2026 Mennock Pass stage race, day one: report and results
Logan Maclean leads the Mennock Pass Stage Race overnight after winning Saturday's prologue and surviving a wind-blown, briefly neutralised opening road stage (13 June). Ahron Dick (Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT) won the stage in a two-up sprint with Samuel Nisbet (Team Tactic U23), and took the bonus seconds that came with it, but fell three seconds short of the race lead. Sunday's racing will settle it.
Logan Maclean led the Mennock Pass Stage Race overnight after winning Saturday’s prologue and surviving a wind-blown, briefly neutralised opening road stage (13 June). Ahron Dick (Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT) won the stage in a two-up sprint with Samuel Nisbet (Team Tactic U23), and took the bonus seconds that came with it, but fell three seconds short of the race lead. Sunday’s racing will settle it.
Featured image: Corin Halliday
Report
Prologue
The Mennock Pass Stage Race, run by Torvelo CC as a round of the Alba Road Series, opened on Saturday morning with a prologue run in a strong tailwind. The pace on the flat opening made it a test of judgement.
Maclean read it best, winning by 13 seconds as the only rider inside 9:40, with Noah Bleteau (Team All Cycles Meaux) and Adam Hartley (Blackpool Clarion Cycling Club) next.
Image: Corin Halliday
Stage one
If the morning’s prologue had set the order, the afternoon’s opening road stage began the process of testing it. The 87.7-kilometre Abington stage was never likely to decide the race outright — not with Sunday’s summit finish at Wanlockhead still to come — but its exposed roads, rolling terrain and time bonuses made it a stage where the race could easily begin to fray.
That was how it played out. The early part of the race was marked by repeated attempts to force a break, with Ben Millar, riding for the Chain Tight 930 Units composite team, among the first to draw attention and Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT alert from the outset. Alan Dean (Chain Tight 930 Units), Bleteau and Maclean were all involved in the early exchanges, while Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT used the wind to good effect, putting the race under pressure and helping to split the field.
A solo move from Ewan Whiting (Beeston Cycling Club) drew out a chase and began a prolonged period of instability. The race never quite settled into the familiar rhythm of breakaway and bunch. Instead, small groups formed, were brought back, and formed again, with riders repeatedly trying to bridge as the field behind was stretched into the gutter.
Image: Corin Halliday
By the middle of the stage, a break had established itself with several of the day’s key figures present. Maclean, Dick, Bleteau, Kieran Savage (Chain Tight 930 Units), Finn Mason (Hubo-Scott Cycling Team), Evan Marsh (BCC Race Team) and Sam Barbour (Cycling Sheffield) were among those to make the front, giving the move enough strength — and enough GC relevance — to command attention behind.
There was also a brief interruption to the racing, with the race black-flagged because of danger at a roundabout. When it resumed, the pause did little to dull the aggression. The race immediately reignited around the intermediate sprint, where Maclean showed both speed and calculation, taking the prime ahead of Savage and Dick.
Those seconds mattered. In a race where the prologue had already compressed the leading riders into a narrow band, Maclean’s sprint win gave him a little more protection before the climb-heavy final stage. It was also a sign that he was not simply defending the jersey. He was racing it.
Image: Corin Halliday
Behind the break, the chase came in waves. A small group made contact first, then a larger group bridged across, swelling the front of the race as it approached the climbs. The main bunch, however, was losing ground. By the final lap, a large front group had pulled clear, leading the main bunch by around 55 seconds as the day’s GC shape began to settle.
The finale remained fluid. A two-rider move went clear before the climb but was brought back on the descent, while Hartley and Fynn also found daylight from the front group on the run-in. But it was Dick and Nisbet who made the decisive separation, emerging clear after the final turn as the road race became a short, sharp pursuit to the line.
Dick finished it off, adding a road-stage win to what is already a strong domestic season and giving Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT the victory their numbers and aggression deserved. Nisbet’s second place keeps him firmly in the overall conversation, while Hartley’s third place and seven-second deficit leave him well positioned before Sunday.
Image: Corin Halliday
The reduced group behind contained many of the riders who are likely to matter again on the Mennock Pass. Maclean, Bleteau, Matti Dobbins (Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT), Savage, Millar and Elliot Bain (Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT) all finished close enough to keep the general classification open. Defending champion Dobbins is sixth overall, 25 seconds down, while Savage sits seventh at 28 seconds and Bain tenth at 35 seconds.
The stage lifted Dick to second overall, but no further. Maclean’s prologue advantage and that mid-stage prime leave him leading by three seconds overnight, with Hartley third at seven seconds. For all of Edinburgh Bike Fitting’s numbers and willingness to race, the lead sits with a rider with no such squad around him — and one day left to defend it.
Logan Maclean led the Mennock Pass Stage Race overnight after winning Saturday’s prologue and surviving a wind-blown, briefly neutralised opening road stage (13 June). Ahron Dick (Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT) won the stage in a two-up sprint with Samuel Nisbet (Team Tactic U23), and took the bonus seconds that came with it, but fell three seconds short of the race lead. Sunday’s racing will settle it.
Featured image: Corin Halliday
Report
Prologue
The Mennock Pass Stage Race, run by Torvelo CC as a round of the Alba Road Series, opened on Saturday morning with a prologue run in a strong tailwind. The pace on the flat opening made it a test of judgement.
Maclean read it best, winning by 13 seconds as the only rider inside 9:40, with Noah Bleteau (Team All Cycles Meaux) and Adam Hartley (Blackpool Clarion Cycling Club) next.
Stage one
If the morning’s prologue had set the order, the afternoon’s opening road stage began the process of testing it. The 87.7-kilometre Abington stage was never likely to decide the race outright — not with Sunday’s summit finish at Wanlockhead still to come — but its exposed roads, rolling terrain and time bonuses made it a stage where the race could easily begin to fray.
That was how it played out. The early part of the race was marked by repeated attempts to force a break, with Ben Millar, riding for the Chain Tight 930 Units composite team, among the first to draw attention and Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT alert from the outset. Alan Dean (Chain Tight 930 Units), Bleteau and Maclean were all involved in the early exchanges, while Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT used the wind to good effect, putting the race under pressure and helping to split the field.
A solo move from Ewan Whiting (Beeston Cycling Club) drew out a chase and began a prolonged period of instability. The race never quite settled into the familiar rhythm of breakaway and bunch. Instead, small groups formed, were brought back, and formed again, with riders repeatedly trying to bridge as the field behind was stretched into the gutter.
By the middle of the stage, a break had established itself with several of the day’s key figures present. Maclean, Dick, Bleteau, Kieran Savage (Chain Tight 930 Units), Finn Mason (Hubo-Scott Cycling Team), Evan Marsh (BCC Race Team) and Sam Barbour (Cycling Sheffield) were among those to make the front, giving the move enough strength — and enough GC relevance — to command attention behind.
There was also a brief interruption to the racing, with the race black-flagged because of danger at a roundabout. When it resumed, the pause did little to dull the aggression. The race immediately reignited around the intermediate sprint, where Maclean showed both speed and calculation, taking the prime ahead of Savage and Dick.
Those seconds mattered. In a race where the prologue had already compressed the leading riders into a narrow band, Maclean’s sprint win gave him a little more protection before the climb-heavy final stage. It was also a sign that he was not simply defending the jersey. He was racing it.
Behind the break, the chase came in waves. A small group made contact first, then a larger group bridged across, swelling the front of the race as it approached the climbs. The main bunch, however, was losing ground. By the final lap, a large front group had pulled clear, leading the main bunch by around 55 seconds as the day’s GC shape began to settle.
The finale remained fluid. A two-rider move went clear before the climb but was brought back on the descent, while Hartley and Fynn also found daylight from the front group on the run-in. But it was Dick and Nisbet who made the decisive separation, emerging clear after the final turn as the road race became a short, sharp pursuit to the line.
Dick finished it off, adding a road-stage win to what is already a strong domestic season and giving Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT the victory their numbers and aggression deserved. Nisbet’s second place keeps him firmly in the overall conversation, while Hartley’s third place and seven-second deficit leave him well positioned before Sunday.
The reduced group behind contained many of the riders who are likely to matter again on the Mennock Pass. Maclean, Bleteau, Matti Dobbins (Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT), Savage, Millar and Elliot Bain (Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT) all finished close enough to keep the general classification open. Defending champion Dobbins is sixth overall, 25 seconds down, while Savage sits seventh at 28 seconds and Bain tenth at 35 seconds.
The stage lifted Dick to second overall, but no further. Maclean’s prologue advantage and that mid-stage prime leave him leading by three seconds overnight, with Hartley third at seven seconds. For all of Edinburgh Bike Fitting’s numbers and willingness to race, the lead sits with a rider with no such squad around him — and one day left to defend it.
Results
General classification after stage 1
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