Amelia Sharpe produced another excellent ride to finish a very good 44th in Le Samyn des Dames one-day race in Belgium on Tuesday.

Her debut race in the pro ranks, the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad last Saturday, resulted in Amelia coming in an excellent 66th in the main bunch some seven minutes 13 seconds behind reigning world champion Anna van de Breggen (SD Works) who rode to a solo victory.

There were 111 finishers out of 144 starters.

Originally intending to head straight back to her base in Holland, her performance resulted in the NXTG team asking her to double up and also ride in Tuesday’s Le Samyn des Dames, a shorter race but still very demanding 92.5km with several typical Belgian cobbled sections.

The race once again featured most of the UCI Women’s World Tour teams, with more than 150 riders taking the start line.

Amelia was able to avoid incidents and once again came in an superb 44th position in the second group of riders to cross the line, 2min 56sec behind the leading group with the race being won in a bunch sprint by Belgium National champion Lotte Kopecky (Liv Racing). There were 109 finishers.

The NXTG team have a busy schedule with races most weekends during March and April across Belgium and the Netherlands.

Amelia has said that the racing is really tough but she is enjoying the challenge and looking forward to the rest of the early season.

The 19-year-old would like to thank everyone for their messages and also Isle of Man Sport for its continued support.

In the elite men’s version of Le Samyn, Mark Cavendish finished 29th only five seconds behind the winner Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix).

Cav was very active throughout the race, attacking, getting into breaks and chasing down.

Fellow Manxman Matthew Bostock was a further 7min 14sec back in 121st position.

Mark Christian and Sam Brand were also in action yesterday (Wednesday) when the duo competed in the Trofeo Laigueglia one-day race in Italy.

The Manx duo tackled a 202km route around northern Italy near the French border.

Christian, riding for Spanish team EOLO-Kometa, crossed the line in 72nd place some five minutes 57 seconds behind the winner, Trek-Segafredo’s Bauke Mollema.

Unfortunately, Novo-Nordisk’s Brand was one of a large number of non-finishers.

Cav and Bocky are now scheduled to ride in the Grote prijs Jean-Pierre Monseré one-day race in Belgium this Saturday.

On the same day, Christian and Brand will tackle the GP Industria and Artigianato one-day event in Italy.

Lizzie Holden is set to race in the GP Oetingen one-day event in Belgium on March 14, riding for the Spanish Bizkaia Durango team.