Abingdon schoolgirl Emma Grant won the Elite Open race in Kieldrecht, in her final event in Belgium before returning home.

She said: “I have been on overload these past two weeks learning so much from racing here, but things just hadn’t quite clicked in races. I was eager to end the trip on a high.”

Getting to the race was eventful and she only just made it onto the start line.

“My lack of warm-up didn’t really matter because the stress of the journey was enough to get the adrenaline pumping and heart rate elevated,” she added.

After a sketchy first few laps, with a lot of gravel, several riders broke away after eight laps of the 15.

Grant managed to jump across without bringing the whole group with her.

She said afterwards: “I knew that if I wanted to be in with a chance of winning I had to get around the final corner on the front.

“So I attacked hard with about 1K to go, got a decent gap so just kept pressing on.

“It was an awesome feeling looking over my shoulder with 200m to go, knowing that the win was secured!”