Amanda Miller scrapped with a Belgian, passing her on the bike and then losing the spot on Valkenburg’s big run-up. She rode in fifth, then fourth, then back into fifth before the two crossed the line of the season’s second cyclocross World Cup for the final time.

Miller didn’t know whom she was racing, not until after the finish and a shower. She didn’t know her fight was with Sanne Cant, one of the world’s best cyclocrossers, the current Belgian national champion, and a perennial contender for the world title.

The Iowa native’s finish was confirmation that a recent push back toward cyclocross could pay off. It was an eye-opener, too, showing just how far her legs might take her this season.

“A podium at worlds is becoming a more realistic goal,” she said, sitting in a Boulder, Colorado coffee shop the week after her best-ever World Cup result. “Now that I’ve gotten my feet wet over there, and seen that I can be up there fighting for the win, it’s opened my eyes to some new goals.”

Miller, 28, is no stranger to the front of races. In 2010 she moved from a successful collegiate career, as so many pro women do, straight into the top echelons of European road racing.