Tag: Scottish Road Races

We didn’t make it over to the Scottish Road Race Championships – which this year included the Sam Robinson Memorial Race -   but thought it only fair that we catch up with the man who was crowned champion, Matti Dobbins of the Wheelbase CabTech Castelli team.

It finally felt like spring had sprung on Saturday in beautiful East Lothian in the town of Gifford. The Ribble-Weldtite team headed north to race in Round One of the Scottish National Alba Men's Road Race Series, and as well as the sunshine the guys enjoyed the race - and the result. At the same time, the team sent a squad to the Peaks Two-Day event, with more remarkable performances.

Whilst we reported the men’s race, VeloVeritas didn’t make it up to Alyth in time for the Scottish Ladies Road race Championship on Saturday – ‘real life’ stuff got in the way. Sorry ladies. But we did catch up with winner for the second year, Jennifer George (Torelli-Assure-Madison) a day or two after the race; here’s what she had to say to us.

A man who can wheel about with Ineos World Tour beasts Ian Stannard and Ben Swift then win the Stockton Grand Prix with a 100 kilometre solo break was never going to have too much trouble with the Scottish Road Championship 2019 – and so it proved; John Archibald solo - ed to a four minute victory across the Backwater Dam on a bright but breezy day in the Angus hills.

A clean sprint and Evan Oliphant bags win number seven in the Scottish Road Race Championship. I suspect it wasn’t coincidence that he was assigned number 7 as his race number today, a nice touch. The result had a familiar ring to it though, if you were to look at the past ten years of championship results. Don't however, be deceived into thinking this was anything other than a very well organised race on a very demanding circuit and what was lacking in glamour was more than made up for in grit shown by the riders on a day of mixed weather on bleak moorland roads.

It was 2013 when Harry Tanfield (Pedal Heaven) first came into our sights, winning the Dave Campbell Memorial Road Race in the Kingdom of Fife. We ran a full interview with him 2014 when our man with his finger on the Flemish pulse, Viktor noted that young Mr. Tanfield had been ‘doing the biz’ in the kermises. And it’s time for another chat with the 21 year-old from Middlesbrough after he repeated his 2013 Dave Campbell victory on the tough roads of Central Fife at the weekend. We caught up with him the day after his win.

Ben Hetherington of Achieve attacked into the final drag maintaining a slender lead all the way to the line to take a strong victory with Jack Rees also of Achieve winning the bunch sprint.

A familiar name cropped up to win the recent David Campbell Memorial Race in Fife, run on a tough course over the Cults Hills – that of George Atkins. Atkins spent time living and racing in Scotland a year or two ago and this year he’s stepped up from the 100% ME amateur squad to ride as a pro with the Raleigh.

The winner of the first big Scottish road race of the season – in bonnie Gifford - was Velosure-Giordana’s Tommy Bustard, and we wanted to have a word... we can’t have these Englishmen coming up and winning our races and then not ask them what it’s all about. If you’ve been paying attention to the ever-more sparse ‘local results’ in ‘Sportives and Road Tests Weekly’ (aka ‘Cycling Weekly’) you’ll have seen that Bustard scored a good win in the early season Roy Thame Cup; a hotly contested road race in the south - so the form was there.