Sharon Laws Cyclist
Sharon Laws (born 7 July 1974) is a British professional cyclist, riding for AA Drink–leontien. nl as of 2012. She is an environmental advisor for the mining company, Rio Tinto, in Australia. She was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and has lived in Uganda, South Africa, Zimbabwe and the UK. Laws previously competed in adventure racing and endurance mountain biking. She won the eight-day Cape Epic mountain-bike race in South Africa in 2004. She began riding on the road to train for mountain biking and her form on the road was confirmed when she moved to Australia. She was approached to ride for Australia after coming second in the national championship in Ballarat, but the British official, Dave Brailsford, signed her for Team Halfords Bikehut. Her first victory in the team came was the Cheshire Classic stage race, which she won after coming second on the first and second stages. She got in the break on the first day in the Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin but eased up on team orders to let Nicole Cooke catch the leaders. Cooke won the stage with Laws fifth. Laws crashed on the fifth stage but rejoined the peloton after a long chase. Her elbow needed a stitch but she could continue racing. She finished sixth overall. Her addition to the British team, which included Cooke and Emma Pooley, was expected to improve chances of a medal in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing but Laws crashed twice and came 35th of 62 finishers. Later in 2008 she won the British National Time Trial Championships.
