She is one of four nominees for female road cyclist of the year at the Australian Cycling Awards this week. "This year has just been a massive improvement," Spratt says. "I've gone from being in the top 30 in the world to consistently performing throughout the whole season and now I'm ranked fourth in the world and third in the world tour." Back home in Springwood, the 31-year-old has a mission during her off-season: she wants to encourage more women to take up cycling. As an ambassador for L'Etape, the Tour de France spin-off event in the Snowy Mountains on December 1, she recognises that new riders can find it intimidating heading out into traffic and riding in a bunch. Even getting a suitable bike, working out who to ride with and where to ride can be a challenge.

But Spratt believes cycling has the potential to be as popular as women's AFL, rugby union, rugby league, football and cricket have become in the past two years. Amanda Spratt finishes second at the Road Cycling World Championships in Austria in September. Credit:AP "I'm really passionate about trying to get more women on bikes and feeling comfortable in bunches and realising the social side of cycling," she says. "It's a great sport. "A lot of the time it can seem more male-dominated. It can be intimidating for anyone - more particularly a female - to go through the process of finding a bike and finding a group to ride with. "But once people do find that community, they realise it's very welcoming."

Growing up in the Blue Mountains, Spratt started riding a BMX at nine then took up road riding at 12 with encouragement from Penrith Cycling Club's program for junior riders. She puts her improvement this year down to maturity in a sport where women tend to reach their peak in their late twenties to mid thirties. "It's getting more mature and having consistency with racing and training and probably just being more confident in myself that I can do it," she says. "Also knowing the races and really preparing specifically. "I'm probably more relaxed than ever in the races as well; I know when I need to use my energy and when to save it." While agreeing with 2011 Tour de France champion Cadel Evans that Sydney traffic can be intimidating even for professionals, Spratt recommends new cyclists join early morning bunch rides or cycle at quieter venues such as Centennial Park and Penrith Lakes.

"A big step is visiting your local bike shop or finding out where your local club is based and getting in touch," she says. "Everyone has a Facebook page these days so you can always get on there and ask a question." Race director Florent Malezieux expects 13 per cent of the 3500 riders at L'Etape - a challenging 170km race and a less strenuous 108km ride - to be women this year. That's up from 10 per cent in 2016. "When you watch the Tour de France, there's only men so there's this thought that cycling is for males," he says. "But at the top level, women's cycling is getting bigger and attracting more attention. I hope now we'll see that trend in the amateur events."