Il Lombardia
The Under 23 edition of the final monument of the season was held in Italy on Saturday with a special Tartan flavour.
After 171 challenging kilometres – including the famous climb to the Madonna del Ghisallo – the race boiled down to a four-up sprint.
Visma’s Elliot Rowe and Red-Bull Bora’s Thornley put the pace into the leading group in the final 25km and drop most of their breakaway compatriots. A tense finale would follow with Decathlton’s Antoine L’Hote and XDS-Astana Mattia Negrente; as well as Peebles’ Thornley keen to drop Rowe before the sprint. Rowe claimed stage victory at the recent Tour de l’Avenir from a reduced bunch sprint – and on form would be the man to beat.
Heading into the final 200m there would be nothing separating the leaders; however, it would be Callum Thornley that would prevail on the left side of the road – taking the win by just under a bike length from the fast-finishing Elliot Rowe on the right.
“This victory is absolutely surreal,” Thornley said immediately after the race to his team Red Bull-BORA hansgrohe.
“When I was asked this morning if I wanted to win, I immediately said: Yes, that’s my goal, because Il Lombardia Under 23 is an incredibly prestigious race in the U23 category. To cross the finish line here in first place now just feels incredible. It’s a dream finish before I continue in the WorldTour next year.”
It’s Thornley’s third victory of the season, after winning a stage of the Sibiu Tour in Romania, and the U23 British Time Trial title, in a season that has seen the Spokes RT graduate rise another level. For a first-year under-23 rider, Elliot Rowe’s second place is an extremely good performance – especially as the youngest rider in the winning move by at least two years.
Stat: Callum Thornley’s victory and Elliot Rowe’s second place represents the first ever Scottish 1-2 in a UCI-level Road Race.
Cyclocross
Storm Amy reminded us it’s definitely winter time and cyclocross season is well into swing.
British Champion Cameron Mason made his first Flemish foray of the season with a strong ride at the opening Exact Cross round in Meulebeke. The Linlithgow rider is riding again in the striking kit of Seven Racing, and started his season with a solid 13th place in Belgium.
National Trophy
Closer to home, Derby was the venue for the opening National Trophy round.
There would be plenty of Scottish success to celebrate from the young team on the Saturday with Olivia Poole (Specialized Youth) taking the win in the Under 16’s and Eilidh Scally (Johnstone Wheelers) following suit in the Under 14 event. SteppingStanes’ Josh Stewart would take a solid fifth place in the Under 16 race with Sam Kingan (Pentland Racers) in eighth place in the Under 14 race.
Xander Graham (Grit Cartel) would finish top of the Scots in the juniors with a solid fifth place ride.
How often do you think of the Roman Empire? Well Antonine’s Wall is calling for Round Two of the National Trophy at Falkirk’s Callendar Park. Entries close this weekend.
Picture: Caoimhe McGourty
Track
Much like cyclocross, it felt like track is back with the first round of the Glasgow Track League on Friday. Round Two closes tomorrow – so get your entries in now.
Over in France, the Masters Track World Championships are underway in Roubaix, we’ll have a full report in next week’s round up, but congratulations to Jude Paterson and Gillian Anderson on their Team Pursuit Gold Medal won over the weekend.