Images: 5311 Media, The Glasgow Riderz, SWPix, Neil Macdougall
Scottish Cycling Development Programme alumni Anna Shackley will join Olympic Road Champion Anna van der Breggen and former World Champion Chantal Blaak on Women’s World Tour team SD Worx Cycling Team in 2021.
Milngavie born Shackley has signed a two-year contract with the SD Worx Cycling Team (currently competing under the name of Boels-Dolmans). From 2021, the talented young rider who has progressed the Scottish Cycling club and talent pathway will be part of on of the best women's cycling team in the world.
A Promising Start
Anna started her cycling journey with the Glasgow Riderz where she competed in all disciplines including the Youth Tour of Scotland and developed a love for the sport. Neil Macleod, Glasgow Riderz Performance Coach, worked closely with Anna over the years and was delighted to comment on his time working with her.
“Anna has raced many disciplines, has a great attitude, loves racing, not much fazes her, and she bounces back up if she falls off! Anna works hard for the team, a pleasure to coach a very pleasant person and is very proud to be a Glasgow Riderz.”
Speaking about the influence she has had on up and coming riders he said,
“It’s very important to have Anna as a role model, she’s inspirational. The impact on the club is immense and promotes cycling for girls and women. Young girls, that are aspiring to be racing cyclist look to those that are on the doorstep and they can grasp that they are not the only ones do it.”
Scottish Cycling Support
In 2017 Anna joined the Scottish Cycling Junior Development Programme under coaches Mark McKay and PJ Barron who saw her potential on both track and road. Over the next two years she gained in confidence and skill, racing internationally as a Junior, achieving great results in the HSBC UK Junior Women’s Road Race Series and earning the title of Scottish National Junior Women’s Road Race Champion. In 2019, she joined Katie Archibald and Neah Evans on the Scotland team at The Tour Series were she raced aggressively on tough, technical circuits against top UK riders. The trio were reunited in the summer to ride the Women’s Tour of Scotland supported by Scottish Cycling. Anna put in an exceptional performance against the world’s top professional women coming away 13th in General Classification, the best Scottish Rider award and top British rider.
Scottish Cycling Endurance Coach PJ Barron said,
“Having witnessed the work Anna has put in throughout her time as a junior with Scottish Cycling the move to the Women’s World Tour is a testament to her commitment and work ethic as well as those that supported her on her journey. It is great to see her continuing development which really began over the winter of 2018-19 and entering her last season as a Junior her step up in work commitment saw huge progression as a rider. This step will further inspire young riders to achieve their goals and many have already been inspired by training alongside or seeing her story over the past few years.”
Stepping Up
A move to Manchester and the Great Britain Cycling Team Senior Academy came at the end of last year where focused track training translated into road success as she finished 12th at the World Junior Road Race Championships in Yorkshire. 2020 started promisingly for Anna with British National Championship titles in both the points race and team pursuit.
As the world stands due to COVID-19, the 19 year old remains focused on the future and motivated by her move to the Women’s World Tour. Speaking about her new team she said, “I'm extremely proud of the fact that this top team would want to have me as a member. I had never expected to have the opportunity to transition to a World Tour team at such a young age,"
Having grown up on hilly Scottish terrain, Anna has her sights set on becoming a climbing specialist. “I don't have much experience yet with properly high mountains, but I want to become a rider who excels in events like the Giro d ‘Italia. I am hoping to achieve a good ranking in these multiple-stage races. I also hope to do well in hilly one-day races, such as Liège–Bastogne–Liège.”
The team are also excited at the prospect of developing a young rider of Annas potential. SD Worx CEO Kobe Verdonck remarked,
“It is important to invest in the careers of talented young riders, so we can continue to defend our title as the best women's team in the world. We are also delighted that Anna's arrival has given our team even more of an international character.”
Gary Coltman, Head of Sport at Scottish Cycling commented,
“The team at Scottish Cycling are incredibly pleased for Anna who has been a regular at National Championships, Series and Track League for many years. It’s also really pleasing that our Performance Programme has provided the foundation for Anna to make the step into a World Tour Professional Road Team; this has always been part of our aims and its fantastic to witness the results of the programme in achieving this aim. It has been a pleasure to watch her grow and develop as a rider and we look forward to watching her race on the world stage as she progresses to the next chapter”.
