Maddie Leech on balancing road and track challenges at start of professional cycling career

Last year Leech won the Under-23 time-trial and added a silver medal at Catterick Garrison on Wednesday.

She also took silver in the circuit race in Redcar last year and is looking to add another medal in what she describes as a “good bash about” in Darlington on Friday night.

But Sunday’s elite women’s road race which encompasses five laps of a 26km route through Skelton, Guisborough and up the 22 per cent gradient of Saltburn Bank, is her biggest challenge.

A year ago, on a slightly tougher route that culminated in Saltburn, she was one of only a small percentage to finish the race.

“I think I finished 28th last year, I absolutely blew on the last climb but I was happy to finish because I wasn’t expected to on that course,” Leech told The Yorkshire Post.

“It was a lot tougher last year. This time I think I’m free to have a go because there’s quite a lot of our riders are missing, but again it’s a hard course, very attritional.”

At nearly 6ft in height, Leech is taller than most of her peloton peers, which is useful on the track where she is a Commonwealth Games gold medallist in the team pursuit, but can be a hindrance on the road.

“It can be harder in the hillier races because I’m taller and naturally carrying a bit more muscle, so I’m not suited to the really hilly races,” she said. “But it can definitely help in the flatter races like you get in Belgium. There’s an art to that with the cross-winds and the positioning so it’s trying to get the balance with that.

“At the minute I’m trying to balance both; I’m a lot more successful on the track, there’s an art to the road and a lot of very strong women. So it’s about trying to figure out where I fit in in the road races and building up my strengths there as well.”