BEX Rimmington believes her excellent eighth place at the Tour of the Reservoir can be a springboard to success this season.

The East Lancashire rider impressed in difficult conditions over the weekend to record a fine finish in a field packed with British stars.

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Olympic champion on the track Dani King took the overall victory having won stage one on Saturday before finishing in third place on day two as another Team GB star, Joanna Rowsell, took the honours.

But Rimmington was in the mix on both occasions, finishing in the main bunch in the opening stage before placing fifth, just three seconds behind King and 25 seconds off Rowsell to complete a strong afternoon in the opening women’s national series race of the year.

And the Padiham star, who has joined the IKON-Mazda team for the 2015 season, hopes that her early season form can lead to a strong performance in this year’s series.

“I am taking each race as it comes but hopefully I can have a few good results over the next few races,” said Rimmington, who won the Tour of Northumberland earlier this month.

“It is a new team and it is only my second real season concentrating on the road so I am still learning.

“I was surprised with the result at the weekend because it was a really hard race.”

Rimmington admitted the awful conditions over the weekend in Northumberland played into her hands as several riders struggled with the cold.

She added: “A lot of the others had been racing away in Europe and my winter has been in Lancashire so perhaps that helped a little bit!

“It was a really hard race.

“On the second day I found myself surrounded by most of the Team GB pursuit squad and it was a case of seeing how well I could finish.

“On the last lap of the second stage a few of us got away on the climb with Joanna Rowsell and Nichola Juniper ahead.

“I was in a group with Dani King, Ciara Horne and Anna Christian. Then Ciara attacked and it was just three of us left with Dani and me.

“We were together coming into the finish but they just got away from me in the final few metres. I had nothing left but I was pleased with the result.”

Barnoldswick teenager Amy Gornall was also in the field and continued her strong start to the season with 15th place overall.

The 18-year-old riding for the Aprire Bicycles/HSS Hire team finished 15th on day two having crossed the line in the main field alongside Rimmington in the opening stage.

Both riders are slated to start the Cheshire Classic Women’s road race on April 26.

That race will include another stellar line up with Olympic gold medallists Laura Trott (Matrix Fitness Vulpine), Elinor Barker (Matrix Fitness Vulpine) and Joanna Rowsell (Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International) all in the field along with multi-paralympic gold medalist Dame Sarah Storey (Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International) and 2014 winner Katie Archibald (Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International).

The race starts at 9.30am in Northwich.