Cyclist recovers from horror crash to become Scottish champion

“In high school, nobody bothered inviting me to university open days,” he said.

“Not even the teachers. They all knew my mind was set on cycling.”

Last month, 23-year-old Maclean won the Scottish Road Race Championship for the first time in his career.

It’s an impressive achievement for anyone, clearly.

Yet dig a little deeper into Maclean’s story and this victory seems positively heroic.

In 2021, while on a training ride near Callander, Maclean heard a car approaching close behind him.

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“I’ve ridden on the road my whole life,” he said.

“And I’d never had any issues with cars trying to overtake me.

“It just never crossed my mind that I’d ever get hit.”

The driver had attempted to overtake Maclean only to notice an oncoming vehicle in the other direction.

“It was either hit me or hit the other car,” he said.

“He just wasn’t concentrating.”

Maclean estimates that the car smashed directly into his back going around 60mph.

“Before I knew it, I was thrown off my bike and ended up really winded on the ground.

“Then I felt a proper shooting pain in my back and I knew instantly that I’d broken it.”

The driver of the car failed to stop following the incident, although he returned a short time later.

“I think he panicked,” said Maclean.

Thankfully, other drivers had witnessed the crash and immediately called an ambulance.

“It was actually a helicopter that ended up coming to get me,” he said.

“But once I got airlifted to hospital, it’s just a blur.”

Maclean had suffered an L1 burst fracture in the accident, which required surgery to rebuild the broken vertebrae around his spinal cord.

It’s the kind of injury that could easily end the career of an athlete in almost any sport.

“I wasn’t lucky to be hit,” he said. “But I was lucky to survive and have a chance of getting back to doing what I love, which is cycling.”

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Maclean ended up pretty much immobile after his surgery, not able to get back on his bike for around six months.

“It set me back a lot,” he said.

“But I did everything I could to speed up my recovery.

“My diet was perfect and Pilates helped, too. It was all just about trying to manage the pain so I could cycle again.”

While Maclean did all he could to overcome the physical barriers to cycling caused by his injury, he admits to still struggling with the mental scars of the accident.

“Everything I’d worked my whole life for felt like it had gone up in smoke,” he said.

“Ask anyone I went to school with and they’ll tell you I’d always wanted to be a cyclist.

“It was set in stone that cycling was what I was going to do with my life.

“It felt like my whole identity had taken a hit. If I’m not cycling, then what am I doing?”

From childhood dream to reality

MACLEAN fell in love with cycling when he was eight years old.

“My dad was watching the Tour de France on TV and I must have just walked in,” he said.

“It was stage 2 and Mark Cavendish won it.

“The next day, I remember being at my gran’s pretending I was him, cycling around the blocks of houses.”

At the time, Maclean was competing in judo competitions at the weekends. Soon enough, however, he was begging his parents to enrol him in the local cycling club.

“I remember there was a year-long waiting list to even get into the club,” he said.

“So it wasn’t until I was 11 that I actually got introduced to training and racing.”

Maclean claims to have not possessed much talent as a young rider.

But after quitting judo at 13, he was eager to improve.

“I thought I was as good as the French guys I was watching on telly but in reality I was useless.

“I must have finished last in my first 20 races. But I never let it discourage me. I just kept trying.”

Over the years, Maclean progressed through the ranks to become one of Scotland’s most competitive riders.

After winning the Scottish track championships at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow in 2019, many had expected Maclean to lift the Scottish road race trophy soon after.

Yet the pandemic and his accident meant that it wasn’t until 2022 that Maclean got a chance to take part in the race.

“Everyone expected me to win so I was marked from the beginning,” he said.

“It ended up not going my way.”

This year, he returned with a plan.

“It’s a race I’ve always wanted to win but for the first few laps, I just tried to pretend I wasn’t having a good day.

“I sat at the back of the bunch and picked my time to go.”

After catching the breakaway group of riders on his own, Maclean had a small lead with around 15 kilometres to go.

Despite the lead, Maclean couldn’t bring himself to glance behind to see if any other riders were on his tail.

“It was proper stressful,” he said.

“I was too scared to look. It was only when I had about 200 metres to the finish that I had a check and saw nobody.

“It felt amazing but also like a relief more than anything. After all these years of trying, it just felt right to win on that day.”

Tour de France and Glasgow 2026

LIKE most cyclists aspiring to turn professional, Maclean has his sights set on the Tour de France.

This year, his close friend Oscar Onley became the first Scot to take part in the Tour since David Millar in 2013.

He also became only the fifth Scot to complete the entirety of the Tour in the race’s history.

“Oscar is one of my best mates,” said Maclean.

“When he was competing in the Tour Down Under in Australia, he let me live in his apartment in Girona for a month.

“I got to see what it was like training with the pros and living life as a professional cyclist.

The Commonwealth Games are set to return to Glasgow in 2026 (Image: free)

“I’m just waiting for the opportunity to do great things like Oscar.”

Maclean said he’s also considering the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2026.

“I’m quite patriotic so any chance I get to represent Scotland is amazing,” he added. “I remember watching the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow back in 2014 so it would be a dream in itself just to compete.”

Glasgow’s shouldering of the Commonwealth Games has already been marked by some as controversial.

Yet it’s worth remembering that for athletes like Maclean, they represent one of the few opportunities to represent Scotland on a global stage.

And with a story like Maclean’s, what Scot could resist cheering him on?