Competing as an amateur rider with a full time job, BRC's Eileen Burns has stepped up to face the best pros in the sport at the World Championships.

Burns was Ireland’s sole representative in the elite women’s TT in the Bergen this afternoon.

She finished in 40th place in the race for the rainbow bands won by Annemiek Van Vleuten from the Netherlands.

The winner’s compatriot Anna Van Der Breggen was 2nd today. And Australia’s Katrin Garfoot rounded off the podium with bronze.

But for a rider like Burns who works full time; even getting to this level is a remarkable achievement.

And now that she has had a taste of the highest level she has wondered aloud what it might be like to go full-time for a period in pursuit of a big goal.

"It was good to compete against professional riders, and I feel I can give so much more,” she said after her test in Bergen.

"I’d love to get selected for the Commonwealth Games next year, and see if I took time off work to train where it would take me.

"I work as an occupational therapist, so am on annual leave at the moment; I’ll be back in work on Thursday.”

Now having made her Worlds debut and, at the age of 28 years, with many of her best years to come, we will very likely see Burns again on this stage.

She said she was determined for her ride to go smoothly today and to give the best account of herself possible.

"It’s my first World Championships, I crashed in Denmark at the European Championships so I really wanted to do well today and give my best performance,” she said.

"I know I’m competing against the best in the world, but I wasn’t daunted out there.

"Once you’re off the ramp you could be anywhere in the world. I don’t think about anyone else – you’re on your own, and race your own race.”

And in a reflection of the camaraderie and professionalism in the Team Ireland camp, Eileen Burns said U23 rider Michael O’Loughlin had really helped her today in guiding her through the course via her radio.

"It was great having Michael on the radio,” she said of the Carrick-on-Suir man who rode the U23 TT yesterday.

"He wrote notes for me beforehand, and he told me where it was safe to put the power down.

"Because he was feeding that to me I felt safe when I put on the pressure.

"There was a bit of everything today – the longest climb was a kilometre long with some fast, flowing descents.

"There were two underground tunnels that you descended into, as well as two 180 degree turns and a cobbled section. And the crowds were class.”

The Ballymena Road Club rider was 4:12 off the winner’s time over the 21.1km undulating course today.

Tues, Sept 19th: Elite Women TT (21.1km)

1 Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) 0:28:50
2 Anna van Der Breggen (Netherlands) 0:00:12
3 Katrin Garfoot (Australia) 0:00:19
4 Chloe Dygert (United States) 0:00:38
5 Ellen van Dijk (Netherlands) 0:00:52
6 Linda Villumsen (New Zealand) 0:00:56
7 Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (South Africa) 0:01:19
8 Lauren Stephens (United States) 0:01:20
9 Hannah Barnes (Great Britain) 0:01:23
10 Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Denmark) 0:01:34
11 Amber Neben (United States) 0:01:42
12 Lisa Brennauer (Germany) 0:01:48
13 Audrey Cordon Ragot (France) 0:01:51
14 Pernille Mathiesen (Denmark) 0:02:02
15 Juliette Labous (France) 0:02:02
16 Ann-Sophie Duyck (Belgium) 0:02:03
17 Trixi Worrack (Germany) 0:02:04
18 Elisa Longo Borghini (Italy) 0:02:08
19 Elinor Barker (Great Britain) 0:02:10
20 Lotta Pauliina Lepisto (Finland) 0:02:14
21 Karol-Ann Canuel (Canada) 0:02:19
22 Eri Yonamine (Japan) 0:02:29
23 Olga Zabelinskaya (Russian Federation) 0:02:31
24 Lisa Morzenti (Italy) 0:02:31
25 Tayler Wiles (United States) 0:02:47
26 Ramona Forchini (Switzerland) 0:02:47
27 Ana Cristina Sanabria Sanchez (Colombia) 0:02:51
28 Antri Christoforou (Cyprus) 0:02:52
29 Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) 0:02:59
30 Martina Ritter (Austria) 0:03:02
31 Vita Heine (Norway) 0:03:05
32 Olena Pavlukhina (Azerbaijan) 0:03:09
33 Olga Shekel (Ukraine) 0:03:29
34 Rotem Gafinovitz (Israel) 0:03:30
35 Sari Saarelainen (Finland) 0:03:44
36 Aurela Nerlo (Poland) 0:03:51
37 Ksenia Tcymbaliuk (Russian Federation) 0:03:54
38 Omer Shapira (Israel) 0:03:57
39 Thea Thorsen (Norway) 0:04:01
40 Eileen Burns (Ireland) 0:04:12
41 Daiva Tuslaite (Lithuania) 0:04:19
42 Lourdes Oyarbide Jimenez (Spain) 0:04:21
43 Varvara Fasoi (Greece) 0:04:28
44 Yumi Kajihara (Japan) 0:04:53
45 Aurelie Halbwachs (Mauritius) 0:05:02
46 Brenda Santoyo Perez (Mexico) 0:05:10
47 Eyeru Tesfoam Gebru (Ethiopia) 0:05:10
48 Yao Pang (Hong Kong, China) 0:05:17
49 Eleni Michalista Tsavari (Greece) 0:05:19
50 Aranza Valentina Villalon Sanchez (Chile) 0:05:32
51 Qianyu Yang (Hong Kong, China) 0:05:41
52 Selam Amha Gerefiel (Ethiopia) 0:06:33
53 Justina Jovaisyte (Lithuania) 0:06:43
54 Jer Ling Serene Lee (Singapore) 0:07:26