Bradford's Yvonne McGregor today told of her Olympic agony in the women's road race.

The 39-year-old, who now lives in Cheshire, called the race in Sydney "a miserable affair with the atrocious weather".

As the team arrived back at Heathrow today, she told the Telegraph & Argus: "The rain started about 45 minutes into the race and gradually worsened, and the temperature dropped markedly with it.

"My biggest handicap was the rain because I wear contact lenses.

"I was getting so much grit in both eyes that at times I was riding blind and in agony, which is why I had to sit at the back of the bunch so much because I would have been a liability in the bunch.

"Eventually I had to dislodge a lens to make it more comfortable.

"I had actually had problems the day before with the same thing, and was diagnosed as having small ulcerations on my cornea caused by grit, so the weather on race day just worsened the situation."

Added McGregor, who had earlier won a bronze medal in the women's 3,000m individual pursuit: "The road race was always destined to be a bunch finish, though most people felt it would be a smaller bunch at the end.

"There were two or three crashes, which are part and parcel of road racing, but we managed to avoid the mayhem.

"I punctured my front wheel on the fourth lap and lost around 30 to 40 seconds and had to ride really hard, but controlled, for three to four miles, but once I got back on I was able to sit in and recover a bit."

McGregor was 24th with fellow Britons Ceris Gilfillan 27th and Sara Symington tenth.

Mcgregor and Gilfillan then completed their Olympics by competing in the time trial.

Yvonne added: "Ceris was our No 1 for the time trial, and the decision on the second rider was made after the road race in a meeting between Ken (our national coach), Sara and myself.

"I was quite easy whichever way the decision went, but Sara felt she was not up to doing herself justice. She had been on antibiotics for 12 days with a sore throat and swollen glands, and it was felt I had the best form, though I was quite tired."

In the event, Gilfillan was 14th and McGregor 17th.