Salmond weighs in with new hope for Scots cycling after Hoy's attack

ALEX Salmond has pledged the Scottish Government will look at the case to fund major new cycle training facilities around the country in the wake of Chris Hoy's Olympic gold-winning exploits.

The First Minister said there appeared to be strong arguments in favour of building new tracks to complement Glasgow's planned national indoor velodrome.

And he offered hope to campaigners battling to retain a cycling facility in Edinburgh the day after the city's Olympic hero launched a fresh attack on plans to demolish the capital's ageing velodrome.

Mr Salmond said he would offer a face-to-face meeting with Hoy to discuss how to improve Scotland's cycle training facilities and respond to criticism that the nation would struggle to produce the next generation of medal-winners without major investment in new facilities.

Hoy has attacked the prospect of Edinburgh losing its cycle velodrome in favour of the new facility in Glasgow. No new track is planned as part of the redeveloped Meadowbank Stadium, where Hoy trained early in his career.

A new indoor cycling velodrome had been planned as part of a major new sports complex in the Craigmillar area of the city, which received £6 million from the then Scottish Executive in 2004.

However, the following year the city council had ditched the new velodrome after agreeing to support a new national cycling arena in Glasgow, which was part of the city's Commonwealth Games bid. At the time council leaders in Edinburgh pledged they would look at creating a replacement outdoor cycle track, but since then the plans have come to nothing.

Councillors voted in March to demolish the existing facilities at Meadowbank, including the cycling velodrome, and build a new sports complex on the site.

But Hoy has launched a series of attacks on the council, the latest just minutes after winning his third gold in Beijing.

He accused it of not producing any plans for a new cycle training facility in Edinburgh. He said: "Elite sport cannot stand alone without local facilities giving kids the chance to get into the sport in the first place. I really hope Edinburgh is going to continue to produce world-champion cyclists in the future but we cannot do this without a local facility."

However, Mr Salmond said: "We have to remember Scotland will be getting a brand-new indoor cycling velodrome in Glasgow in time for the Commonwealth Games, which as a country we don't have at the moment, and there are currently only two other such facilities in Britain.

"However, the whole question of training facilities does seem to be an area worthy of further exploration. Although the new facility will be capable of hosting international competitions, we need to look at the case for a series of other facilities around Scotland."

Steve Cardownie, the capital's deputy council leader, said: "We do want to build a new training facility, but it's likely to cost £2-3 million, and we'd obviously need external assistance to pay for it."