UCI World Cycling Championships: Neah Evans' route from reluctant cyclist to world champion

Neah Evans has an apology to make. "Sorry Dad," she says, with a laugh. Without father Malcolm's persistence in urging her to get on a bike, she would not have become a world champion.

Evans was a latecomer to the velodrome. She was a horse rider and hill runner before and worked as a vet. But eventually taking up cycling as a student changed her life.

"My dad has always cycled," Evans told BBC Scotland. "When I was hill running he said: 'You'd be better at cycling than running.'

"But I was like: 'Whatever dad, I don't care, I don't like cycling.' And somewhat ironically I'm now a professional cyclist."

And a good one at that. At 26 she stopped working as a vet to become a full-time athlete, having balanced both for a while, and six years later she has national, European, world, and Olympic medals.

The crowning moment so far came at the World Championships in Paris last October, when Evans sprinted to a thrilling points race gold.

• Evans feels added pressure to defend title

It was her first global gold medal in an individual event. In cycling, the extra reward is you get to wear the famous rainbow jersey when you race for the rest of the season, to signify your status as reigning champion.

For Evans, the novelty is yet to wear off. "Every time you go 'oh' and find yourself with an extra smile," she says, grinning.

So how has Evans managed to break the mould and enjoy such success despite having such a short professional career?

Natural fitness and talent - mum Ros competed in cross-country skiing at the 1984 Winter Olympics - has run alongside hard work and a calm determination, fuelled by a healthy dose of perspective.

"I know how hard I train and how much time and effort I've put into it," Evans says. "I think: 'If I've done all this, I've got to be fairly good.' And then you get on the start line and you think: 'I can beat these people.'

"I really did think it would just be a year or two and then I'd be found out as not being good enough and I'd go back to having a proper job. But I'm still winging it - so long may it continue."

There is plenty more Evans wants to achieve, starting with defending her world title in Glasgow this August. The chance to do so in front of a home crowd is even more mouth-watering for the Scot.

At the same time, she admits it brings more pressure than she's ever faced before. Then there is the biggest goal of all, the Paris Olympics next summer and a potential tilt at madison gold with her friend Katie Archibald.

Those are the things Evans has in mind whenever she pauses to reflect on everything she has achieved in just six years.

"I don't do it too often because I very much feel I'm on the up," she says. "I'm still developing and have so much more I want to achieve.

"So as much as I do take little moments and go 'I have achieved a lot over a short space of time', I don't feel I'm finished by any stretch of the imagination. So I'm not ready to sum up what I've done."

If Evans' results keep trending upwards, it could be a very special career to reflect on.