ABI SMITH enjoyed the perfect homecoming as she commandingly won the women’s Ryedale Grasscrete Grand Prix.

The Clifton Cycling Club product clocked 3:01:04 in this season’s penultimate British Cycling National Road Race Series event, finishing 44 seconds in front of second-placed Mary Wilkinson.

Smith, riding for the EF Education-TIBCO-SVB team, and the rest of the field began from Ampleforth Abbey before heading towards Yearsley Bank.

After two steady laps, the 20-year-old attacked through the feed zone in the grounds of the Abbey, a lead she was unable to maintain for a sustained period, though it provided a warning side to the peloton.

CAMS-Basso’s Emma Matthews was the next to make her move, opening up a 30-second gap which she could only hold onto until the penultimate lap.

Smith made her race-winning charge on the final lap, arriving at the Abbey’s grounds with no other riders in sight, and completing the ideal return to North Yorkshire after representing Team England at the Commonwealth Games earlier this month.

The Oswaldkirk ace finished in the top 20 of the time trial on her Commonwealth Games debut in Birmingham.

Meanwhile, Alexandar Richardson has won the men’s Ryedale Grasscrete Grand Prix.

Richardson crossed the winning line in 3:57:38, finishing 1:48 ahead of fellow Saint Piran team-mate Jack Rootkin-Gray.

Jacob Scott of the WiV Sungod team finished third while Finn Crockett and Harry Birchill, representing Ribble Weldtite Pro Cycling and Saint Piran respectively, made up the rest of the top five.