Scott McGill's Turn as a Cyclocross Ringer is Going Pretty Well
“I figured I would do the early season races and see how it goes. It's going pretty well, so I think I'll keep going.”
Every good cyclocross season needs a good ringer, and it looks like the 2021 Elite Men’s domestic campaign has found one in Scott McGill.
While McGill was a virtual unknown at the Elite level of the sport coming into the season, one could argue he wasn’t a complete ringer. When we did our anonymous rider survey prior to the season, McGill received two votes for the rider most likely to have a breakout season. At least a few of his peers knew the name and had an idea of what to expect.
A Fallston, Maryland native, McGill raced his first cyclocross race ever at Charm City in 2010 as a Junior, and he dabbled in it a bit as a student-athlete at Brevard College, but his main focus was primarily the road. He won the Collegiate Varsity Road Omnium at Nationals his Senior year, so McGill certainly has the power part of cyclocross down.
“I've done 'cross starting at around age 13, but not very competitively,” McGill said. “Then through college, I would just do Collegiate races and stuff.”
Like with Gage Hecht, McGill got a super-senior season with the Aevolo road devo program, and after the summer, he wanted to keep racing since there weren’t very many road races on offer this semi-post-pandemic year. That decision, however, came kind of late. “I decided to do 'cross like two weeks ago,” he explained after Saturday’s race at Charm City.
Fortunately for McGill, the beginning of the domestic UCI calendar this year was focused in the Mid-Atlantic-plus area with the opening weekend in Roanoke and this past weekend’s races a mere 30 miles from his hometown of Fallston. McGill currently resides in Brevard, so heading up to the races wasn’t too much of a burden to give cyclocross a go this early fall.
McGill’s opening weekend in Roanoke went pretty well. He finishing 6th in the season-opening race and then 8th on Day 2. For reference, his best finish at something resembling a national-level race was an 8th-place in the Collegiate Varsity race at the 2017 Hartford Nationals. “My rate of improvement has been drastic from race to race. I was hoping I would keep improving,” he said about the early-season races.
After perhaps a bit of a shock hitting the road to go to Rochester and running into the buzzsaw of a full C1 domestic field, McGill returned this weekend to more familiar pastures at Charm City. After all, he was a Junior king at the event back in the day.
When the first group of about 15 riders formed after one lap of Saturday’s race, McGill was there in the mix. When it dropped to 11 a few laps later, he was still there.
Vincent Baestaens attacked in the 4th lap, and the ensuing effort to reel him in shrunk that lead group to Kerry Werner, Stephen Hyde, Gage Hecht, Christopher Blevins, Gosse van der Meer, … and McGill. Not bad company to be in as the chase for 2nd got underway.
“I didn't go out of my skin in the early part of the race to kind of save energy,” McGill said about his strategy. “I kind of rode at the back of the group, and I just kept feeling good and tried to hang on as long as I could.”
As the laps ticked down, McGill was able to keep his position in the group, all the while looking around and seeing riders he has looked up to as a developing rider. “I was like, do I really need to pass this guy? A year ago I was looking up to those guys, and now I'm competing against them. I tried to give them the respect they deserve, but at the same time, we were competing in the same race.”
Hyde revved the pace in the last lap, and Werner and Blevins followed suit. “I came off on the last lap,” McGill explained. “I would have loved to sprint for the podium, but I'm really happy with 5th place too.”
I chatted with McGill after the race on Saturday in between him getting surrounded by supporters. After his impressive performance on Saturday, he offered a bit of foreshadowing, “Maybe tomorrow I'll be a little bit more aggressive.”
On Sunday, it did not take long for that prophecy to come true. Another young rider who has had Collegiate road success, Eric Brunner, gunned it early in the second lap, and McGill decided to follow suit. The duo rode off the front for nearly two laps before being reeled back in. McGill could not hold the group once things came back together, but he still gave it a go and came away with a top 10 finish.
McGill’s early-season cyclocross trial period success has earned him a starting spot at World Cup Waterloo this coming weekend. He also exits the Charm City weekend as the 6th-ranked American in the UCI rankings, so the World Cup berth is well earned.
McGill summed up the last three weekends accurately, if not a bit understatedly.
“I figured I would do the early season races and see how it goes. It's going pretty well, so I think I'll keep going.”
