Kinlochleven High’s Dent wins big in Fife bike classic
Kinlochleven High School’s Alex Dent took one of the biggest scalps of his career in the recent Spokes/Limits Kingdom Junior Classic in Fife.
The S6 pupil, who rides for the Fife-based Spokes Racing Team and was one of the youngest in the event, capitalised on his local knowledge of the roads to win the first stage, timing his final attack perfectly in the climb to the finish on the summit of Falkland Hill.
It meant Dent headed into the final stage of the two-day race on Sunday June 10 – the latest round of the British Cycling | Junior Men’s Road Series featuring 80 of the top junior riders – with a 1:27 mins lead over second-placed Harry Askew.
Dent was unable to maintain his dominance, finishing the second day just off the main field as Isaac Peatfield took the second stage win.
However, thanks to a strong team performance, Dent was still able to retain the leader’s yellow jersey and the overall win in the best performance of his racing career to date.
Speaking about the race afterwards, Dent, who won the first 70-mile stage by an im- pressive 90 seconds, told the Lochaber Times: ‘The race had a summit finish which suited me and I had the race as one of my targets for the season so it felt incredible to accomplish my goal.
‘What made the win even more special was that the race was organised by Spokes and a rider from the team had never won the event.
‘Then on the second day of the event I was wearing the yellow leader’s jersey and had to chase those challenging my lead all day, which was exhausting.
‘However, it was a great feeling to lead the peloton in the yellow jersey.
‘I hope to become a professional cyclist in the future and this success means I am closer to my ultimate goal.’
Dent has now been road racing for around six years although he began by mountain biking at Nevis Range.
He moved to Lochaber 11 years ago from Lancaster where his father, a former Great Britain team cyclist himself, owned a bike shop.
‘That is the main reason I started,’ explained Dent. ‘Until this season, I had been racing for the Nevis Cycles race team, based in Fort William, but now that I have moved into the under-18 category, I have been selected to join the Spokes Racing Team, based in Fife, which is made up of some of the best riders from Scotland and the rest of the UK.
‘My older brother Stephen also raced for this team although he is now living in Belgium to pursue cycling as a career.
‘This year is my first as an under-18 which means I can now race on open roads and over a much larger distance which suits me better, rather than the closed circuit events for the under-16s.
‘The Spokes team is a great atmosphere to be in. Living in the Highlands, there are very few road racing cyclists, particularly my age, so the team makes for great fun and helps me enjoy my racing more.’