A 35-year-old University of Cambridge graduate has downed tools at her job in the pharmaceutical industry to represent Great Britain at the ongoing UCI World Road Championships in Doha, Qatar.

Laura Massey, who graduated from Clare College in 2001 with an MA in Biological Anthropology, has taken a six-month sabbatical from her role at a pharmaceutical consultancy to take up professional cycling. She will be supporting Lizzie Deignan (formerly Armitstead) in Qatar this Saturday 15th October.

At an age when most would have given up hope, Massey has joined a professional team for the very first time in her career, having won the British Masters Road Race last year and finishing in the top ten of the Tour of Czech Republic this season.

Speaking to Cambridge News, the Guildford-born cyclist said: "These six months have given me a great time in my life to have lived the pro cycling life and travelling with the team to amazing places against the best in the world and now I'm going to the worlds, so I must be doing something right."

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Massey, who has spent time living in Ireland and Malaysia, has taken a circuitous route into cycling, having spent most of her spare time while studying at Cambridge on the river.

After rowing at stroke for Clare I in the Lent and May Bumps of 2005 (almost winning Blades in the former), she represented the Cambridge ’99 rowing club after graduating, before joining the Cambridge Cycling Club and the Cambridge Triathlon Club.  

The transition from rowing to cycling was not straightforward.  She explained: "I'd go out with one on a Saturday and the other on a Sunday, so you've got two group rides at the weekend, and during the week there were chain gangs in the summer so it was easy to get involved and if you're just doing that, it's still three or four sessions a week."

A strong performance at July’s Women’s Tour of Thuringia, where Massey finished in 33rd place out of 116 competitors, put her in contention to represent Great Britain at the Road Race World Championships later in the year.

But, as Massey told the BBC, she was never going to take anything for granted: "When I heard about the Worlds I didn't at first think I would necessarily get selected because of the nature of the course."

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But now that she has been, there is a good chance that the former rower and triathlete could make a name for herself and her team – who are completely new to the UCI circuit – this weekend in Doha.

"I've improved a lot as a bike rider,” she said, “seeing how the professional peloton works, the race tactics and bike handling, all the extra bits on top of the fitness. Once you get to that level, everyone is pretty similar in terms of ability and fitness. It's more the tactics, the skill and the confidence that make the difference.”