ABERGAVENNY cycling star Becky James is determined to put a nightmare 12 months behind her and get back on the road to Rio in 2015.

James became a double world champion in 2013 but 2014 was a year to forget for the 23-year-old.

From the death of her grandmother in late February, to a scare over the health of her handicapped sister Bethan, life has been tough for James.

A knee injury disrupted her training from April onwards and eventually forced her out of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

On top of that there was a cancer scare to deal with as she underwent an operation in mid-May to remove abnormal cells discovered during a routine cervical smear test.

“I went in straight after the worlds [in February] and had a letter two and a half weeks later to say there was an abnormal smear,” James told the Guardian.

“The nurse drew me a scale from normal to cancer and I was ‘severe’. I completely didn’t expect that. The cells were severely abnormal, it was four weeks until the operation; it was the most stressful four weeks.

“I was on Google researching it. It was the worst idea. I lost a lot of sleep over it over it. It has a 100 per cent success rate but it’s normal to worry.”

On Glasgow 2014, she added: “I was devastated to pull out – I was so motivated after Delhi and the worlds, the Games was going to be a big step on the road to Rio.”

In October James had keyhole surgery on a chronic shoulder injury – lateral clavicle osteolysis – which has been traced back to an injury sustained in the gym when she was 16.

And she has spent the last three months off her bike treating her left knee at the English Institute of Sport rehabilitation centre at Bisham Abbey.

She will not ride in the world championships in Paris in February. “The worlds are out,” she said. “My season is completely gone.”

James hopes this period of rest will allow her body to recover fully before she starts the build-up to the 2016 OIympics in Rio.

“It’s all about Rio,” she said. “You can do it from a year out – if I can be in the right place in July next year, back on my bike, ready and qualified for the world cups next winter.

“It depends how long it will take me to get back. I can do it, I’m so determined. It has to be done.”