[2] The second place at the 1985 Vuelta came after losing the leader's jersey on the penultimate stage, in what is widely thought to have been collusion by the Spanish-speaking teams.

[1] She initially began riding for Glenmarnock Wheelers cycling club and quickly established herself as a leading amateur road racing rider.

Any hopes of a high placing in the tour General Classification ended on stage three when she crashed losing seventeen minutes.

11 July was that year's tour first mountainous race crossing the Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspin, and Peyresourde in the Pyrenees on stage ten.

York finished fourteenth overall, twenty-three minutes behind the winner, Laurent Fignon and sandwiched in between two riders who would figure prominently in her career, Stephen Roche in thirteenth and Delgado in fifteenth.

Two days later York finished second on a 64 km (40 mi) stage ending on Mont Ventoux putting her in the overall lead at that point.

She ended the race in sixth overall behind winner Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche, Bernard Hinault, Michel Laurent and Phil Anderson.

Raced in Barcelona, York finished sixth with winner Claude Criquielion, Claudio Corti and Steve Bauer taking the podium places.

[14] In the television documentary on the career of Robert Millar, "The High Life", York criticised Berland for his handling of the situation on the road when Delgado attacked, stating that Berland had been unable to negotiate support from other non-Spanish speaking teams during the stage to give York the required support to chase down Delgado's lead.

Earlier that year, York had come sixth once more in the early season Paris–Nice, with Kelly again winning in his run of seven successive victories in the event.

In September, York was overall winner of the Volta a Catalunya, taking the leader's jersey on the penultimate stage, a 22 km (14 mi) individual time trial at Tortosa.

York was sixth in two races won by Stephen Roche, the Tour Midi-Pyrénées – now known as the Route du Sud – and the Critérium International.

The race provided high drama due to the controversy between two riders on the same Carrera team, Roberto Visentini and Roche.

[17] The two teammates battled each other, but the presence of York and her own Panasonic team-mate, Erik Breukink, challenging for the race made this risky.

The result moved her up to second overall and gave Roche the win as Visentini fell, broke his wrist and lost six more minutes on what was to be his last day in the race.

York was sixth in the Tour of the Mediterranean (Gerrit Solleveld won) and seventh in the Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme behind winner Vicent Belda.

In sprinting uphill to the finish with Phillipe Bouvatier, both riders mistook a gendarme's signals, took a wrong turn and ceded the win to Massimo Ghirotto.

High placings that year were second in the Bicicleta Vasca included third in each of the Critérium International and the Route de Sud (Ronan Pensec won).

York returned to one of her previous teams, Z–Peugeot as it was now known and was second overall behind Mottet after winning stage seven in the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré.

Charly Mottet was dropped from the three-person group approaching the finish leaving York to out sprint Delgado at the line.

In the autumn York was overall winner in the Tour of Britain with her decisive move coming in a long two-person breakaway with Mauro Gianetti into Cardiff.

Other top ten placings included eighth in the Tour de Vaucluse (Rooks won) and ninth in the Grand Prix of the Americas.

In the Tour de France York rode as part of the team intended to support the previous year's winner and reigning world champion, Greg LeMond.

Other placings in the top ten that year included fourth in the Vuelta a Andalucía and ninth in La Flèche Wallonne.

In a time when doping was common and bans shorter, York tested positive for testosterone after a stage of the Vuelta a España, in 1992.

[20] In the final years of her career, she achieved top ten finishes in the Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme, Giro del Piemonti and Liege – Bastogne–Liege (all in 1992), and the Classiques des Alpes and the Midi Libre (both in 1993).

A one-hour Granada Television documentary about York's 1985 racing season, entitled The High Life, which also included appearances by Allan Peiper and music by Steve Winwood, was screened in Britain on the eve of the 1986 Tour de France.

Robert Millar – The High Life was rediscovered and screened, simultaneously with the release of the book, at Edinburgh Bike Week Film Festival on 26 June 2007.

[27] In June 2021, a large mural was created by artist Rogue-One on a gable wall in Lennoxtown, Scotland depicting an image of York as Robert Millar in the polka-dot jersey; the building is located at the edge of the Campsie Fells where she trained as a cyclist specialising in hill-climbing.

Gratifyingly, times have moved on from ten years ago when my family, friends and I were subjected to the archaic views and prejudice that some people and certain sections of the tabloid media held ...