WORCESTERSHIRE cyclist Tracy Moseley secured a hat-trick of Enduro World Series championships with her third consecutive title.

The Malvern mountain biker followed up successes in 2013 and 2014 by winning the last of the season’s eight events at Finale Ligure, Italy.

But the 36-year-old, who rides for Trek Factory Racing, will not compete for the 2016 title, although she refused to rule out tackling some of the rounds.

Moseley, who was women’s downhill mountain bike racing world champion in 2010, went to Italy with a comfortable lead, having won all but one of the rounds.

Her season from March took in Rotorua, New Zealand; County Wicklow, Ireland; Tweed Valley, Scotland; Samoëns, France; Crested Butte, USA; Whistler, Canada, and Aínsa-Sobrarbe, Spain.

Enduro biking requires competitors to race on roads, in woods, over tree roots, mud and dust, on snow and in rivers, with the Italian heat ending on a beach.

The bikers have raced frequently at altitude as well as in thunderstorms and floods in the demanding sport.

There was an emotional moment for T-Mo, as Moseley is known in mountain biking, when announcing she would not defend her title in 2016.

She said: “I’ll always be a bike racer and I still want to race but perhaps not in all the events.

“I want to be at races, be involved in the biking industry and to play a part in the continued development of enduro racing but I won’t be defending the title again.

“The last three years have been amazing and a lot of fun but it’s time to step down and let the younger ones come through and realise their aspirations.”

On day one at Finale Ligure, competitors covered 59 kilometres with a 2,283-metre climb within an allotted time.

The 2,296m descent was in four sections against the clock and over varying terrain.

Day two brought similar challenges, with the riders on their bikes for around five testing hours each day.