This year has been far from expected. As I lifted the surprisingly heavy and springy trophy, smashing it against the podium roof as I did so, the empty square down below was definitely not how I had ever pictured celebrating winning a big race. In 2010, aged fifteen, I raced in mainland Europe for the first time, in the Flanders region of Belgium. The racing was intense, another level from that of the UK, but the main attraction was the crowds. Even for a ‘nieuwelingen’ (youth) race, there felt like a crazy amount of people out on the road supporting […]