The current crop of world-class track and field athletes of Josh Kerr, Laura Muir, Eilish McColgan, Jake Wightman et al has ensured that athletics has been, by quite some distance, Scotland’s most prominent sport outwith the “big three” of football, rugby and golf.
This might, though, be about to change.
Cycling, and specifically road cycling, is, I believe, on the cusp of an explosion in this country.
I’m not a subscriber to the theory that success at the highest level is the only way to judge the health of a sport but I’m in no doubt that to gain exposure, success on the global stage is absolutely necessary.
And this is exactly why road cycling is about to experience a boom never before seen in Scotland.
We’ve been well used to Scottish riders succeeding on two wheels but, almost exclusively, it’s been inside a velodrome.
From Sir Chris Hoy to Craig MacLean to Katie Archibald to Neah Evans to Jack Carlin, it’s on the track they’ve become world-class riders.
Sir Chris Hoy found success on the track On the road, though, there’s been far slimmer-pickings.
In the past fifty years, only two Scots can lay claim to being truly world class talents.
There’s Philippa York, who rode under the name of Robert Millar and who is Scotland’s greatest-ever road cyclist, with her 1987 Tour de France King of the Mountains title and fourth place in the Tour’s general classification (GC) particular highlights. And then there’s David Millar (no relation), who became the first Scot to wear the Tour de France’s yellow jersey in 2000 and won ten grand tour stages.
But other than these two individuals, Scottish road racers at the highest level have been something of an endangered species.
That’s now changing, and it’s why road racing is about to become a significant player in the Scottish sporting landscape.
The most prominent individual in this shift is already, and will continue to be, Oscar Onley.
I’ve written in these pages previously that I believe he has the makings of not only a truly world-class bike rider, but also a home-grown superstar.
Oscar Onley has had a breakthrough year in 2025 (Image: Getty) The 22-year-old from the Scottish Borders has been a known entity within cycling for several years but it was this summer that he branched out far wider than cycling in terms of recognition.
In only his second Tour de France (he made his Tour debut last year), Onley finished fourth in the GC standings.
It was a remarkable achievement, particularly given the top two places were occupied by the two behemoths of modern-day road racing, Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard. Onley ended the Tour a mere one minute 12 seconds off the podium and in those three weeks, established himself as one of the brightest prospects in global cycling.
That Onley was not the only Scot to ride this year’s Tour is another remarkable statistic; also in Team Picnic PostNL was Edinburgh rider, Sean Flynn who, in his second grand tour having ridden La Vuelta Espana, was an integral part of the machine that helped Onley achieve his fourth place finish.
Both these riders have had impressive results across the entire season but it goes without saying that a good result in the Tour is worth a hundred good results elsewhere in media coverage terms.
Sean Flynn rode the Tour de France alongside Onley (Image: Tim De Waele/ Getty Images) This pair may be the top of the pyramid currently, but, significantly, there’s plenty below them.
Callum Thornley is, for now, a rung below Onley and Flynn but is showing all the signs of following them in becoming a grand tour rider, and perhaps even contender. The 22-year-old from Edinburgh is the reigning British under-23 time trial champion and has recently been promoted from his development team having signed a profession contract with Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, which will see him step up to World Tour level next season.
And as recently as this week there’s been further success. Aberdeenshire’s Elliot Rowe became only the third-ever Scot to win a stage of the Tour de l’Avenir (effectively the under-23 Tour de France) after a sprint from the break on stage two.
On the women’s side, things are looking similarly promising, which is a welcome development given the enforced and devastating retirement of Anna Shackley due to a heart problem just a few years ago.
This week, Lauren Dickson (who, incidentally, is the girlfriend of Flynn), has signed a professional contract with the world’s top women’s road team, FDJ-SUEZ, despite the fact the 25-year-old has been racing competitively on the road for less than 18 months.
And in Erin Boothman, Scotland boasts the most promising young bike rider in the UK.
This year alone, she’s been remarkably impressive on both the road and track, winning world junior titles and setting a world record. And this month, she’s joined road team, Liv AlUla Jayco, with the plan being she’ll step into the squad full-time in 2026 before transitioning into the World Team for the 2027 and 2028 seasons.
Of course, the success of these athletes are impressive personal achievements but what is far more significant is the impact this widespread success will have on the discipline of road racing as a whole.
Athletics is the perfect example of how having numerous successful athletes can literally transform a sport and cycling, if the sport plays it correctly, can go exactly the same way, if not surpass athletics in terms of profile in this country.
The huge trump card that cycling holds is the Tour de France, with the success of Onley earlier this summer capturing the attention of many who would typically not look twice at cycling results.
And we’ve all seen, down south, the impact successful road cyclists can have on the sport.
The achievements of Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, Mark Cavendish and Geraint Thomas have been the catalyst to road cycling booming an entirely mainstream pursuit for so many members of the public.
Chris Froome was part of the road cycling boom that’s happened south of the border over the past 15 years (Image: Mike Egerton/PA) It would, perhaps, be too optimistic to suggest a boom to quite the same level is imminent in Scotland off the back the success of Onley et al but there’s little doubt that it will be a missed opportunity if cycling doesn’t ensure it creates a spike in popularity in the coming years.
How big that spike will be remains to be seen, and is also dependent upon the continued success of these individual riders. But, all going to plan, I’d put money on road cycling being Scotland’s next big sporting success story.