Katie is our flag bearer for a tour de force of frankness
IT IS the sheer honesty, the lack of filter or PR speak, that makes Katie Archibald such an endearing figurehead for her trade.
Who else would turn up as the flag bearer for such a major home event as the groundbreaking Women’s Tour of Scotland, which begins in Dundee at lunchtime today, and admit she really isn’t expecting all that much of herself? That her head’s been more on the track than the road and it is starting to make her nerves jangle.
Well, the same person who cried so openly after crashing in the Omnium at the Track World Championships in Poland earlier this year and branded herself ‘ungraceful, inattentive and dishonest’. The same person who admitted later that she howled for 15 hours solid through anguish before being ruled out of the Madison in Pruszkow.
The same person who discusses her worries and insecurities unashamedly, including the apprehension she is feeling about pulling on a Scotland jersey later today alongside Sophie Lankford, Neah Evans and young Anna Shackley and facing 15 other highquality teams over three stages, five cities and 350 kilometres in front of an audience consisting mainly of her compatriots.
Archibald is an Olympic gold medallist, after all. A repeat world, Commonwealth and European champion. A machine, really. And, yet, those human frailties behind her superhuman achievements never seem far from the surface.
She is just what the likes of cycling needs as it endeavours to accelerate this next stage of its growth in Scotland. A proven, world-class competitor it is easy to identify with and like.
Whether she wins or not, just seeing the 25-year-old hurtle along a road near you is something likely to stay in hearts and minds. It is vitally important she is here as the public face of this standalone attraction, sold on the fact it boasts prize money to rival similar men’s races.
This is a big deal, coming ahead of the track World Cup in Glasgow in November and the multi-disciplinary World Championships there in 2023.
It has the potential to reinforce Scotland’s place as a major centre for cycling in the same manner as Yorkshire.
And Archibald hopes it can lead to something spectacular like Yorkshire enjoyed back in 2014 — the honour of the Grand Depart, those early stages of that race of all races, the Tour de France.
‘Why not?,’ ventured Archibald, whose family and friends from Milngavie will be out in full force for tomorrow’s Glasgow to Perth stage. ‘We’ve seen Yorkshire become its own cycling nation and I think Scotland has that same taste.
‘It is not even just cycling. This has been such a summer of sport. It has been a big deal.
‘Meadowbank really started the British domination of track cycling, I suppose, with Chris Hoy and Craig MacLean coming out of that facility.
‘It is such a clear narrative. When the facility in Manchester opens, Jason Kenny pops up. When Newport opens, Becky James pops up.
‘It happens so obviously. I guess it is harder to pinpoint what exactly would do that for the road and maybe it would be something like a Grand Depart here.
‘There’s an event like this and we’ve also got the Glasgow track World Cup happening soon. We are the only city which could do that, that has all the facilities.
‘It is really cool to call a place home which is capable of all that.
‘I feel really nervous coming into this. Most races of this calibre on the road, I wouldn’t have quite so much limelight.
‘I am not putting pressure on myself but that doesn’t stop other people.
‘I feel privileged. It is very important to me to be here. If I wasn’t riding, I think I would be just as excited to be watching, but I guess that, if I can help them build a legacy, this could turn into a historic event.’
Sure, there are hills Archibald does not have to face in her more established home of the velodrome as this event winds its way towards a spectacular finish in Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park on Sunday.
Most of those between Glasgow and Perth of course, are those she rode on as a child. If Archibald is to have just one moment of glory over the coming three days, that stage certainly seems her best chance. ‘I guess everyone is looking at stage two, which is nice for me it goes along some of my home roads, over the Duke’s Pass and things like that,’ she said. ‘Once it does get over those, it is a fairly flat run-in, almost entirely downhill through to the finish. ‘I feel embarrassed to say that (my hopes) are not very high. It is obviously a big home race and I am not turning up as prepared as every other rider here. I don’t know if I should admit that! ‘Obviously, if it comes to a sprint, I feel strong enough there. It is just about how my roadcraft fares over the three days. ‘It is one thing where your legs are but the other thing is where your head is and I’ve just not been focusing on the road. I thought I would end up doing more than I have and that means I have come into this super, super keen and hopefully physically ready but that doesn’t always compensate for having been in these races.
‘Hopefully, that isn’t a big deal but it has made me more nervous than I normally would be.’
A largely negative weather forecast has hardly eased the tension.
‘Riders say they like racing in the rain. What they mean is they like the fact that riders like me
don’t like riding in the rain,’ said Archibald. ‘It’s no velodrome.
‘I have had a few nasty crashes in the wet, so that is my mental block.’ And her motivation? Well, that might come tomorrow when she finds herself hauling herself up the Duke’s Pass and suchlike with her nearest and dearest within touching distance on the roadside.
‘It might come down to worrying about the embarrassment of being out the back, yeah,’ she smiled. ‘Driven by shame. That’s the best way, isn’t it?’
And that’s our Katie. The funny, self-deprecating superstar to the last.