The thrills and spills of team cycle racing came to Kirkcaldy on Tuesday as riders from 13 nations began the five-week battle to be crowned Halfords Tour Series champions.
It was the first visit to Scotland for the event, which attracted thousands of spectators to the town centre circuit.
With beautiful evening sunshine showing off the Kirkcaldy waterfront in all its glory, the honour of getting the race under way went to 11-year-old Pathhead Primary pupil Natalie Cowan, who designed the starter flag.
Natalie’s Saltire-themed drawing was the winning entry in a competition for Fife schoolchildren. Kirkcaldy MSP David Torrance and a small band of noisy ‘cheerleaders’ from Pathhead Primary joined her to wave the cyclists off.
Kirkcaldy and District Pipe Band provided pre-event entertainment as the compere, against a constant soundtrack of thumping rock and dance music from the Tannoy, whipped the crowd into a frenzy, encouraging spectators to bang hoardings and make as much noise as possible.
It was seen as something of a coup for Kirkcaldy when it was announced in February that it would host the Scottish leg of the series. Established in 2009, the Halfords Tour has grown in popularity and attracts the top 10 professional teams racing in the UK.
After an hour of warm-ups the circuit race was run on what are normally some of Kirkcaldy’s busiest streets.
The start/finish point was on the Esplanade between Nicol Street and Port Brae and the anti-clockwise 1.5km circuit took in the High Street, Tolbooth Street, Hill Street and Whytescauseway.
The Endura Racing team went into the event as favourites, having completed a clean sweep of the British Cycling Premier Calendar events held so far this season.
They were not to disappoint as Scott Thwaites won the individual event and they also took the team prize. The sprint prize was won by Marcel Six of Team Metaltek.
There were plenty of other gritty performances on the tight course. One of the biggest cheers went to Daniel Holloway, from the USA, who finished valiantly despite carrying a serious arm injury for half the race.
Highlights of the racing in Kirkcaldy are on ITV4 tonight at 10pm.