With a strong showing atop The Great Orme on Friday's third stage of the Tour of Britain Women, British racer Lauren Dickson showed that a mid-season collarbone break hasn't slowed her down.
The 26-year-old approaches the end of her first season racing at Women's WorldTour level, having joined FDJ United-SUEZ from Scottish team Handsling Alba over the winter. She immediately settled into life at the top level with a series of impressive outings.
As the Tour of Britain Women hit the North Wales coast for its queen stage on Friday, Dickson was up there among the GC contenders, racing to sixth place, 26 seconds behind stage winner Kim Le Court-Pienaar.
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The result was a sign of her swift return to form after injury, sustained in a crash at the Tour de Suisse, ahead of a potential debut at the Road World Championships in Montreal next month.
After the finish, she told Cyclingnews that Worlds selection was a "huge goal", but noted that she doesn't yet know if she's made the Great Britain squad.
"I would love to get selection for Worlds. That would be a huge goal for me, and I think the course is something that would really suit me. But I mean, that's up to selection," Dickson said.
"I think we play it by ear, but training's been going well. I broke my collarbone in Switzerland, and actually doing a lot on the home trainer, which I think sometimes helps you. So, we'll see what happens.
"Other than that, there are some races in France, which are also special for us as a French team. So yeah, doing some good performances there would be nice."
Regardless of Worlds selection, Dickson's rapid rise ensures that she will certainly go down as one of the year's outstanding breakthrough riders.
She impressed in the spring with second at the Vuelta a Extremadura and third at her third-ever Women's WorldTour race, Itzulia Women. In May, she played a key role in supporting Demi Vollering to her Giro d'Italia Women victory while also racing to 11th overall herself.
Dickson said that her first season with FDJ could barely have gone any better than it has – bar that unlucky collarbone break, of course.
"I think I always knew when I joined FDJ it was going to be a big step up. But if you're surrounded by the best people in the world – both the riders and the staff – I knew it was the best place to learn and develop," she said.
"They promised me that they would support me, that it wouldn't be too much pressure coming into the team, and they were true to their word. So yeah, I think when I reflect on it, I don't think it could have gone much better, but it was something I always hoped I would be capable of."
She hoped to add another strong final placing in Britain to her palmarès, and she also had the blue queen of the mountains jersey to defend after picking up 12 points on the road to The Great Orme in Llandudno.
"We thought, why not? For me, it's a home race, and it's special to take the Queen of the Mountains. I consider myself a climber, so to have the category is something I really like to fight for. The stage win was also a goal, but Kim was super strong, and I mean, we came away with one of the two, so it's been a good day," she said.
"I think we really like racing aggressively as a team, and we knew that a smaller bunch coming into the climb would be better for us because it means the race has been hard.
"We would also like to improve on the GC. If it comes down to bunch sprints, we have Ally, our sprinter, with us, and that's also a key goal. But yeah, definitely keeping hold of the jersey is also an aim."
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