2026 Sam Robinson Memorial Trophy: report and results
James Jobber threw his bike at the line to win the 50th Sam Robinson Memorial Trophy by inches, six months after the surgery that had wrecked two seasons. Behind him, Ahron Dick did enough to seal the Alba Series overall.
James Jobber (The Hurricane & Thunder Cycling Team) threw his bike at the line to win the 50th Sam Robinson Memorial Trophy by a fraction, coming back past Elliot Bain (Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT) inside the final 20 metres of the uphill drag to Killearn. Some way back, in the chase group that sprinted for fourth, Bain’s teammate Ahron Dick finished the day he needed to seal the Alba Series.
Featured image: Lee Cuthbertson.James Jobber in action earlier this month.
The roads were wet when the race rolled out from Balfron, though the rain held off once the flag dropped and stayed off through the racing. On a 104-kilometre course carrying 1,424 metres of climbing, with Duke’s Pass inside the opening 16 kilometres and the Braes of Greenock ridden three times, the early surface was the only weather the day had to offer.
The first selection came where the course had promised it would. Duke’s Pass was hard the first time up, and a group of around 15 crested the summit with the race already splintered behind them. Four riders from Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT made the front group, Dick among them, alongside Bain. Sam Barbour (Cycling Sheffield), Evan Marsh (BCC Race Team), Elliot Speedie (Shibden Apex RT), Robert Smart (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli), Raphael Jacquemet-Ross (Spokes Racing Team) and Jobber were also among those in the front selection. A chase group of five that followed included Edinburgh RC’s Alan Dean.
Ahron Dick. Image: Charles Harkin
Off the descent the race joined the finishing circuit for two laps, and the attacks began. Dick’s Edinburgh Bike Fitting team drove much of it, and Kieran Savage (Edinburgh RC)—Dick’s nearest rival in the Alba Series standings—found himself marked out of every move he tried, shadowed by the blue jerseys every time he tried to force a gap.
Evan Marsh (BCC Race Team), on the other hand, was given more leeway, breaking clear on a solo mission. His advantage was the story of the middle of the race, holding across the first passage of the Braes, an enlarged chasing group of 19 riders stretched out in pursuit behind with Dick at its head.
It was as the group completed most of that second lap that the race turned. The chase swept up Marsh at last, and the decisive move went almost at once: Dean attacked, Jobber bridged to him, and Bain came across from the Edinburgh Bike Fitting group to make it three, roughly 60 kilometres in.
The winning break. Image: Charles Harkin
The composition of the break worked in their favour. Bain had several Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT teammates in the chase behind, leaving one of the strongest teams in the race with little incentive to contribute to the pursuit. “From my position I knew one of the guys had four team-mates behind,” he said. “We didn’t get a time gap that quickly, but we could see the car come into the gap, so we got 30 seconds pretty quickly, and then after 20km of racing that lead was out to just over a minute.”
The chase never organised. By the final ascent of the circuit climb the three led by more than a minute, and they turned for the long point-to-point drag back towards Killearn with the race in their hands. Dean tried to go alone with five or six kilometres left and was brought back, which left the sprint none of them had wanted, up the rise to the 30mph village sign roughly 900 metres beyond the final roundabout.
Video: Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT
Jobber went early. “You obviously didn’t want the sprint, so I put the pressure on a bit,” he said. “I actually kicked pretty early, probably about 250 to go.” Bain came round him on the drag and held the front for what felt like an age, but Jobber took his wheel and waited. “I jumped in his slipstream and came back round him with about 20 metres to go, and beat him with a throw on the line.” Dean crossed a few seconds down in third. Behind, the chase group arrived together to sprint for fourth, which James Sweeney (BCC Race Team) won from Barbour.
Dick came home 11th — the finish he needed. Edinburgh Bike Fitting confirmed afterwards that he had done enough to win the Alba Series, the domestic season’s reward for the rider who had led its standings since the spring, through a summer disrupted by a crash at the Rutland–Melton CiCLE Classic and the round it cost him.
Image: Edinburgh RC
For Jobber, the win closed a longer road back. He said it was his second in a week, and it came six months after surgery for iliac artery endofibrosis, a condition that had unpicked two seasons of his racing. “It was nice to be back winning,” he said. “I had surgery back in January. So to get back to back-to-back wins was nice.”
James Jobber (The Hurricane & Thunder Cycling Team) threw his bike at the line to win the 50th Sam Robinson Memorial Trophy by a fraction, coming back past Elliot Bain (Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT) inside the final 20 metres of the uphill drag to Killearn. Some way back, in the chase group that sprinted for fourth, Bain’s teammate Ahron Dick finished the day he needed to seal the Alba Series.
Featured image: Lee Cuthbertson. James Jobber in action earlier this month.
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Report
The roads were wet when the race rolled out from Balfron, though the rain held off once the flag dropped and stayed off through the racing. On a 104-kilometre course carrying 1,424 metres of climbing, with Duke’s Pass inside the opening 16 kilometres and the Braes of Greenock ridden three times, the early surface was the only weather the day had to offer.
The first selection came where the course had promised it would. Duke’s Pass was hard the first time up, and a group of around 15 crested the summit with the race already splintered behind them. Four riders from Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT made the front group, Dick among them, alongside Bain. Sam Barbour (Cycling Sheffield), Evan Marsh (BCC Race Team), Elliot Speedie (Shibden Apex RT), Robert Smart (Wheelbase CabTech Castelli), Raphael Jacquemet-Ross (Spokes Racing Team) and Jobber were also among those in the front selection. A chase group of five that followed included Edinburgh RC’s Alan Dean.
Off the descent the race joined the finishing circuit for two laps, and the attacks began. Dick’s Edinburgh Bike Fitting team drove much of it, and Kieran Savage (Edinburgh RC)—Dick’s nearest rival in the Alba Series standings—found himself marked out of every move he tried, shadowed by the blue jerseys every time he tried to force a gap.
Evan Marsh (BCC Race Team), on the other hand, was given more leeway, breaking clear on a solo mission. His advantage was the story of the middle of the race, holding across the first passage of the Braes, an enlarged chasing group of 19 riders stretched out in pursuit behind with Dick at its head.
It was as the group completed most of that second lap that the race turned. The chase swept up Marsh at last, and the decisive move went almost at once: Dean attacked, Jobber bridged to him, and Bain came across from the Edinburgh Bike Fitting group to make it three, roughly 60 kilometres in.
The composition of the break worked in their favour. Bain had several Edinburgh Bike Fitting RT teammates in the chase behind, leaving one of the strongest teams in the race with little incentive to contribute to the pursuit. “From my position I knew one of the guys had four team-mates behind,” he said. “We didn’t get a time gap that quickly, but we could see the car come into the gap, so we got 30 seconds pretty quickly, and then after 20km of racing that lead was out to just over a minute.”
The chase never organised. By the final ascent of the circuit climb the three led by more than a minute, and they turned for the long point-to-point drag back towards Killearn with the race in their hands. Dean tried to go alone with five or six kilometres left and was brought back, which left the sprint none of them had wanted, up the rise to the 30mph village sign roughly 900 metres beyond the final roundabout.
Jobber went early. “You obviously didn’t want the sprint, so I put the pressure on a bit,” he said. “I actually kicked pretty early, probably about 250 to go.” Bain came round him on the drag and held the front for what felt like an age, but Jobber took his wheel and waited. “I jumped in his slipstream and came back round him with about 20 metres to go, and beat him with a throw on the line.” Dean crossed a few seconds down in third. Behind, the chase group arrived together to sprint for fourth, which James Sweeney (BCC Race Team) won from Barbour.
Dick came home 11th — the finish he needed. Edinburgh Bike Fitting confirmed afterwards that he had done enough to win the Alba Series, the domestic season’s reward for the rider who had led its standings since the spring, through a summer disrupted by a crash at the Rutland–Melton CiCLE Classic and the round it cost him.
For Jobber, the win closed a longer road back. He said it was his second in a week, and it came six months after surgery for iliac artery endofibrosis, a condition that had unpicked two seasons of his racing. “It was nice to be back winning,” he said. “I had surgery back in January. So to get back to back-to-back wins was nice.”
Results
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