Follow IDL Pro Cycling on Google
Stay up to date with the best cycling news by making us a preferred source on Google.
Follow us on GoogleCameron Mason rode away from Belgium's finest in the Niel mud on Wednesday. It was the biggest win of his career and it put him in the overall lead of the Superprestige. At the end of the summer, Oscar Onley was battling for the podium at the 2026 Vuelta a España, and not long before that Lauren Dickson was delivering Demi Vollering to Giro glory. Scotland has always produced cycling talent far above its station, but there was clearly something in the water in the early 2000s. Something that has led to an especially exciting crop of 20-something riders coming good in 2026.
ADVERTISEMENT
Scottish cycling has always had heroes. It just used to have them one at a time.
Read more below the photo.
Cameron Mason won the Niel cyclocross in 2026
From Obree's washing machine to the WorldTour
Robert Millar, the Glasgow-born climber now known as Philippa York, won the mountains jersey and finished fourth at the 1984 Tour de France.
Graeme Obree twice broke the hour record on Old Faithful, a bike he built himself using bearings from a washing machine. He also won two world pursuit titles on the track.
Sir Chris Hoy won six Olympic golds on the track and carried Team GB at multiple games.
Read also
There have never been more Scots in the pro ranks
They were brilliant, but they were also outliers. York had to go to France to make it. Obree did everything his own way. Neither came off a production line, because Scotland didn't have one.
Scottish Cycling counted a record number of Scots in the pro road ranks in the 2026 season. When Oscar Onley and Sean Flynn stepped up in 2023, the federation called them the first Scottish-developed men in the WorldTour in its current form.
Three years on there are three, plus Lauren Dickson in the Women's WorldTour, and Mason at the top of the Superprestige.
Read more below the photo.
Callum Thornley came so close to winning a Vuelta time trial in 2026.
Scottish youngsters don’t follow the INEOS path
So what changed? I've spent this week reading how each of these riders got to the big leagues, and I don't think the answer is one programme. I think young Scottish riders are prepared to take whatever path is open to them.
Years ago, the established path for a British rider was through the Team GB track team to Team Sky. Simon Yates, was one of the few (successful) riders who didn’t take this path, even when his brother Adam did. Simon opted to move to Europe instead and made it on his own.
INEOS Grenadiers, now Netcompany INEOS, still pick up much of the British talent, but this current cohort of young Scottish riders have gone a different path.
Read also
Cameron Mason: 'I've always found my own way'
Cameron Mason started out at West Lothian Clarion, a club that trained on playing fields and a closed-off car park.
He joined Scottish Cycling's mountain bike programme and was encouraged to keep racing cyclocross alongside it. He has told GCN he was never on a British Cycling senior programme. "I'm someone who's always found my own way," he said.
Read also
'Big Cal' Thornley came within a whisker of beating Pogačar
Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe’s Callum Thornley began racing off-road at eight with Peebles Cycling Club. He then rode for Spokes RT, a small Dundee junior team set up to take Scottish teenagers racing in Europe.
Trinity Racing came next, then Red Bull's under-23 squad, where he became the first rider promoted to the WorldTour team.
This September, aged 23 and in his first Grand Tour, he finished fourth and second in the two Vuelta a España time trials, missing a stage win by just two seconds.
Read more below the photo!
Oscar Onley won the young rider's jersey at the 2026 Vuelta a España
Oscar Onley found his way to INEOS via a different route
Onley came through the Team DSM development program. He finished fourth at the 2025 Tour de France, riding for Picnic PostNL, which eventually brought him into the INEOS set up.
He was all set to lead the latest iteration of the winningest Grand Tour team in the 21st Century at the 2026 Tour, but a shoulder injury robbed him of that chance.
Sixth place and the white jersey at the Vuelta a Espana was a fine consolation prize though.
Lauren Dickson made it to the WorldTour in just two years
Lauren Dickson of FDJ-SUEZ might have the most remarkable story of all of them. The former triathlete from Edinburgh rode her first road race in April 2024 with Handsling-Alba, Scotland's only UCI road team.
Two years later she helped Demi Vollering win the Giro d'Italia Women and finished third overall at Itzulia Women. In September she took her first professional win at the Faun Tour Femmes.
Like Mason, Flynn and Thornley, Dickson's road to the top level was far from straightforward. But this seems to be the advantage in Scottish cycling
Read also
British Cycling takes up most of the limelight
The system is small and patient. It runs on clubs, volunteers, a handful of federation coaches and one or two tiny teams. It is also massively overshadowed by its bigger, more famous,and much richer southern neighbour.
British Cycling has garnered many plaudits in the last 30 plus years, and rightly so. But with that comes pressure and expectation. Whereas Scottish Cycling has flown under the radar, quietly developing young talents that weren't burdened with the 'next Froome' label.
Read more below the photo.
Lauren Dickson helped Vollering win the 2026 Giro
Did Glasgow 2023 inspire an entire generation?
It would be easy to suggest that an event like the 2023 World Championships in Glasgow, the first ‘Super Worlds’, lit a fire under all these local riders. But that’s not exactly true.
By August 2023, Mason was already British champion. Onley and Flynn were already in the WorldTour. The Worlds did not make this generation, but they did put 31 Scottish riders on a home stage, across 13 world championships in 11 days.
Mason was one of them, racing on the mountain bike. There is no doubt that Glasgow 2023 will have a sporting legacy, but it's still at primary school right now.
Read more below the video.
Will Glasgow light another fire in 2026?
That is why 13 December matters so much. Kelvingrove Park hosts round three of the cyclocross World Cup, the first in Scotland and only the second in Britain. It sold out fast, so capacity was increased to 15,000.
Mason called it "career defining stuff" when the race was announced, and that was before he had won in Belgium.
15,000 is nothing compared to the number of people who lined the streets of Glasgow to watch Mathieu van der Poel take off in 2023.
But cyclocross isn’t road cycling, and given the trend for cyclocross turned to road superstars these days, it could turn out to be just as important an event for Scottish Cycling.
Read also
The 2027 Tour de France comes to Edinburgh
Cyclocross in Kelvingrove Park isn’t exactly mainstream exposure, but the Grand Depart of the Tour de France in your capital city certainly is.
All eyes will be on Edinburgh in July 2027, and it will be a fantastic start to what might be an electric Tour.
Events don't build the next cycling superstars. Clubs and coaches in places like Linlithgow and Peebles do. But the biggest sporting spectacle in the world coming to your home country cannot fail to inspire young riders and fans.
The fact that they’ve got genuine contenders for stage, TT, and one day who knows, overall wins on the start line, just makes it all the more special.
Here's to another great year for Scottish Cycling.
Read also
David Bavin-HobbsChief Editor
David has been working in the sports & cycling industry for 16 years. Covering racing, business and technology, he has worked in communications for cycling companies, teams, and as a journalist. His proudest achievement is winning the first bike race he ever entered. He hasn't won a race since.
IDL-productions
Cyclocross legend Lars van der Haar had a tough time after retiring from cyclocross: 'It was over pretty quickly'
Celia Gery won the European cyclocross championship while awaiting surgery: 'It'll be a new beginning'
Dutch team coach De Knegt annoyed by European Cyclocross Championships dispute: "A bit of a let down"
Glasgow set to shine as World Cup demand outstrips expectations and Mason eyes first home cyclocross race
Pogačar, Vingegaard and Van Aert went faster again in 2026... except when they didn't
Latest Cycling News
Thibau Nys offers glimpse into unbelievable cyclocross comeback: 'That uncertainty, that struggle with self-confidence'
Complications surround Wout van Aert's World Cyclocross Championship start
Thibau Nys and Lucinda Brand's team lose title sponsor in the middle of the cyclocross season
Extensive evidence of use of N-word, homophobia, and Asian-hate by track cyclist Matthew Richardson revealed
Former French champion and Van der Poel's lead-out man signs for Unibet Rode Rockets
Popular Cycling News
Tadej Pogačar reveals his insane training data in new HBO film: 'I think that's what works best'
Pidcock's turbocharged vacation leads to struggles on the bike: 'No wonder people think cycling is hard'
Mads Pedersen weighs in on Lucinda Brand and Marie Schreiber's European Cyclocross Championship clash
🎥 Lucinda Brand pulls out of the Niel cyclocross race in tears after just a few minutes
Thibau Nys and Lucinda Brand's team lose title sponsor in the middle of the cyclocross season
Latest Comments
- I’m not sure how WorldTour licences work—could these reports affect whether the team gets one next year, or is that decision based on other criteria?velodromevirtuoso113-11-2026
- Pointing to three former riders doesn’t settle what nearly 100 people have reportedly shared. Hopefully the review looks at the team’s systems and culture, not just whose version of events sounds more convincing.julien13-11-2026
- Eight questions or 23? That’s a pretty significant difference in the accounts, and it’d be useful to know exactly what was sent and when.robert6513-11-2026
- Kittel’s position sounds more nuanced than Spekenbrink suggests: he didn’t endorse the “culture of fear” label, but still called for the team to be looked at critically. That distinction matters.bikebuffj13-11-2026
- The independent investigation is the important bit now. It needs to give current staff a safe way to speak honestly, not just become another round of public statements.michael5413-11-2026
- One Lombardia doesn’t tell us how Seixas will handle a full Grand Tour. I’d rather see him develop steadily than have every result turned into a Pogačar comparison.samanthak12-11-2026
- Pogacar is 30 already? I thought he was younger. If he keeps winning like this, how long can he realistically ride at the top?jeremya12-11-2026
- Interesting that Thomas made the comparison while speaking to Rowe, given Decathlon’s hopes of keeping Seixas and the reports linking INEOS with him. Praise, or a subtle message to a potential signing?gearguru3312-11-2026
- Seixas winning Il Lombardia at this age is a huge statement. The Pogačar comparisons are inevitable, but Thomas is right to leave room for both of them to keep improving—Pog is still setting the bar.robert6512-11-2026
- A fascinating career, but the article leans heavily on his side of the story. Were the three disqualifications all for the same equipment rule, or were there different issues each time?michael5412-11-2026
