The Track Champions League heated up in Berlin while Cameron Mason turned up the style with his best-ever World Cup performance in the cyclocross field.
UCI Track Champions League
Katie Archibald retained her lead in the Women’s Endurance category at the UCI Track Champions League in Berlin, after an excellent elimination race victory in Germany.
The Scot finished sixth in a frantic scratch race, after being forced to do the vast majority of the chasing with a pair of riders out front, but was able to retain the leaders’ blue jersey with a dominant win in the devil. Archibald now has two race wins between her and nearest rival Lily Williams heading into the final three rounds.
Despite illness, Neah Evans had another solid showing with an eighth place in the elimination, while Kate Richardson matched that in the scratch race. Evans sits in ninth, while Richardson is in 12th in the overall standings.
Ellie Stone was back in action in the sprint events, early eliminations in both events were buoyed by a strong showing in the keirin – a great springboard to build upon heading to Paris next week.
Mark Stewart was fortunately able to race after the nasty crash suffered in Mallorca last Saturday. It was a mixed day on the boards with a sixth place in the scratch race added to by a tenth place in the elimination. He drops to fifth in the overall standings with the runaway leaders Hashimoto and Bibic having a large advantage over the rest of the field.
You can watch Mark’s behind-the-scenes vlog from Berlin here:
Cyclocross World Cup
Cameron Mason (Cyclorcross Reds) produced one of the rides of his career in Massmechelen finishing in eighth place at the UCI World Cup round in Belgium – his best ever World Cup finish.
Despite starting from the third row of the grid, the Scot powered his way through the field on the heavily rutted course in Limburg. After playing catch-up throughout the early stages of the race, Mason produced the fastest lap of the race on lap three – that would only beaten in the races’ final stages.
An excellent battle for positions ensued with as many as 13 riders at one stage having a shot at a podium. As the race entered its final stages, the battle for sixth was where Mason found himself, with the former Trinity Racing rider coming home in an excellent eighth place, just 46 seconds behind winner Lars van der Haar (Balosie Trek Lions).
You can watch the closing stages of the race here:
Sunday’s performance in Maasmechelen followed up a strong tenth place ride in Ruddervoorde at the Superpresitge event on Saturday. Fellow Scot Ishbel Strathdee (Wheelbase Cabtech Castelli) was also in action and finished 25th in the Women’s Elite race.
Importantly the weekend’s racing sees Mason climb the UCI rankings to 30th in the World, which should in turn lead to better gridding positions for future events, including Wednesday’s event the prestigious Koppenberg Cross – we’d suggest working from home then, if you can!
Cyclocross National Trophy
Derby was the venue for round three of the British National CX Trophy with a number of Scots making the journey down to the Midlands.
In the juniors, Innes McDonald (Scotia Offroad RT) was once again impressive finishing in a strong seventh place despite the very muddy conditions, while Daisy Taylor (Royal Albert) went one better finishing in a strong sixth place.
The young guns were in strong form with a Scottish lock-out of the boys under 14 race, with Rhuairdh Fulton (West Lothian Clarion CC) winning out from Zach Buchan (Pentland Racers) and Josh Stewart (SteppingStanes Youth CC) in third place.
Not to be outdone, Olivia Poole (Deeside Thistle) was showing her form with a dominant win in the under 14 girls race, winning by nearly two minutes! Freya Mowbray (Scotia Offroad RT) also rode to the podium, finishing third in the under 16 event.
RACE National
With a lack of racing in Scotland this weekend, many of the young endurance riders were enhancing their skills with a RACE National session at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome delivered by the Scottish Cycling Performance Team and supported by our excellent volunteer coaches.
