The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Cycling: Wheels are turning for Aberdeen’ s Evans.
Cycling: Emotional rollercoaster has happy ending for Aberdeen’ s Neah
Delight and despair are emotions every athlete experiences but to happen in successive weekends has led to quite a week for Neah Evans.
The Aberdeen cyclist looked to have won scratch race gold at the opening TISSOT UCI Track World Cup in Poland only to be relegated having been deemed to have ridden on the blue band.
But, in the greatest of contrasts, Evans finally took her place on a World Cup podium on Sunday in Manchester, winning team pursuit gold in front of a British crowd.
The British quartet – Evans, Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker and Emily Nelson – crossed the line in a time of 4:16.803, almost 5sec quicker than their European champion Italian opponents. It ensured a clean sweep for the home nation in the team pursuit events, with the men having clinched the title the previous night.
For Evans, redemption couldn’t have tasted any sweeter.
“It’s really good to have actually won the medal now. It’s made up a little bit for last week,” said the 27-year-old.
“Obviously, it would be nice if this was my second medal in two weekends, but you’ve got to move on and I’m quite happy to have moved on and won this gold.
“It’s easier when you’ve got team-mates like this. It was one of those things, towards the end you had to find the gear, but ultimately a team pursuit is a team effort.”
It has been a meteoric rise for veterinary surgeon Evans, who recently moved to Manchester, after only taking up the sport in 2013 while recovering from a hill-running injury.
A two-time national under-23 hill-running champion, she quickly graduated to the Scottish Cycling Performance Programme in 2015, initially as a sprinter, before switching to endurance racing.
The Aberdonian is a woman in a hurry and the next few months promise to be a busy period for her, with the early months of 2018 set to see her compete at the world championships as well as the Commonwealth Games.
Later in the year, the European championships are in Glasgow and Evans is determined to repeat her gold medal-winning feats on Scottish soil.
“After the Commonwealth Games the Europeans are the target,” she said.
“You come to Manchester and the crowd really gets behind you, so I know that in Glasgow it will be even more so, so it’s a huge motivation.
“I’ve got the Revolution Series, then a bit of training before starting the new year and looking ahead to the worlds and Commonwealth Games.”
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“It has been a meteoric rise for veterinary surgeon Evans”