Mackie’s Kosovo breakthrough: a first for Ad Hoc Racing
Ewan Mackie’s stage 1 win at the Tour of Kosovo was more than his first UCI victory. It was a breakthrough for Ad Hoc Racing, the rider-led project aiming to prove that domestic riders can still create their own chances – and win – on the international stage.
Ewan Mackie’s stage win at the Tour of Kosovo was more than his first UCI victory. It marked the arrival of a rider-built project that is giving British cyclists the international chances they are running out of at home.
On paper, Stage 1 of the Tour of Kosovo looked like a testing opener: 144 kilometres from Lebanë to Therandë, with nearly 1,600 metres of climbing spread across rolling terrain. For a peloton made up of national squads and smaller continental outfits, it promised an attritional start.
Few expected the dominant team on the road to be a British collective formed less than a year ago, run on borrowed cars and riders’ own equipment. But as the race broke apart on the final climbs, five riders in the front group wore the jerseys of Ad Hoc Racing – the project registered as MyPad Racing.
“We ended up with five in the front group,” Mackie said afterwards. “We were by far the strongest team… Alex [Franks] played the team card, I went with the Dutch guy, and we stayed away.”
In the finale, it was Mackie who struck the decisive blow. Having bridged to the leaders on the last climb, he launched again with Dutchman Niels Reemeijer. Franks – who normally rides for London-based team Raptor Factor Racing – disrupted the chase behind, forcing their companions to work. On the run-in to Therandë, Mackie pressed on alone, crossing the line six seconds clear. Reemeijer settled for second. Franks completed the podium in third, with Dylan Hicks, another Raptor rider, in fifth.
“It’s the first proper win of my career, and the first win for the team I’ve created,” Mackie said. “This means a massive amount.”
Ad Hoc Racing was conceived by Mackie and co-founder Lucas Jowett as a direct response to the shrinking British road racing scene. With several UCI Continental teams folding and budgets for elite teams constrained, chances for UK riders to gain international experience have dwindled.
“The team will be run on a come-and-go basis,” Mackie explained when the project launched. “It’s about giving riders opportunities that are sorely lacking in the UK right now.”
That ethos is clear in the line-up. MyPad’s riders in Kosovo come from teams including Raptor, Cycling Sheffield, MUC-OFF-SRCT-STORCK and London Dynamo. Support comes from volunteers: Tony Poole from Raptor drives one of the team cars; Phill Maddocks from MUC-OFF-SRCT-STORCK is piloting another.
Image: Kosovo Cycling
“It’s a real collective, which is exactly what I wanted to do,” Mackie said. “Having riders from different clubs together, working for each other, is what makes this work.”
The approach has already yielded results. The team’s first campaign in Rhodes earlier this year showed they could compete at UCI level. Raptor rider Rowan Baker scored the team’s first UCI road race podium last weekend at the GP de la Somme, and Kosovo has delivered the breakthrough they were chasing.
For Mackie, the victory is personal validation. A rider who has spent much of his career on the margins of the domestic scene, he now has a UCI win on his palmarès. For Ad Hoc Racing, it is proof of concept: domestic riders, given the chance, can succeed abroad.
Ad Hoc aren’t the only rider-run experiment on the start line in Kosovo. Alongside them is Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT, a student-led project launched this season to keep Scottish riders racing internationally. Like Ad Hoc, it is built on self-organisation and pooled resources rather than traditional team structures. Their presence in the same race underlines a wider shift: young British riders, unwilling to wait for opportunities that no longer exist at home, are now creating their own.
The team leaves Stage 1 of the Tour of Kosovo holding the overall leader’s jersey, the points classification and the young rider’s jersey courtesy of Franks. “We’ve got yellow, green and white,” Mackie said. “We’re the strongest team here, and I think we can clean up.”
But beyond the race, the symbolism matters. “I really hope this helps get more support for the team next year, so we can keep giving UK riders the platform they need to step up,” Mackie said.
Whether or not Ad Hoc Racing hold the lead through to the end of the tour, their opening day in Kosovo has already delivered what they set out to prove: that a grassroots, rider-driven project can take on the international stage – and win.
Ewan Mackie’s stage win at the Tour of Kosovo was more than his first UCI victory. It marked the arrival of a rider-built project that is giving British cyclists the international chances they are running out of at home.
On paper, Stage 1 of the Tour of Kosovo looked like a testing opener: 144 kilometres from Lebanë to Therandë, with nearly 1,600 metres of climbing spread across rolling terrain. For a peloton made up of national squads and smaller continental outfits, it promised an attritional start.
Few expected the dominant team on the road to be a British collective formed less than a year ago, run on borrowed cars and riders’ own equipment. But as the race broke apart on the final climbs, five riders in the front group wore the jerseys of Ad Hoc Racing – the project registered as MyPad Racing.
“We ended up with five in the front group,” Mackie said afterwards. “We were by far the strongest team… Alex [Franks] played the team card, I went with the Dutch guy, and we stayed away.”
In the finale, it was Mackie who struck the decisive blow. Having bridged to the leaders on the last climb, he launched again with Dutchman Niels Reemeijer. Franks – who normally rides for London-based team Raptor Factor Racing – disrupted the chase behind, forcing their companions to work. On the run-in to Therandë, Mackie pressed on alone, crossing the line six seconds clear. Reemeijer settled for second. Franks completed the podium in third, with Dylan Hicks, another Raptor rider, in fifth.
“It’s the first proper win of my career, and the first win for the team I’ve created,” Mackie said. “This means a massive amount.”
Ad Hoc Racing was conceived by Mackie and co-founder Lucas Jowett as a direct response to the shrinking British road racing scene. With several UCI Continental teams folding and budgets for elite teams constrained, chances for UK riders to gain international experience have dwindled.
“The team will be run on a come-and-go basis,” Mackie explained when the project launched. “It’s about giving riders opportunities that are sorely lacking in the UK right now.”
That ethos is clear in the line-up. MyPad’s riders in Kosovo come from teams including Raptor, Cycling Sheffield, MUC-OFF-SRCT-STORCK and London Dynamo. Support comes from volunteers: Tony Poole from Raptor drives one of the team cars; Phill Maddocks from MUC-OFF-SRCT-STORCK is piloting another.
“It’s a real collective, which is exactly what I wanted to do,” Mackie said. “Having riders from different clubs together, working for each other, is what makes this work.”
The approach has already yielded results. The team’s first campaign in Rhodes earlier this year showed they could compete at UCI level. Raptor rider Rowan Baker scored the team’s first UCI road race podium last weekend at the GP de la Somme, and Kosovo has delivered the breakthrough they were chasing.
For Mackie, the victory is personal validation. A rider who has spent much of his career on the margins of the domestic scene, he now has a UCI win on his palmarès. For Ad Hoc Racing, it is proof of concept: domestic riders, given the chance, can succeed abroad.
Ad Hoc aren’t the only rider-run experiment on the start line in Kosovo. Alongside them is Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT, a student-led project launched this season to keep Scottish riders racing internationally. Like Ad Hoc, it is built on self-organisation and pooled resources rather than traditional team structures. Their presence in the same race underlines a wider shift: young British riders, unwilling to wait for opportunities that no longer exist at home, are now creating their own.
The team leaves Stage 1 of the Tour of Kosovo holding the overall leader’s jersey, the points classification and the young rider’s jersey courtesy of Franks. “We’ve got yellow, green and white,” Mackie said. “We’re the strongest team here, and I think we can clean up.”
But beyond the race, the symbolism matters. “I really hope this helps get more support for the team next year, so we can keep giving UK riders the platform they need to step up,” Mackie said.
Whether or not Ad Hoc Racing hold the lead through to the end of the tour, their opening day in Kosovo has already delivered what they set out to prove: that a grassroots, rider-driven project can take on the international stage – and win.
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