Scottish Cycling (@ScottishCycling) June 23, 2025
Elsewhere
Elsewhere on the road, there were wins for Erin Boothman (Tofauti Everyone Active) at the National Junior Series round: CAMS Women’s Race in England, and Adam Mitchell (Vendeé-U) at the five-day elite race – Tour Nivernais Morvan – in France.
At the Tour of the Reservoir in Northumberland, there were strong rides from the Handsling-Alba duo of Kate Richardson and Lauren Dickson to come home sixth and seventh, respectively. While Logan Maclean was top Scot in the open field in 14th place.
Track
There was a busy weekend of track racing abroad with the Brandenburg Sprint Cup in Cottbus and Carnival of Speed Grand Prix in Trinidad – both importantly Class 1 events and counting towards Commonwealth Games qualification.
Trinidad
After solid racing in Thursday’s Speed Paradise event, in which she claimed the sprint victory and a keirin third, Iona Moir continued her fantastic form in the Caribbean claiming the sprint and keirin victories at the weekend’s Festival of Speed, against a quality field of Olympic and Commonwealth riders. The Scot also claimed a new personal best and potential new Scottish record (subject to ratification) in the Flying 200m of 10.500.
There was success in the endurance events for the younger Moir, Calum, with Thursday’s event seeing him claim third in the elimination race, backed up with a solid showing in the scratch. Across the weekend, there was to be more success with second in both the scratch race and omnium.
Cottbus
At the Großer Preis von Deutschland im Sprint in the east of Germany, Lauren Bell was in action.
The Forres rider claimed a brilliant keirin victory in a field that could quite easily resemble that of a European Championships, this would follow third in the sprint competition – and silver alongside Lowri Thomas and Rhianna Parris-Smith in the team sprint.
BMX Racing
Back at home – the latest round of the Scottish Regional BMX Racing series went ahead at Glasgow BMX Centre – in Knightswood.
You can find full results here.