In the wake of Rebecca Romero and Shanaze Reade comes Sharon Laws, the latest of British cycling's gems. Competing in the Beijing Olympics was the last thing on Laws's mind at the start of this year, but in the past five months she has been catapulted towards probable selection by Team GB for the women's road race, alongside Nicole Cooke and Emma Pooley.

Laws's quantum leap, from adventure racing anonymity to road racing fame, is another example of Team GB's ability to transform rough diamonds into world-beaters. Until this spring, the 33-year-old was racing in her spare time, on and off-road, while working in Australia as an environmental adviser for Rio Tinto Zinc, the mining and exploration company. Her greatest success had been in the eight-day Cape Epic mountain-bike race in South Africa in 2004.

But in January, she lined up for the Australian National Championships in Ballarat and, in only her eighth road race, placed second behind Oenone Wood, who was fourth in the road race in Athens. More importantly, she left Wood's compatriot, Sara Carrigan, the Olympic road race champion, trailing in her wake.

Despite that result, Laws admitted that she felt out of her depth. “I had never ridden with such a large peloton or any of these girls before, so I had no yardstick,” she said. “I knew their names but I didn't know any faces. I tried to look at some pictures, but couldn't remember them all so I had to write their initials down my arm.”

Laws, who holds a British passport and who had been living in Australia on a temporary visa, wondered if her result might get her noticed. Within hours, her phone was buzzing with messages from the British and Australian cycling federations and she soon found herself in the middle of a tug-of-war between the nations.

Not for the first time, the persuasive powers of Team GB's performance director, David Brailsford, frustrated the hopes of his Antipodean rivals, even though Laws confessed that she did not know much about British cycling until then.

“I'd heard of Nicole [Cooke] and I did a bit of research on the internet,” she said. In April, Laws joined forces with Cooke at the British Cycling-supported Halfords-Bikehut team, who form the backbone of the Team GB women's squad.

She played a key support role to the Welsh rider in the ten-day Tour de l'Aude, finishing sixth, and then followed in the footsteps of Romero, the world track pursuit champion and former Olympic rower, by winning the national 25-mile time-trial title on what was effectively her individual time-trial debut.

Team GB now have a women's road team to match the outstanding track talents of Romero and Victoria Pendleton, with the added advantage that Cooke, Laws and Pooley have trained and raced together.

Supported by an understanding employer, who as a keen cyclist has happily granted her a sabbatical, Laws is now seemingly guaranteed a place in Beijing. “Great Britain now has the potential to be one of the strongest teams on the start line in Beijing,” Brailsford said. “Should Sharon get that third berth it would put the team in a very strong position compared to squads that only come together just before the Olympics.”