Published: 15th Jul 2024 Images: Scottish Cycling

Young Team Impress at the Euros

Scottish riders came away with four medals at the Junior and Under-23 European Track Championships in Germany.

Junior and U23 Euros

Cottbus in Germany was the venue for the Junior and U23 European Track Championships, with sprinter Iona Moir from the U23 ranks joined by juniors Erin Boothman, Adam Murray and Sarah Johnson for a week of racing.

Iona Moir claimed a brilliant gold medal, as part of Great British trident that scored top spot in a thrilling team sprint final against the host nation.

The Scot bookended the victory in the team sprint, with a silver medal in the keirin – an excellent week for the Team Scotland athlete.

In the juniors, Erin Boothman exited the Euros with a brace of medals, as part of the strong team pursuit quartet that claimed silver on Wednesday, following it with a brilliant bronze in the elimination race 24 hours later. A fantastic showing by the East Kilbride-graduate on debut at the European Champs.

Adam Murray’s campaign started with a strong fifth in the junior team sprint, which he followed by a solid showing in the keirin. Fourth place in the team sprint, wrapped up a solid showing from the Scot.

Sarah Johnson exited the quarter finals of the junior sprint, following up with seventh in the keirin – the Edinburgh RC sprinter also scoring the same position in the and 500m TT.

Olympic TT Champs

Defending champion Natalie Stevenson (Glasgow Ivy CC) flew around the Fenwick course to win Saturday’s Scottish National Olympic Distance Time Trial for a second year in a row.

Finn McHenry (The Cycling Academy) came out top of the class in the senior open category in a competitive field in Ayrshire.

Read the full report here.

Open Junior RR Champs

Sunday’s Battle of the Black Loch saw James Sweeney (Beeston CC) claim the Scottish Junior Road Race title in Slamannan after Sam Chisholm (The Cycling Academy) took a long overdue victory in Falkirk.

Read the full report here.

Dudley GP

Scottish Circuit Champion Eilidh Shaw (Alba Development RT) made it a brace of victories on the National Circuit Series on Friday night with another sensational win in Dudley.

Shaw, the Guildford GP winner dominating the front of the 202020 Taxis Women’s Dudley Grand Prix with clinical precision, before handily dispatching her breakaway companions in the final sprint.

After an attack in the closing stages of the race, Shaw, joined by teammate Kiera Bond and a brace of DAS-Hutchinson-Brother UK riders, maintained an 11-second lead over the bunch for some time but, with the final lap approaching, they had stretched it out to 15 seconds and it seemed clear that the winner would come from this group.

Bond led the leaders through the line for the penultimate time and continued to ride on the front for the majority of the lap, with Hall sat in second wheel and Shaw in third. It wasn’t until the final corner that Shaw made her move, accelerating hard to gain a gap over the other three riders and maintaining her pace all the way to the line, securing her second consecutive win of the Series.

British Youth Omnium Champs

The British Youth Omnium Final took place in Manchester over the weekend, with a number of Scots making the trip down to the National Cycling Centre

Melanie Rowe (Deeside Thistle) was the best of the Scots in the Female fields, claiming sixth place in the Youth A’s, while Micah Myles (Edinburgh RC) was the best of the open riders, taking the same position in the Youth B event.

Read the full report here.

Abroad

Yesterday was Bastille Day at the Tour de France with one of the best climbing performances of all time by the stage winner on the summit to Plateau de Beille.

Oscar Onley (Team DSM-firmenich PostNL) was on the attack and in the break once again, putting a massive shift in on the Queen Stage of the Pyrenees. He was unfortunately caught by the Visma-led peloton 40km out from the finish – but another strong performance by the Scot who sits in 43rd on the overall general classification.

The Cycling Academy were out in France at the Valromey Juniors UCI Stage Race. The young riders suffered in the heat of the French summer – and the freak conditions affecting the race. Joe Cosgrove came home the best of the Scots in 19th place.

Alfie George (SCO-Dijion) claimed two second-places, on his way to ninth overall at the Tour des Deux-Sévres in Nouvelle-Aquitaine .

While over in Spain, Adam Mitchell (Vendée-U) claimed a stage win at the U23 Vuelta a Madrid. With a second place on the hilly final stage to add.