Cycling: City riders gear up for Grand Prix

Published on Friday 11 June 2010 10:09

CITY OF EDINBURGH riders are among the contenders for the Edinburgh Grand Prix sprint title which will be settled tomorrow on day one of a weekend feast of track racing at Meadowbank Velodrome.

While the most experienced of the club trio is multiple Scottish champion Bruce Croall, it could fall to his teenage team-mates John Paul and Callum Skinner to challenge a strong continental contingent for the honours.

Skinner has performed well against senior opposition in each of the past two years and now, with exam pressures behind him, the 17-year-old former James Gillespie High School pupil could bid for a podium finish.

Paul, a colleague of Skinner on the British Cycling Olympic Development Programme, is a Highlander based in Oxfordshire.

Dutchman Yorrick Bos is not defending his title but two of his countrymen will be looking to replicate last year's outcome when orange jerseys occupied the top two spots, with Hylke van Grieken and Dempster Wintersbergen making their debuts on the London Road boards.

However, favourites for the silverware will be French junior champion Julien Palma and compatriot Kevin Guillot – a team sprint gold medallist in his national championships last year. However, Skinner has beaten him in the past.

Entries for the endurance events have been hit by a fixture clash although there are still 33 names on the list, among them local stars Dave Martin (Bicycleworks), Nicky Hall (City of Edinburgh) and youngster Finlay Young (Velo Ecosse).

Organiser Brian Annable voiced his frustration, saying: "We have had real problems with British Cycling and Scottish Cycling calendars, which have affected our entries and meant we had to change the programme for Sunday."

The bungle by the governing bodies north and south of the Border means the Grand Prix is scheduled against tomorrow's Scottish Road Race Championships and Sunday's 25-mile time trial championships in Fife.

The road event in Lanarkshire has lured many of the country's top distance riders and will be contested over a 90-mile route starting in Strathaven. West Lothian youngster Ross Creber defends the title he won in Hawick last August when he led home his Endura team-mates Callum Wilkinson and James McCallum.

Racing starts at 11am tomorrow and Sunday and admission is free.