Bradshaw watched the 28-year-old claw her way to within nine seconds of victory in 135km Liège-Bastogne-Liège cycling classic in Belgium on Sunday night, her first appearance at the prestigious race.

Brown set off in pursuit of lone leader Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) on the final climb of the day and got within a handful of seconds of closing the gap before just running out of road.

The ride saw the Mitchelton-SCOTT team member claim her first podium on the women's World Tour in the oldest one-day race in the world.

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"It was outstanding," Bradshaw, who competed at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, said of Brown's performance.

"She has been gradually coming good. She has now been in the sport for five years and any endurance athlete can tell you it takes at least five years to start to show a bit of form.

"She has basically served her apprenticeship and is starting to get good results.

"Grace is improving each year and she will only get better. She is 28 and they say from 28-32 is suppose to be when endurance athletes and cyclists start to come good.

"If she hangs around that long. I think she is capable of doing anything. I haven't got a bad thing to say about her and no one can because she is a beauty."

Bradshaw says Brown reminds him of a former World Champion and Swiss legend.

"I have always compared her with the great Swiss Fabian Cancellara. He was a solid rider and he could win bike races," he said.

"I compare her style of racing to Cancellara. He was impossible to get back. Looking at last night her bike handling has improved out of sight.

"When she first started she didn't have many bike skills but she was awesome as she went through the streets last night and rode like a seasoned cyclist, which is great to see."

Bradshaw, who completed four Melbourne to Warrnambools including one podium, said Brown is edging closer to her first World Tour win.

But he added it would depend on the course.

"The next one is the Paris-Roubaix for the ladies and it will be depending how she handles the cobbles," he said.

"That is normally where the strong riders win. Obviously she is in good form but it also depends on the team."

This year will be the first time the women race Paris-Roubaix, a race Cancellara won on three occasions during his decorated career in 2006, '10 and '13. The historic race will take place on October 25.

Brown said she felt "bittersweet, but really excited to have my first WorldTour podium".

"It was a real time trial and I know that I'm a stronger time triallist than Lizzie Deignan, but it was hard when the majority of road left was downhill, you have to put out a lot of power to gain anything there," she said.

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