It appears the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix can switch to the forest tracks of Galloway in Scotland reasonably properly, as Alison Jackson (EF-Oatly-Cannondale) demonstrated on the weekend when she received the elite girls’s British Gravel Championship race.
If she received in type, she didn’t disappoint when it got here to celebrating both, providing up one in all her famend dances to mark the event.
The Canadian rider broke away with Briton Annabel Fisher (Categorised Ridley Manufacturing unit) on the climb to Loch Grannoch, staying away down the ultimate descent and into the end, the place Jackson outsprinted Fisher for the win. Amelia Mitchell (Das-Hutchinson-Brother) pipped Katie Scott (Spectra Racing) for third place, 1:44 again on the successful pair.
Whereas Jackson might have crossed the road first, Fisher claimed the title – and the pink, white and blue bands – as first Brit to complete.
For Jackson, who received Paris-Roubaix final yr, it was solely her second gravel race, and her first within the UK.
It wasn’t her first Scottish race although – she rode the Tour of Scotland in 2019, at which she received a stage and was second general. That race was hit by some appalling climate, which definitely wasn’t an issue at Saturday’s gravel races, which have been run off in belting sunshine.
The boys’s occasion was received by Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers), who dropped breakaway companion Cameron Mason (Cyclocross Reds) on the Loch Grannoch climb to go solo within the ultimate kilometres and cross the road alone.
It was a welcome one-place enchancment from final yr’s race for the Yorkshire rider, who was outsprinted by up and coming Joe Blackmore for the title within the Kings Forest, Suffolk.
The rostrum was a household affair, with Swift’s cousin (and Ineos Grenadiers team-mate) Ben Swift ending third after being outsprinted by Toby Perry (Categorised Ridley Manufacturing unit) for second place, 2:53 again.
The occasion, organised by RedOn, was held as a part of the three-day Raiders Gravel occasion, primarily based in town of Gatehouse of Fleet in south-west Scotland. It’s the first time since its inauguration in 2021 that it has not been held within the King’s Forest, Suffolk.
RedOn was compelled to vary the venue because of an increase in forestry charges.
The Galloway Forest boasts a few of Britain’s finest and most in depth gravel tracks. It is also residence to one other RedOn occasion, the Gralloch, and can be a UNESCO Biosphere and a Darkish Sky Park.
