Dominique Mayho felt that he proved something to himself after placing 35th at the Pan American Road Cycling Championships in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, at the weekend.

Mayho, racing in the senior race for the first time, achieved his sole objective of completing the 170-kilometres race and said he could take plenty of encouragement from his performance.

He competed in the under-23 division at the 2014 championships in Puebla, Mexico, but was pulled from the race by officials before he was lapped.

“I’m really happy with my performance,” he said. “Now I know I can compete at this level.

“The race started pretty fast with tons of attacks. At the beginning of the second lap I tried to get off the front but it came to nothing. For about the first two hours I was trying to get in a breakaway, but I realised that the group was not letting anyone go.”

Mayho had to contend with “brutal” 90-degree heat during the race — a far cry from the 40-degree temperatures he has been used to Belgium where he competes for top amateur team Asfra Racing Team Oudenaarde.

“The heat got to me,” Mayho said. “I’m not used to the heat as I’ve been in Belgium for a month so coming here in the low 90s made for a brutal race.

“With about 30 kilometres to go I started to cramp a bit. On the last lap both of my legs were locking up and I was just trying to get to the finish line. I just gave everything I had left to move up in the group.”

The 23-year-old will now turn his attentions to the NatWest Island Games in Gotland, Sweden, next month.