APPLEBY’S Henrietta Colborne admitted team orders came first after she finished third in the Prudential RideLondon Youth Grand Prix to help the North West girls’ squad to victory.

The 16-year-old was one of just 43 talented young cyclists picked to contest the Youth Grand Prix on Saturday in front of thousands of cycling fans who lined the route in support in the capital.

The 45-minute race followed a 1.3-mile loop around St James’s Park and Buckingham Palace and saw 12 teams from regions across the UK compete for a £4,250 pool of prize money.

It was also the same route followed by some of the world’s best females just minutes earlier, including world champion Marianne Vos and double Olympic champion Laura Trott for the women’s Grand Prix.

And Colborne, whose third-place efforts earned her North West team £500 in prize money, insists her competitive outing on closed roads around London had been an experience to savour.

“A third-place finish feels great especially after such a tough race and it was a bit of a mad gallop up the finishing straight,” she said.

“I haven’t really done an event like that before so it was a great experience for me to go out there in front of that crowd and on those roads and race.

“I didn’t really expect to finish so high but it was always the plan to go for the team prize and try and finish as high as possible.

“So the individual prizes were really all about trying to consolidate the team prize and that was what was most important for us, so we are really happy.”

And Colborne, a pupil at Appleby Grammar School, says the chance to ride the same route as some of her cycling heroes would be something she’ll never forget.

“It was pretty inspirational to be out there on the same roads as some of the best riders in the world,” she added. “To have them at the same event added to the atmosphere and it made it really good fun.

“It’s good to be involved in cycling at the moment and it’s really nice to see it growing so much and getting bigger and bigger. It was a little bit surreal to see Buckingham Palace and hear the crowd.

“I don’t really live in a crowded place and London is kind of like the opposite of where I live so it’s nice to see everyone getting behind the sport.

“It would be nice to make a living out of cycling and stay on this path and hopefully one day follow in the footsteps of people like Laura Trott and Lizzie Armitstead.”

Prudential RideLondon took place on August 9 and 10. To find out more, visit www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk