Tour de France
Oscar Onley (Team Picnic-Post NL) has risen to fourth place in the general classification at the Tour de France, after the race faced a hat-trick of consecutive summit finishes in the Pyrenees.
After coming out of the rest day sitting in seventh place, the brutal ascent of the Hautacam on Thursday would be the first hors categorie climb of the race on Stage 12 where Tadej Pogacar would be Tadej Pogacar and attack on the lower slopes 12km from the finish, apparently as a joke.
Onley would ride extremely well in a group of four as they progressed up the ascent. Following an attack from Lipowitz, Onley managed to bridge to his wheel but the German kicked once more and Onley had to ride at his own tempo. Eventually joining up with Halland Johannessen, the duo rode to the line where they sprinted it out; with Onley taking a strong fifth place on the stage and rising to sixth overall.
Friday’s hill climb to the Altiport at Peyragudes saw the Kelso comet put his climbing skills on show. Riding on a road bike, as opposed to a time trial bike, the Scot was able to make better headway on the steeper slopes of the runway and finish seventh on the stage and put significant time into rival Kevin Vauquelin.
The final stage in the Pyrenees would see the return to Superbagnéres, which holds a special place in Scottish tour history. In 1961, it was the site of a great attack by Ken Laidlaw, the first Scot to finish the Tour, who claimed the award for the most aggressive rider on the day. In 1986, Pippa York, then riding as Robert Millar, would finish second on the mountain to the great Greg LeMond, and take the King of the Mountains jersey; while on the identical stage three years later Millar would have revenge taking the stage victory – the last time the Tour visited the remote ski station.
Fast forward 36 years, and Oscar Onley, with the support of domestiques Warren Barguil and Frank van den Broek, came onto the lower slopes of the last climb of a brutal day to Superbagnéres in the drastically reduced yellow jersey group, where the pace then increased. Onley continued to impress as he pushes his limits and boundaries each day at the Tour de France, riding ably within the group when it had thinned down to seven riders.
A stinging attack from Vingegaard, which was followed by Pogacar, split the GC group to pieces and Onley rode at his own tempo. Pushing all the way to the line, he gained time on other riders and finished sixth on the stage; and with that moving up to fourth place.
The race enters into the final phase of racing tomorrow, with the stinging test of Mont Ventoux to follow, as Onley defends a fantastic fourth place. The same as the best ever finish from a Scot at the Tour (Robert Millar in 1984), but with ambitions of the podium in Paris, and with it the White Jersey for best young rider, not to be deemed as unrealistic.
British Downhill Champs
Fort William served up it’s unique brand of dreichness for the Lloyds National Downhill Championships across the weekend, but the spirits and Scottish performances would not be dampened.
There would be a Scottish lockout of the senior female podium with Louise-Anna Ferguson in control in the tough conditions, taking home her first British title crossing the line in a time of 5:06.328, seven seconds ahead Phoebe Gale (Orbea FMD Racing) in second place with a time of 5:13.504, while Fort William’s own Mikayla Parton claimed bronze.
Speaking on her win, Lou Ferguson said:
“I’m feeling so proud. It’s really special for me to do a good run on my home track, on the way down I heard everyone shouting my name so I’m really happy.
“I just can’t describe it, it means a lot for me to be here and also back up the seeding – last year I qualified first for champs and ended up crashing on my run so it feels extra good today to keep it together and deliver in front of a bunch of friends”
There was to be another tartan-tinted lockout in junior female event, Megan Horne took top spot and a national champion jersey home in a time of 5:24.822. Horne dominated the competition, finishing 37 seconds ahead of Heather Wilson in second place on 6:02.699, while Hollie Alderson finished third with a time of 6:08.886.
Reid Simpson would lead another Scottish trident on the podium in the juvenile open event, from Millar Davidson in second and Ty Simpson taking bronze. Local riders Esmie Carruthers and Izzy Blackman would take silver and bronze in the juvenile female field.
There would be further medal success in the Masters with Shona McKinnon and Sara Allan claiming silver and bronze respectively, and John Young would take Masters 50 Bronze.
British XC Champs
Woody’s Bike Park in Cornwall hosted the Lloyds National Cross Country Championships across the weekend with short-track and olympic accolades up for grabs.
Short Track
It was Olympic eighth-placer Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale FR) who came through strongest to take the national championship jersey home with him. On the final lap, the top four riders were all together still with 500m to go. Aldridge launched an early sprint and was able to hold it to the line. Aldridge finished in a time of 21:48.7, narrowly ahead of Corran Carrick-Anderson (Trinity Racing) in second to make it a Scots one-two, while Innes McDonald (Scotia Offroad RT), who finished sixth overall, was the highest placing junior, winning himself the national champion jersey.
Isla Short would come home second in the senior and junior female event, while there would be victories in the youths for Gus Lawson (Pentland) and Olivia Poole (Deeside Thistle).
Eilidh Scally (Johnstone Wheelers) scored juvenile silver and Megan Mowbray (Team HUP) claimed bronze in the masters 50.
Olympic
In the senior women’s event, Isla Short was able to one-up Evie Richards to take home the national championship jersey.
It was a close race between the two throughout, with Richards and Short opening up a gap on lap one that stayed for the duration of the race. Richards led for most of the contest and on lap four, attacked into descent. Short countered, attacking on the long climb and pulled away. As they passed the start/finish with two to go, Short had a 12-second advantage. The Peebles rider was able to produce an excellent final two tours and crossed the line arms aloft three minutes ahead of her nearest rival.
In the senior open, Charlie Aldridge once again proved his dominance, taking his second national title of the Championships. The duo of Charlie Aldridge and Cameron Orr, the defending champion, took a commanding lead over the rest of the competition. The two battled it out, before Aldridge was able to seize a gap in Lap four and kick on, finding himself at the front of the pack for the rest of the race. Orr did dig in, able to claw some time back but he was no match for Aldridge who claimed his second national championship jersey of the weekend. Behind, Corran Carrick-Anderson secured the under-23 national champion jersey.
Silver medals would go to Innes McDonald and Freya Mowbray in the juniors and Jane Barr (Velocity 44) would take the title with a brilliant ride in the masters.
The youth events were dominated by the Scots, Olivia Poole (Deeside Thistle) and Gus Lawson made their way to the top step of the podium, with Joel Gillan (Scotia Offroad RT) in second place. It was a similar story in the juveniles with Lily Cant (West Highland Wheelers) winning the female race and Guy Rorke (Pentland Racers) and Josh Stewart (SteppingStanes) finishing second and third in the open.
Junior & Under-23 European Championships
Junior
Erin Boothman broke three Junior World Records on her way to a hat-trick of European titles in Portugal.
The former East Kilbride RT rider’s campaign started with success in the team pursuit. Boothman alongside fellow Scot Arabella Blackburn and teammates Evie Smith and Phoebe Taylor qualified first in the heats, so already looked like the team to beat in Anadia, and they showed their class against Italy in the final. The quartet was slightly changed with Abi Miller replacing Blackburn, but were just as strong; setting a time of 4:20.376 over 4 kilometres – the fastest time ever from a junior team.
The success would continue on Friday when Erin Boothman went and broke the World Record twice in the junior women’s kilo. In qualifying, Erin Boothman delivered a stunning qualification ride, setting a world record in the new event, of 1:08.253, putting her top of the leaderboard. In the finals, Boothman did one better. Despite being behind all the way up until the 750m mark, Boothman was able to find another gear and kicked on, breaking her own record with a time of 1:08.092 to win gold.
The hat-trick would be complete on Saturday, with a sensational ride with Abi Miller in the madison he duo never let up throughout the 80 lap race, taking points on every single sprint available, winning three out of eight. Adding a lap-take alongside the Italian team put them firmly in contention for the win as Miller flicked Boothman into action for the final sprint where she powered across the line to take the title in sensational fashion.
Arabella Blackburn would also have more success in the test against the clock, winning bronze in the individual pursuit to add to her team pursuit gold.
Under-23
Elliot Rowe swapped in for Will Salter in the men’s under-23 team pursuit for the final, joining Ben Wiggins, Josh Charlton and Noah Hobbs. Having comfortably beaten France in round one, GB took on Germany in a nail biting final. Starting steady, Great Britain were in a deficit of over a second for the first half of the race, as Germany looked to be dominant. As the 2km mark hit, the Brits started to pull back time with around 0.4 seconds still left to gain with just two laps to go. With a huge turn from Charlton on the front, they delivered the seemingly impossible and outdid the Germans in a sensational finish to take the title by 3.378 seconds. Rowe would add to the medals with a points race bronze.
In the under-23 women’s sprint event, Iona Moir qualified first in a time of 10.471 seconds with Rhian Edmunds close behind in third place with a time of 10.685. Both flew through to the quarter-finals, each winning their heats in two straight rides to head into semi-finals. Moir breezed past Alla Biletska (Ukraine) in her under-23 women’s sprint semi-final heat, crossing the line well ahead of the Ukrainian.
Moir faced Lysenko in the final. Lysenko (AIN) took the first race, though Moir took the second, after a bike issue prompted a restart. Another restart in the decider meant it was a tentative start to proceedings by both women. Moir found herself behind at the bell but sneaked past Lysenko at the top of the track. It was neck and neck for the duration of the final lap, but Moir had just that bit more to cross the line first and win gold. Moir rounded off her week with a bronze in the keirin.
British Youth Circuit Series
The British circuit series continued closer to home, this time in Wyke, where Izzy Barbour (Edinburgh RC) was in fine form scoring a podium finish in second after a long distance attack with one other rider; she was joined in Yorkshire by Millie Boothman (Glasgow Riderz) and Zara Main (Deeside Thistle) who finished 5th and 12th respectively to continue the strong Scottish female showing this season. In the Open race Barbour’s teammate Andrew Levinson led the Scottish charge in 7th.