Cameron Scott may be sitting right at the top of the rankings when it comes to Australia’s National Road Series, but the 24 year old is under no illusions that stepping into the WorldTour in 2023 is going to be a whole new learning curve.
The ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast rider has signed with Bahrain Victorious for 2023 and 2024, quickly catching the WorldTour team's attention with top results as soon as he got an opportunity to race in Europe. In May at the 1.2 ranked Dutch race, Ronde van Overijssel, Scott just missed the victory in a tight run sprint and then the next month he stepped up to the top step of the podium at the Memorial Philippe Van Coningsloo.
Getting that chance to show what he could do in Europe on the road, however, hadn't been easy to come by. Up until this year Scott hadn't raced internationally since years before making the decision to change focus from track to the road. It was a transition that faced some unexpected extra hurdles, coming just as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down Australia’s international border through two seasons and limited domestic racing.
“I stepped off the velodrome from the track programme at the start of 2020,” Scott told Cyclingnews. “Since then I've just put everything into the road and it was unfortunate timing with COVID. And then once that kind of settled down, I had a big injury which put me out for the following year as well.
Scott fractured his pelvis after crashing into the back of a police motor bike during during the final day of the Tweed National Road Series race in 2020, but returned to racing in April of 2021 and continued the build that helped him move closer to his WorldTour ambitions. There were no shortage of top results in Australia – including victory at Australia’s oldest race the Melbourne to Warrnambool and multiple stages of the Tour of Gippsland – but while these were important steps along the way it was the international results he needed to get him over the line.
“The signing has been a couple of years in the making,” said Scott. “It was a massive relief to get something signed for next year.”
As he sheltered from the sun before a final hot and humid day of racing at the Tour de Langkawi, his very last day of riding with ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast, Scott recounted how he secured the contract.
“It seems like no matter what I did in Australia it wasn’t enough," said Scott. "As soon as I got over there, one result, I didn’t even have to win, was good enough.”
Scott said it was that second place in a tight sprint at Ronde van Overijssel in the Netherlands that "really started the conversation” with Bahrain Victorious.
“From that first result in Europe it happened really quickly,” said Scott. “They seemed pretty interested from the get go. I'm flew in to do some testing for them and they were happy with the results. Within two weeks I had pen on paper.”
Now that the work has been done to make the dream of a professional contract in Europe a reality, the work begins to make the most of the opportunity. It may be the end of one cycling journey for the rider from Camden when he flys out from Australia to start the European season, but it is just the beginning of another.
“I think I've got a lot to learn still,” said Scott. “I think I'll initially be in the lead out train for the sprinters. From there I'll just take it race by race and see how I progress. I don't really know what type of rider I will be yet, so that'll be a good learning experience as well."
