Sunday, April 20, 2025

Tag: Stars of the Future

Alfie George – a Person of International Talent or Reputation

​Alfie George, the young Scot from Abernyte, Perthshire, has been making his presence felt in France with a string of impressive performances and this current season has seen Alfie maintain his upward trajectory, last week chalking up another significant victory by taking the win at the Tour Cycliste des 4B Sud Charente.

Innes McDonald – on Broken Wrist and MTB World Championship

Edinburgh rider Innes McDonald (Scottish Offroad Race Team) is only 16 years old but already has 11 years of riding and racing under his wheels. Recently Innes represented Great Britain for the first time, at the World Mountain Bike Championships in Andorra in both the Cross Country Relay (XCR) and the Cross Country Olympic (XCO).

Calum Moir – the Lightweight Sprinter Scot from London

Calum Moir has ridden mostly in Spain this season on the road, with a few top 20 results, but he’s also capable of a 1’03” Kilometre and a 3’22” Individual Pursuit on the track, having a superb Commonwealth Youth Games last season where he won four medals in the velodrome as well as four Scottish titles, he moved to Spain and a ride with Brocar-Rali-Alé.

The VV View: 2023 Top Ten Young Guns, the Men to Watch

We've been watching the up-and-coming riders and have chosen our ‘Top Ten Young Guns’ for 2023. Our rider choices for 2022 included some top performers so let’s look at the ‘Men to Watch’ in 2023.

The VV View: How Did the New Talent in 2022 Fare?

Here at VeloVeritas we keep our eyes on the new talent coming through the peloton and this time last year we picked eleven men to watch in 2022. So, let's see how they got on.

Sean Flynn – Making his World Tour Debut with DSM

After a strong season with the Swiss Racing Academy, Edinburgh’s Sean Flynn will be joining his countryman Oscar Onley at the Dutch World Team DSM, riding alongside big name riders like Romain Bardet and John Degenkolb.

Zak Coleman – Playing the Team Game with VolkerWessels

VeloVeritas soothsayer and mentor has been on to me for a while; ‘you should be speaking to that Zak Coleman laddie, he’s on the VolkerWessels team in The Netherlands, that’s a top team and he’s the only non-Dutch boy on it! They ride a lot of the UCI European Tour races, the likes of the Baloise Belgian Tour.’

Callum Macleod – 2023? A Pro Contract else I start University

It was our mentor, Viktor who pointed out to us that Englishman, Callum Macleod had spent season 2022 with the Dutch ABLOC CT squad and that his contract is renewed for season 2023; of the 19 riders on the squad 16 are Dutch, there’s a Latvian, a Finn - and Callum.

Harrison Wood – Taking the ‘Old Way’ to Cofidis

For 2023 Harrison Wood, the 22 years-old from Devon will be part of the much improved Cofidis équipe. We find out more about how he secured his contract.

The VV View: Ten Trends in Twenty Two

We list our top ten trends that we picked up on in 2022 and ponder which ones are set to continue into 2023 and beyond.

Oscar Onley – Moving up to the WorldTour with Team DSM

We’ve been following 20 years-old Kelso man, Oscar Onley’s progress for a few years now and so when recently the news came that DSM had signed him on a five year deal it was no surprise; the Dutch squad obviously recognise a good thing when they see one. 

Lee Rosie – Scottish 100 Mile Champion and Record Breaker!

I for one imagined that Kyle Gordon’s 2018 Scottish 100 mile time trial record of 3:36:10 was going to be ‘on the shelf’ for a long while but records are there to be broken and Spokes Racing Team’s Lee Rosie did that very thing in the Scottish 100 Mile Time Trial Championship, taking two minutes from Kyle’s time with a stunning 3:34:10 ride.

Paul Double – Stepping up to UCI ProTeam Level

Young Englishman Paul Double is a wee bit of a ‘forgotten man’ - out there in an Italian continental team racing against some of the world’s best - but not by VeloVeritas. Paul’s results this year are all the more commendable given he was hit by a car early in the year and had to fight back to fitness.

Dillon Corkery – CC Etupes’ Young Irishman Building a Superb Palmarès

When CC Etupes' Christophe Andre gets in touch from la Belle France to tell me that he has a young man from the Emerald Isle on the team books who he thinks I should be speaking to, I pay attention. Dillon Corkery is the young Irish gentleman in question...

Mason Hollyman – Producing Top Class Rides in the u23 Classics

Mason Hollyman, the 20 years-old ex-‘Zappi Man’ from Huddersfield riding for Israel Cycling Academy continental team took fourth in the Italian u23 classic Trofeo Piva and fifth in the extremely tough u23 Liege-Bastogne-Liege. He’s also been riding at the highest level with the Israel – Premier Tech World Tour team in races like the Coppi e Bartali where the big teams joust with gung-ho ProTeams desperate for recognition.

Lewis Askey – on Crashing in Paris-Roubaix and life in Groupama FDJ

At French WorldTour squad Groupama FDJ, Lewis Askey has come close to a French UCI 1.1 semi-classic win and is always in the thick of the televised action. Unfortunately, his progress has been pulled up short by a crash at Paris-Roubaix – most likely caused by the dreaded disc rotor. We caught up with him as he recuperated back in England.

Sam Watson – u23 Gent-Wevelgem Winner

In the u23 version of Gent-Wevelgem, which is a UCI Nations Cup 1.Ncup rated event, Britain’s Sam Watson beat the cream of Europe’s u23 talent to win a race which boasts the likes of Fons de Wolf, Eddy Planckaert, Niko Eeckhout, Greg Van Avermaet and Mads Pedersen among previous winners.

The VV View: How aero is my front light?

Ed gets it all off his chest in our latest Rant; do we really need aero front lights? What difference does a tricked out 'pain cave' make? Some clever innovations that aren't April fools, and should Tomeke take over from Patrick at QuickStep?

Morgan Bown – with EC Saint-Etienne Loire for 2022

As road racing in Scotland and the UK thinks about making a start to the year, over in mainland Europe the season is already well underway. Young Scot and Rayner Foundation man, Morgan Bown has been racing in France with his EC Saint-Etienne Loire team since early February.

The VV View: 2022’s Young Guns

The New Guys in the Peloton; another season and a new tranche of young professional riders in the peloton. We have been keeping our eyes on the ‘young guns’ and give you our top 11 all under 22. 

At Random

Fraser Martin – On Board with Raleigh as Third Scot for 2016

Evan Oliphant's going to have not one but two new chums to chat to at Raleigh for season 2016. We've already spoken to Aberdeen's Craig Wallace and now it's time for Perth man Fraser Martin - who also pulls on the jersey with the famous name - to give us his story.

Bob Chadwick – Riding in the Service of Thurau and Schuiten

Most will have forgotten that Bob Chadwick rode for the mighty and still revered TI-Raleigh team of Peter Post which rode beautiful bicycles made with pride and precision in Nottingham - not churned out of moulds in the Far East. Four decades have passed and it's still debated; 1970’s Raleigh - was their legendary manager, the late Peter Post anti-British or just anti-failure? We decided to ask Bob his opinion on the matter.

Looking back at the 75th Gent Six Day

Coming to Gent to watch the Six Day, as I have for 20 years, is like meeting up with an old friend, a friend you see just once a year but when you meet you are familiar and easy in each others company. Most familiar is the velodrome, Het Kuipke that hosts the Six Days which has, barring a few upgrades in the bar areas, changed very little during the time I’ve been coming.

Josh Quigley – “The Greatest Distance Cycled in One Week – Unpaced”

Scotland’s Josh Quigley rode an average of 311 miles every day for a week to establish a new Guinness world record for the Seven Day Cycling Distance Record.

Trinidad & Tobago – Day Eight, Off to Tobago

If you want to escape from politics, Trinidad & Tobago ain't the place to come. In Rituals coffee shop they have the novel idea of screening the News channel, where politicians pontificate endlessly about the upcoming election (sound familiar, folks in the UK?) whilst 'New country' wails from the PA.

Copenhagen Six Day 2010 – Getting There

On my way to the Copenhagen Six Day 2010 and Scotland was beautiful this morning, the views from the window of the British Midland jet were stunning, the Pentlands covered in snow, the 'terriers head' of Fife framed by the Forth and Tay; the Isle of May seeming to hover in the air, guarding the mouth of the Forth.