When Lucy Garner crossed the line to become Junior World Road Race Champion in September, she certainly didn’t do it the easy way. After an early crash left her adrift from the field, the 17-year-old Cosby cyclist fought her way back into contention before a stunning sprint finish sealed first place and thrust her into the limelight.

Cycling is in the Garner family genes and inspired Lucy to take up the sport at an early age, as she explained.

“Both my grandparents were racing cyclists and my dad and uncle did quite a bit as well, so I’ve been involved in cycling all of my life. I watched a few mountain bike races and decided that I really wanted to get involved with the sport and started racing when I was eight.

“At first, my dad was my main influence but once I joined the Leicestershire Road Club, Graham McLay was a really big influence because he started my training diaries and told me which races to do.”

So did Lucy have a natural talent for cycling straight away?

“No, not at all. I remember going up against the lads and they completely left me standing and I said I’d never do it again because I was so bad, but I kept going and I’m glad I did!”

In the build up to her life-changing World Championship victory, Lucy relished the opportunity of training alongside some of Great Britain’s most talented cyclists.

“It was a great experience to go out with the whole team amongst the likes of Mark Cavendish and Nicole Cook and they’re people I look up to. Training with Nicole was really, really good.”

Lucy’s memories of becoming World Champion are still fresh, as she recalls battling back from a disappointing start and how she felt after crossing the line.

“The race itself was pretty hectic, everything seemed to happen. Once you’re in there you don’t really think about anything. When I did crash, I knew I just had to get on with it, get back on and work towards the bunch. I couldn’t believe it when I crossed the line first, it was mad!

“I was really emotional at the end. I remember seeing my coach jumping up and down and then all the paparazzi coming over. I’ve never had that before, especially after the race, when I’m not looking that great!”

The victory took the talented teenager by surprise even though she was relatively confident going into the race.

“We’d raced against some of the riders before. Two weeks earlier we were against the Canadians and Australians in the Commonwealth Games, and did really well as a team. I knew I could be competitive but I didn’t know who was going to be the strongest in the sprint. Once I got to the last kilometre I thought I might have a chance of getting in the top ten or five, but I never thought of winning.”

So did all the hard hours of training seem worthwhile as Lucy pedalled herself back into the race?

“Definitely. All year that has been my biggest aim because racing on the road is what I like doing the most. Obviously I have been training really hard but on the Olympic Development Programme they have taught us to do everything ourselves. A lot of the other girls who crashed in my race didn’t know what to do with their bikes. As soon as I crashed I knew exactly what to do, so the ODP brought me on in that way, as well as riding and training.”

A full-time student at Countesthorpe College, Garner is managing her time to ensure that her training doesn’t suffer and she can still enjoy a social life.

“I have got quite a bit of work but I seem to fit it in. I don’t really do that many miles yet. At the weekend I’ll do three or four on Saturday and Sunday. It’s just turbo sessions which last about an hour, or on the road for two hours. There’s a little bit of time for socialising. I like to go shopping, to the cinema and out for meals.”

As a Go Gold Ambassador, Lucy talked about how the funding has benefited her.

“Go Gold have helped a lot with travel expenses and with bike equipment. I’m on a team called Motorpoint and I do get funding from them, but Go Gold have helped with things like inner tubes and other bits and bobs. It’s a really expensive sport because you need different bikes for different disciplines.”

As well as the confidence her recent success has brought, a dose of realism dilutes Lucy’s future ambitions.

“I’m too young for next year’s Olympics so I’m hopefully going for Rio in 2016. I’m still going to be a junior next year so, hopefully, I’ll be doing all of this year’s races again. I’m going to try and train a bit harder and see how it all goes.”

Despite being one of Leicestershire’s few World Champions, Lucy Garner remains level-headed and focused on achieving even more.

For more information on Leicester-Shire & Rutland Sport’s Go Gold Talented Athlete Fund visit: www.lrsport.org/gogold