18-year-old Eilidh Shaw (Alba Development RT) was victorious in Kinross as the Ochil Hills played host to the 2023 Scottish National Women’s Road Race Championships.
A reduced bunch sprint saw Shaw sprint to victory in Glenfarg after 80km of racing on Saturday morning.
Featured image: Yvonne Shaw
Report
The peloton rolled out on a crisp, dry morning from Kinross, where four Scottish National titles would be decided. The racing was on from the early laps with Shaw, who won the junior title last season, launching an attack on the first ascent of the Church Brae on the exit of Glenfarg, with the Airdrie native out of the saddle, hands on the drops, reminiscent in style to the late Marco Pantani.
The attack did spread the field out and tested the legs of the group, but ultimately the peloton came back together on the descent. After a few testing attacks followed, the most successful of which was Arianne Holland (Alba Development RT), who built a sizeable advantage of over 30 seconds over the peloton. Holland looked strong and was able to maintain the gap for a full 10km tour of the circuit. The gap did eventually fall to around 20 seconds, where Shaw then bridged across before the rest of the field chased the duo, who were subsequently brought back with 40km remaining.
There was rotten luck for Daisy Taylor (Royal Albert CC) with a snapped chain halfway through ending her chances of the claiming the junior title. Millie Thomson (Deeside Thistle) and Beatrix Kiehlmann (Royal Albert CC) looked the strongest of the riders from the junior field in the mid-part of the race. With Thomson, who represented Team Scotland at the Youth Commonwealth Games this summer, placing a few speculative attacks as the Championships reached its climax.
Several riders were dropped from the peloton as the circuit promoted attritional racing with over 1100m of elevation on the course, leaving a field of around 12 riders fighting it out for the respective national titles as they entered onto the final lap. With the field coming into view of the finish it was clear that the bunch sprint would have to settle where the medals would be heading.
Shaw launched her sprint early with the prevailing tailwind and would not be passed. Scotia Series winner Heather Shanks (North Argyll CC) would come to take the senior silver medal, with Studio Velo’s Rebecca Saunderson the bronze medal.
Millie Thomson (Deeside Thistle) became the junior champion, with Beatrix Kiehlmann taking the silver and Evie White (Alba Development RT) the bronze. The Vet 40 title headed to Christina Mackenzie (Stirling Bike Club) – an excellent ride by the ultra-endurance specialist who was able to stay with the main field into the final lap. Zosia Martin (Torvelo) claimed silver, with Julianna Rourke (Edinburgh RC) the bronze. While Fiona Cockburn (Torvelo) took home the Veteran 50 title – claiming her first Scottish national title.
After claiming the criterium title earlier this season, Shaw was ecstatic to add another national title to her palmares, and said after:
“It’s pretty amazing, it was a good race as well a good circuit. It started off pretty tough to begin with but came down to the sprint, it was pretty cool.
The tactic from the Alba Development Road Team of making the race hard worked, with Shaw taking the Senior title and teammate Evie White claiming bronze in the junior race. Shaw confirmed as much, saying:
“The plan from the team was to make the race as hard as possible, it didn’t work with the attack on the early climb, but it worked out in the end.”
18-year-old Eilidh Shaw (Alba Development RT) was victorious in Kinross as the Ochil Hills played host to the 2023 Scottish National Women’s Road Race Championships.
A reduced bunch sprint saw Shaw sprint to victory in Glenfarg after 80km of racing on Saturday morning.
Featured image: Yvonne Shaw
Report
The peloton rolled out on a crisp, dry morning from Kinross, where four Scottish National titles would be decided. The racing was on from the early laps with Shaw, who won the junior title last season, launching an attack on the first ascent of the Church Brae on the exit of Glenfarg, with the Airdrie native out of the saddle, hands on the drops, reminiscent in style to the late Marco Pantani.
The attack did spread the field out and tested the legs of the group, but ultimately the peloton came back together on the descent. After a few testing attacks followed, the most successful of which was Arianne Holland (Alba Development RT), who built a sizeable advantage of over 30 seconds over the peloton. Holland looked strong and was able to maintain the gap for a full 10km tour of the circuit. The gap did eventually fall to around 20 seconds, where Shaw then bridged across before the rest of the field chased the duo, who were subsequently brought back with 40km remaining.
There was rotten luck for Daisy Taylor (Royal Albert CC) with a snapped chain halfway through ending her chances of the claiming the junior title. Millie Thomson (Deeside Thistle) and Beatrix Kiehlmann (Royal Albert CC) looked the strongest of the riders from the junior field in the mid-part of the race. With Thomson, who represented Team Scotland at the Youth Commonwealth Games this summer, placing a few speculative attacks as the Championships reached its climax.
Several riders were dropped from the peloton as the circuit promoted attritional racing with over 1100m of elevation on the course, leaving a field of around 12 riders fighting it out for the respective national titles as they entered onto the final lap. With the field coming into view of the finish it was clear that the bunch sprint would have to settle where the medals would be heading.
Shaw launched her sprint early with the prevailing tailwind and would not be passed. Scotia Series winner Heather Shanks (North Argyll CC) would come to take the senior silver medal, with Studio Velo’s Rebecca Saunderson the bronze medal.
Millie Thomson (Deeside Thistle) became the junior champion, with Beatrix Kiehlmann taking the silver and Evie White (Alba Development RT) the bronze. The Vet 40 title headed to Christina Mackenzie (Stirling Bike Club) – an excellent ride by the ultra-endurance specialist who was able to stay with the main field into the final lap. Zosia Martin (Torvelo) claimed silver, with Julianna Rourke (Edinburgh RC) the bronze. While Fiona Cockburn (Torvelo) took home the Veteran 50 title – claiming her first Scottish national title.
After claiming the criterium title earlier this season, Shaw was ecstatic to add another national title to her palmares, and said after:
“It’s pretty amazing, it was a good race as well a good circuit. It started off pretty tough to begin with but came down to the sprint, it was pretty cool.
The tactic from the Alba Development Road Team of making the race hard worked, with Shaw taking the Senior title and teammate Evie White claiming bronze in the junior race. Shaw confirmed as much, saying:
“The plan from the team was to make the race as hard as possible, it didn’t work with the attack on the early climb, but it worked out in the end.”
Results
Share this:
Discover more from The British Continental
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.