Young race winner Rob Scott gets a PEZ

Rider Interview: Ed Hood has been scrutinizing the results of the “young guns” and Rob Scott’s name popped up after his win in the Classic Paris-Troyes. Rob from Britain runs for a successful continental team WiV-SunGod with a good home and away calendar, Ed wanted to hear more…

Rob Scott – Tour de Yorkshire podium

When it comes to studying continental race results religiously, PEZ teacher and predictor, Vic has no equal, but I do my best. A name that caught my attention recently is that of 23-year-old Rob Scott from Halifax, West Yorkshire, who rides for continental team WiV-SunGod. Last week I watched the team complete the Galashiels Tour Series criterium on their way to winning the overall series. But they were also very strong on the other side of the Channel, with Rob winning the UCi Tour de la Mirabelle in France and then the UCi 1.2 Classic Paris-Troyes, a race that dates back to 1926 and previous winners of the likes of Graham Jones and Jacques Ecclasan . Ed Good recently caught up with Rob.

Victory of “Paris-Trois”.

PEZ: Paris-Troy, a historic race to win, congratulations.
Rob Scott: Thanks, we knew it was going to be an aggressive race when we lined up – and it was from the shotgun. Turn 12 went and we had three and I felt like it was the winning move and my teammate Jake Scott came up to him and it ended up being about 30 people and everyone was looking at us because we were so well presented. The FDJ Continentals were also there but unwilling to work and attacks began but we covered every single one of them. Our Canadian Ben Perry attacked with 15k to go and FDJ used all their guys to catch him with a kilometer to go; my guys gave me the tutorial to lead out and we won with Matt Teggart fourth and five of us in the top 21 – it was a great team effort.

A perfect lead-out from teammate Rob Teggart

PEZ: This win came on the back of success at the Tour de la Mirabel.
Yes, I wanted to show that the victory in Mirabel was not a one-off and that my spirit was good after the race. I finished second in the Mirabel Stage One short race behind Corentin Ermenaut in stage two and then in stage three I won with Matt Bostock second – that result gave me the jersey. Stage four saw the team riding at the front for me all day, we were under a bit of pressure in the closing laps with some GC guys on the road – but we got them back late; Matt won the stage and finished second on GC.

Team Paris-Troy: Tegart, Perry, Brown, Wood, J. Scott, Bostock and Rob Scott

PEZ: Are the ProTeam or World Tour teams interested in these results?
I need to start giving some feelings, but I also need to prove that I’m not just good for a few weeks – that I’m consistent, Nationals is an important race for me to show that.

Podium in Troyes

PEZ: You’ve definitely stepped up this year, how do you attribute that?
Covid put paid to my last year at u23 in 2020 which was supposed to be a big year for me but. . . Then last year I was strong, but I didn’t have the legs like in 2019, when I had results like fourth place in U23 Gent-Wevelgem; something was missing. This year I think it’s just a testament to the constant hard work I’ve been putting in.

PEZ: Are you on a bike all the time?
I work odd days doing electrical work which is good because it gives me an idea of “real” world and reminds me how lucky I am to do what I do in my cycling career.

Cerro de Tramuntana Trophy

PEZ: Have you thought about moving to the continent?
After Covid I looked for a French DN 1 or Continental team but nothing materialized.
But Tim Elverson, our team manager and the man behind the Canyon dhb SunGod continental team, as it was last year and as WiV SunGod is now, has put together a decent calendar and we have a great group of guys. The standard is so high that you have to fight for a place in the team to get into the big races. We have good events in France and of course the British premier calendar races and the UK ring series.

PEZ: Who trains you?
I’m with Josh Hunt from CPC who is my coach, it’s all based on watts, I really like looking at the numbers. Although you can make plans, you also have to be flexible – I found out I was only going on the Mirabel tour a few days before – then you need to factor in travel days. I am currently training and preparing for the National Championships in Castle Douglas, Scotland.

Ghent-Wevelgem

PEZ: You finished fourth at Gent-Wevelgem 2019, ahead of guys like Tobias Foss and Ben Healy, which looked like “breakthrough” drive?
Yes, I started that season well but I was inconsistent, I would fly and two weeks later I would DNF; I hoped “reset” in 2020, but Covid has put a toll on it.

PEZ: Last year you participated in the Tour of Slovenia with Pagacar, Ulisi, Mohoric and others. . .
It was the hardest and best race I’ve ever done, it reminded me of the Tour of Yorkshire with lots of people on the sidelines; there were people along every part of the parkour. The race route was adapted to Pagachar; and the big teams used it to prepare for the Tour de France, so it wasn’t easy – but we came out of it with two top 10 stages.

All Tour of Britain jerseys

PEZ: How does the rest of the season look?
I haven’t looked past the Nationals but we have the UK Premier calendar and ring races.

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Since our interview, Rob’s good form has continued with a string of excellent results in British criteriums, including a win in Colne and second overall in the elite British criterium series. But it wasn’t just the smaller tracks that he performed well; the Nationals may not have gone to plan, but he won the tough National Road Series, the Lancaster Grand Prix and, in the unfortunately shortened UCi Tour of Britain, worked hard for the WiV SunGod team, who punched well above their weight – keeping every classification jersey on stage in the race or another with a Canadian rider, Ben Perry is fourth overall.

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