Amersham rider Bobbie O'Brien defended her European youth cycling title in Holland

The young cyclist managed to retain the pink leaders jersey after six days of hard racing against the elite of Europe’s female riders. 

Moving up an age category and racing against both boys and girls, O’Brien, who is a year six student at St.Marys C of E school in Amersham, started the stage race with a fantastic fourth fastest time in the opening time trial to take the lead in the girls competition. 

She continued to hold the top spot throughout the week using her skills and race instinct to defend her lead. She actually gained time on all her rivals on the various stages including the circuit race sprints, the classic point to point stage and the testing cobbled stage. 

Finally O’Brien secured her second General classification win in the final time trial with another fourth place (second girl) at an average speed over 40km per hour on a very windy and exposed course near the Dutch town of Assen. 

Becoming a two-time champion has not been easy as each year the number of riders for each age category increases, with entries from all over the world. 

O’Brien said: “Despite having won last year I am delighted to keep my European title as anything can happen in stage races from crashes to mechanicals, so I’m really happy to win again.”

O’Brien’s brothers were also in Holland last week, her younger brother Finn was in contention with the very best riders in the 11-year-old category before crashing on the last cobbled stage. Despite fighting his way back to the main group the leaders had flown and Finn eventually finished 19th overall.

Older brother Joe had much better luck in his category for U13s, taking a super third overall on the General classification at the end of the week. He was not out of the top 10 in any of the stages and his attacking style paid off securing him a final place on the podium in what is seen as one of the bench mark events for young cyclist looking to ride at the highest levels.