A little over a year ago Cameron Scott was sweltering away at a humid Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia, not chasing results as he had been most of the season, but instead working to help his ARA Pro Racing teammates make a mark that might allow them to take the leap that he had already secured – a much sought after spot on a WorldTour team.
That role turned out to be a familiar link between his last race with the Australian Continental team and his new existence as a WorldTour professional with Bahrain Victorious. He has seen a lot of change.
“It was a bit of an eye opener actually,” Scott said of his first year in the WorldTour from the sidelines of the Bright Brewery Tour of Bright last weekend, after he had a moment to recover from the effort of the stage 2 time trial.
“It is definitely a massive step up from the domestic scene in Australia. It took me a few months to get into the groove, but in every race I was getting better and better. And by the end of the year, I was pretty comfortable with my role in the team,” Scott told Cyclingnews in a conversation backed by the rumbling thunder of a summer storm.
Scott, who had previously focussed on the track, caught the attention of Bahrain Victorious in 2022 after he just missed victory in a tight sprint at the 1.2-ranked Dutch race, Ronde van Overijssel, and then secured victory at the Memorial Philippe Van Coningsloo. This year, however, he has been absent from those podium steps with the shift to the WorldTour. There was not only a learning curve but a switch in role that meant he was working to help others achieve results rather than capture his own.
Now, however, he began a second season at the Victorian Road Series Race in Bright, lining up alongside Luke Plapp, who was doing his last race in the Ineos Grenadiers kit before transitioning to Jayco-AlUla in January. The aims for both were to build form toward the Australian summer races, however in contrasting styles.
Plapp was chasing climb records on his favourite terrain and also won the stage 2 time trial, stage 3 and the overall, but Scott's mid-pack finishes on ascent heavy routes – with not even a hint of terrain that suited a sprinter – gave him exactly what he had been looking for.
"I've done about three weeks of just easy training now, so I'm still pretty fresh. But, you know, like some people say, there's no better training than racing," said Scott.
The 25-year-old is training toward a 2024 season start at the WorldTour season opener of the Tour Down Under, just as he did in 2023. Beyond that, Scott expects his second season to be similar to his first, but perhaps with some new twists.
“I think it will be learning more and more and developing and hopefully I might get an opportunity myself in one race,” said Scott.
Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the Tour Down Under and Women’s Tour Down Under, including reporting from Australia, breaking news and analysis. Find out more.
