Cycling: Oliphant bids for hat-trick

Published on Friday 14 August 2009 10:03

CAPITAL cyclist Evan Oliphant goes for a third-successive Scottish road race title in Hawick tomorrow, writes COLIN RENTON.

The 27-year-old edged out Gary Hand in a desperately tight finish over the same route last year. Although they are now team mates at Endura RT, Hand is not in the field this time around. As a result, Oliphant will start as strong favourite to complete the hat-trick. However, there will be several riders keen to end his reign. Among them are Alex Coutts (Heraklion Nessebar Castro), who has now recovered from the illness that beset him earlier in the season, and Oliphant's colleague Ross Creber, while Anglo Scot Alistair Kay (York Cycleworks) will also come into the reckoning.

There has been a marked upturn in the strength of women's racing this season but it seems unlikely that anyone will be able to derail the challenge of Claire Thomas (Edinburgh RC), particularly in the absence of Kerry Lang (Johnstone Wheelers), the winner for the last two years.

Meanwhile, City of Edinburgh duo Callum Skinner and Kevin Stewart will be back on Great Britain duty tomorrow when they line up for the individual sprint at the World Junior Track Championships in Moscow.