Cyclist Gabriella Arnold has returned to the United States after winning one of Belize’s most prestigious races in record time.

Arnold won the women’s Belize Cross Country Road Race and she did it the hard way after breaking away from the pack and riding solo for more than 60 miles to claim victory and break the course record, which was set in 2007.

Her lung-bursting effort came with plenty of reward as she picked up plenty of financial rewards on the way to what she describes as one of the most satisfying wins of her career.

“This was definitely one of my more memorable wins and an effort that I feel really proud of,” Arnold said.

“I set some new PRs this weekend in terms of power and I felt really proud to break the course record. I ended up going solo for a lot longer than I anticipated or I wanted to.

“I went into it with the goal of making it really hard and I wanted to attack often as I really wanted to win all the station prizes. I went there to make as much money as possible and after the second station prize, I ended up getting off the front.”

It can be lonely making a long break for glory but Arnold was thankful to some local cycling fans, who she managed to co-opt into forming her support crew.

“In a regular race, I might have felt like I was really alone but I had three really kind people from Belize in my follow vehicle,” she said.

“All day long they were honking, giving me water, ice, time splits and they were just cheering me on all day. They were hyping me up all weekend and they really played a big role in helping me commit and making that solo move just enjoyable.”

Arnold is about to swing into the season with a new team after joining Velocio Exploro, an elite women’s gravel team, and she is excited after making the switch.

“This will be my first year riding with the team and they're an incredible group of women, strong and supportive,” she said.

“We had our first race together at Mid-South where I came seventeenth overall, which as a great result for me in the elite gravel field. It was a really strong start to my gravel season and I’m feeling good about this new team.”

It was a good week for Bermuda’s cyclists with Nicholas Narraway securing second place in Stage 2 of the Tour de Murrieta after an aggressive and tactically sharp ride.

Narraway was a constant presence at the front of the race and his efforts paid off as he accumulated points in the intermediate sprint competitions and claimed first place in the King of the Mountains (KOM) classification.