Amelia Sharpe finished an excellent sixth place in the Brussels-Opwijk kermesse one-day race in Belgium on Sunday.

The Isle of Man Sports Awards nominee won the bunch sprint behind a leading group of five riders that included Great Britain’s Anna Docherty.

With her team-mate in the break, Amelia took up a protective role in the chasing group, grabbing sixth place in the final gallop out of a field of 110 starters in very windy conditions.

Having spent a long winter concentrating on the track and training hard, including attending a pre-season camp in Majorca, this result marks a fine start to her senior career for the British Cycling academy rider.

This was the first in a series of kermesse races in Belgium for the Manx cyclist over the next few weeks, gaining experience racing in larger fields before stepping up to some UCI 1.2 category races at the end of March and early April.

Amelia would like to thank the support she receives locally, most notably Isle of Man Sport and the Steam Packet Company.

l Fellow Manxies Will Corkill and James Harrison were also in action in Belgium over the weekend competing in the junior Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne one-day race.

Glen Vine’s Corkill, riding for Fensham Howes-MAS Design JRT, finished a respectable 27th, while Harrison of GB South East was one of the 70 to not finish the race.

Only 54 riders completed the event.

Mark Cavendish won the elite version in 2015.