LIAM PHILLIPS
FORMER Gawler BMX club member
Miles Scotson claimed his first international
victory last week when he took
out stage one of the Volta a la Comunitat
Valenciana, despite crashing while in the
lead with just a few kilometres to go.
Scotson, 27, competes for French team
Groupama-FDJ, and he told CyclingNews.
com he was not satisfied with just taking
the first stage through the Spanish city of
Elche, which may have led to his fall.
“With 10km to go, I was pretty sure I
was going to win, but I started thinking too
much for the overall and taking as many
seconds as I could,” he said.
“In the end, I threw away a lot of seconds.
“It was really slippery today – it probably
hadn’t rained here in a while – but I was
happy that the bike was OK and I could
still get the win.”
Scotson said the team’s goal was to win
a stage through the performance of star Arnaud
Demare, but he “had good legs and
took the opportunity” to still cruise home
and win by 28 seconds.
Demare said he was proud of his Australian
teammate who usually has a thankless
job in setting up his teammates for strong
results.
“It’s a great victory for Miles,” he said.
“It’s really nice considering all the work
he does all year – he was able to seize his
chance.
“We know he’s a strong time trialist, and
we know he’s doing well at the moment,
but it’s never easy to pull it off.”