Neah Evans on a rollercoaster road season and Commonwealth Games plans

The Herald Scotland

7 hours ago

'Two of them had ridden it before but one had a crash [on a previous visit] and lost all their confidence and the other one hadn't been in quite a long time,' revealed Evans. 'And then the other guy had never been on it. So, we got him up onto the boards which was quite good.
'I think it went well. Everyone seemed to be smiling and nobody crashed so I'm happy with that. I think that's a good achievement.'
So, could a move to coaching be on the horizon? 'Hopefully, my racing career continues a lot longer before we need to think about that,' adds Evans with a laugh, a reminder that she remains one of Scotland's – and Britain's – leading elite cyclists.
Being in year one of the Olympic cycle ahead of LA 2028 has allowed Evans and her peers to deviate from their usual schedules should they wish to do so. And so, the 34-year-old from Aberdeenshire has chosen to concentrate primarily on road racing this year as part of the Handsling Alba Development Road Team.
It has been something of a rollercoaster so far, the plans to finetune her road racing strategy and technique coming temporarily undone by that crash in Luxembourg last month that is currently keeping her out of competitive racing.
A pre-season target had been the recent Tour of Britain that ventured into Scotland for the first time for two stages, one in Kelso and the finale in Glasgow. Missing that due to illness and injury, then, was a major disappointment.
'It was super frustrating,' admits the qualified vet. 'It had been a season target but I'd come down pretty hard in Luxembourg. There was a crash in front of me and I couldn't stop in time and someone hit into me. I went flying through the air and landed a bit heavy. Sliced my elbow. Just the usual. Nothing bad, I've not fractured anything. But just the body took a bit of a battering.
'I then went to an altitude camp thinking 'I know I'm not in a good place. My body's either going to respond really well to the camp and I'm going to come out flying or I'm not'.
'And my body decided it was not. I ended up with quite a bad throat infection. I lost my voice and went super hoarse. I spoke to our team manager, Bob [Lyons], and said, 'listen, I think I could get around [the Tour of Britain] but I wouldn't be there to race. And that's not fair on the team and not a good position to go into a race. Let's reset and try and focus on the next thing'.
'That was hugely disappointing because so far in my career, I've always managed to pull things together for the major events. Especially whenever it's been a big target - you can always make it work.
'So, this was the first time I'd really been forced to say, 'no, I can't do that'. Which was pretty disappointing, especially when it's in Glasgow and that stage would have been so good for me. But I've got the national champs in a couple of weeks so hopefully I'll back for them.'
Evans at this point is desperately hoping her luck will turn soon as she makes the adjustment to life on the road.
'This year has one of these weird ones,' she admits. 'Alba's been great and I've really enjoyed it. It's been really refreshing to have different challenges. And just a lot of travelling, a lot of racing. You're almost using racing for training and going more in a support role for a teammate, which is obviously very different from track racing where every race is about performance.
'From that aspect I've really enjoyed it. But the actual results and how the racing has gone has been hugely frustrating. I could give you a sob story of all the issues I've had this year. But I'm hoping I've had this reset and things are then going to come together because so far it's not been going to plan.
'But that's bike racing as well. It's so different to so many sports because there's a degree of luck. If someone crashes at the wrong point or you get a bike mechanical [failure] at the wrong point, there's nothing you can do about it.'
That aside, being part of the Alba team has been a two-way learning experience, Evans sharing her knowledge from almost a decade of elite racing on the track but also tapping into her team-mates' greater insight on how to thrive on the road.
'I think the road racing flow - how the peloton moves about and some of the racing tactics - are quite different from what you would have on the track. So it's just kind of homing in on that and racing with teammates which is quite different.
'It's nice when, even if you're not having a good day yourself, you can still help someone generate something which is something that is quite special with road racing.'
Track racing, however, remains Evans' true passion and she already has her return to the Glasgow velodrome pencilled into her calendar as she looks to add to her Commonwealth Games haul of three silvers and two bronze.
'I was a little bit sad that they weren't having road racing next year because obviously the last time it went pretty well for me,' she adds. 'But very much next season's goal is the Commonwealth Games on the track. It's a nice goal to have especially when it's in Glasgow.'
The Commonwealth Games will take place between July 23 and August 2 next year. For more information visit glasgow2026.com