RHONA CALLANDER has made impressive progress in her first year as a full-time athlete.

It was almost exactly a year ago the 19-year-old left school and not long after, she moved to Manchester to join the lauded British Cycling set-up.

The “medal factory” as many have dubbed British Cycling’s headquarters, certainly knows how to churn out champions and while Callander may still have a distance to go before she is winning Olympic medals, her recent improvement suggests that she is on the path to becoming a world-class rider.

The teenager, who won gold at the Commonwealth Youth Games last year, goes into this week’s British National Road Championships in Northumberland as one of the youngest in the field but she has certainly made her mark on the senior scene over the past few months.

A number of solid performances in the OVO Women’s Tour Series, including an stand-out performance at the Grand Final in Salisbury last month which saw her grab a fifth place finish in the women’s race as well as help her team, Team Breeze, grab the overall crown, indicates that Callander is in the form required to compete with the very best in the country.

It is, she admits, quite an improvement from a year ago.

“I was pretty pleased with how it went in Salisbury,” said the Stirling rider.

“I feel in good shape and if you compare where I am this year to twelve months ago, it’s a big improvement.

“Last year, I did three Tour Series races and I got dropped in the neutral zone in the first one and I was lapped in all of them so that’s a pretty big difference to how I’m getting on now.

“Seeing that improvement definitely gives you a lot of faith in what you’re doing in training and it definitely motivates me to keep pushing on.”

Callander may now be at a level where she can give the top senior riders in Britain a run for their money but she is well aware that she is on a steep learning curve and still has a way to go before she is the finished article.

“In terms of the racing, I’ve not found the step up too bad because even when I was a junior, I still did quite a few women’s races so it’s not like I had no idea what to expect,” she said.

“It’s bunch riding and tactics that I’m really learning about. It’s a different style of racing to the juniors – especially when I’ve been racing abroad, it’s really hard to get to the front of the bunch so I’ve been trying to work on that and I feel like it’s got better.

“And also being more patient in races. In the Tour Series, if I felt good I’d be too keen to just go for it but by the end of the Series, I was learning to relax a bit more and think about what I was going to do before I actually did it.

“That one has been a bit of a steep learning curve and at times, it has been one step forward, two steps back but I’m getting there.

“With the tactics, a lot of it just comes down to experience.”

At this week’s British Championships, the time trial is up first, followed by the road race on Sunday with the field spearheaded by Olympic gold medallists on the track Elinor Barker and Dani Rowe.

Callander will race in both events and her recent progress suggests she could do better than she ever has before. However, she is reluctant to make any grand predictions about final placings.

“I don’t have any specific targets – it’s a different field and it’ll be a very different race to the Tour Series.

“I’ve only done one British national series race this year and I did feel good in that one but you never know how it’s going to go on the day.

“And I’m a little bit nervous about the course because it’s quite hilly and I normally prefer it a little bit flatter but my legs feel good so I’m looking forward to it. It all just depends on how your form is and how the race pans out.

“So I’m just going to see how it goes on the day and then take it from there.”

Callander will not be the only Scot in the field, with Commonwealth medallist Neah Evans as well as Jenny Holl in both competing in the time trial as well as the road race.

While in the men’s race, John Archibald, who also picked up silverware on the track at Gold Coast 2018, and Tao Geoghegan Hart will race the time trial while Joe Nally will be on the start line of the road race.

But Olympic track champion Katie Archibald is missing after breaking her collarbone during last month’s Tour de Yorkshire.

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