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The weather was scorching but there was no holding back for the first stage of the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under as the sprinters wanted to keep the breaks at bay and grab the chance for a bunch finish while they could.
As spectators waited at the Gumeracha finish line, waiting for news of what was happening to filter through, there was word that Rachel Neylan (UniSA-Australia) had put in a break and pulled out a lead of about one and a half minutes. But the bunch wasn’t going to have that, with some teams eyeing the GC threat at the Australian tour and others the stage sprint.
There was an effort from Mitchelton-Scott and Wiggle High5 to pull Neylan back. It wasn’t in their interests to allow one of the most formidable teams in the peloton to run away with an early advantage. And the attempt to reel Neylan back in worked. Although a crash not long before the finish left some out of contention, but ultimately the team sprint trains formed at the end of the 115.7 kilometre stage.
Annette Edmondson (Wiggle High5)packed a powerful punch and made it over the line first, relishing the home-town victory. It was two-time world champion Giorgia Bronzini, in her first race with her new Cylance Pro Cycling squad, that managed to grab second. The youngest member of UniSA Australia, Lauretta Hanson took the final podium place.
And while it was a great start to the year of racing and the 2.1 classified tour for some, things weren’t smooth sailing for others. There were riders limping into the finish of the first stage of the South Australian tour sporting blood and scratches from a number of crashes.
Macey Stewart (Wiggle High5) and Molly Weaver (Trek-Drops) were among those who fell on the run into the line and as it was within the last 3 kilometres got given the same time as the bunch. Others didn’t make it at all. Some of the names on the DNF list included Rebecca Wiasak (Holden Team Gusto) who crashed, and Anna Trevisi (Ale-Cipollini), who looks like she may have succumbed to the heat with temperatures of 38°C.
Here’s the Stage 1 highlights video from the Santos Women’s Tour:
https://www.facebook.com/tourdownunder/videos/10160080850910160/
And we had photographer Tim Bardsley-Smith out there to capture all the action for this gallery:
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- The small town of Gumeracha hosted the start and finish.
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- Annemiek van Vleuten nursing the local wildlife.
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- Defending champion Amanda Spratt signs on.
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- The varied bikes of the UniSA Australia team, which is providing a home for top Aussie riders without teams, or whose teams aren’t coming out.
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- Carlee Taylor giving her home race one last shot.
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- The new Australian champion Shannon Malseed (Team Tibco-SVB), with a cobbled together jersey from the one she received at the podium presentation on Sunday. With the short lead time between her win and the start of the tour, time was a little short to get her new kit ready, so it was a matter of making do.
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- Off and racing.
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- The peloton stayed together most of the race.
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- One of the exceptions was at the QOM, with Sabrina Stultiens (Waowdeals Pro Cycling) taking the points. “It wasn’t the plan to go for it but I was riding in the front and someone attacked. I reacted and then I went over her and just kept going,” Stultiens told Ella CyclingTips.
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- Rachel Neylan also tried an attack but in the end it came down to a sprint.
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- The two-time world champion, Bronzini, delivered a second place finish for her first day racing with a new team. The rider who generally thrives in the heat said ”it was really nice to find myself after three days in Australia to be able to fight with Australians,” said Bronzini. One of those Australians was Hanson, who snuck over the line for third. Tiffany Cromwell “dropped me off perfectly. It would have been nice to have one more rider in there but you know for our first time riding together I think we did a really really good result,” said Hanson. “I can’t thank them enough for supporting me today and giving me the opportunity to go for podium,” added the 23 year old.
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- A win to celebrate for Edmondson.
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- Edmondson and the team were ecstatic with the hometown victory. The local knowledge “helped me a lot. It was really important we’ve done these roads so often,” said Edmondson. ”Definitely the finish, coming in here I know it like the back of my hands.”
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- Neylan’s effort in the heat clearly took it out of her.
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- It was a rare Santos Women’s Tour podium without Mitchelton-Scott, but there’s always tomorrow.
It’s a day for the climbers tomorrow, with a hilltop finish to the 101.2 kilometre stage which finishes at Mengler’s Hill.
Ella CyclingTips is on the ground covering the race so keep an eye on the Ella page, Ella CyclingTips Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for the latest news.
