BRAMHOPE’s Gabriella Shaw was left beaming with pride after competing on home turf in the women’s race at the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire.

The Pearl Izumi rider finished 17th across four laps of the 20km circuit in and around York, with IKON-Mazda’s Louise Mahe claiming the winner’s jersey at the end of a thrilling bunch sprint to the line.

Eileen Roe of Wiggle Honda was pipped into second, while Shaw’s teammate Katie Curtis finished strongly to claim third spot on the podium.

And after soaking up the unique atmosphere that evoked vivid memories of last year’s iconic Tour de France Grand Départ, Shaw admitted the experience had been a very special one.

“Being part of the first Tour de Yorkshire is amazing, there’s quite a few Yorkshire girls in the peloton today, so it’s really good,” she said.

“It’s definitely a proud moment to come here.

“It felt like home support, I had a lot of supporters cheering my name all the way round – it was a bit of an extra boost.

“It is pretty amazing to be screamed through the streets of York, there really was so much support out on the roads.”

The sprint jersey was claimed by Commonwealth Games points race bronze medallist Katie Archibald, who placed in all three sprint stages to earn her place on top of the podium in that contest.

Shaw acknowledged that she would have preferred a hillier course to compete over, and she is hopeful she’ll get another chance to impose herself on the Yorkshire roads soon enough.

“It was a really good and fast race from start to finish, it was quite technical in places,” she added.

“It was relatively flat as well, there was very little climbing, so I think with the technical corners it strung it out a bit more.

“Being a Yorkshire girl I’m used to hills, and the men’s race goes right my village – Bramhope – so they get all those amazing slopes.

“Next year hopefully there’ll be a few hills in the race, and it’s definitely moving forward in just having a race like this.

“It’s pretty amazing to be a part of and be able to race in front of all these fans.”

PLEASE LEAVE IN FINAL PAR – Yorkshire Bank is an Official Partner of the Tour de Yorkshire and the ground-breaking Yorkshire Bank Bike Libraries initiative. Visit www.ybonline.co.uk

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