Tiffany Cromwell (Honda) was aggressive at the front in the early part of the race. (Image credit: CJ Farquharson/WomensCycling.net)
Tiffany Cromwell (Honda) scrored a solo victory in Portarlington(Image credit: CJ Farquharson/WomensCycling.net)
Tiffany Cromwell is hoping that a mid-season move to Norweigan outfit Hitec Products-UCK will bring the turn-around she has been craving, following the announcement that the Australian has prematurely ended her contract with Lotto-Honda.
Speaking to Cyclingnews from Spain's Basque Country where she was doing a photo shoot for Specialized, the 22-year-old explained that the move to Hitec Products-UCK has been relatively quick, as opposed to the lingering feeling that Belgian team wasn't the right fit.
Cromwell received an offer while in Milan for the final day of the Giro d'Italia, where she was supporting boyfriend, Richie Porte.
"I had some ups and downs I wasn't motivated," she revealed. "I had some bad luck in races too. It was the first time I'd really thought about hanging up the bike – it wasn't fun."
With just 10 days of racing since she arrived in Europe in February, Cromwell was frustrated. The year had started well, winning the second stage of the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic in Portarlington but a mix of injury, illness, bad luck and lack of opportunity stifled the season.
"There were going to be opportunities on this team [Lotto-Honda], we had a sprinter n Rochelle [Gilmore] but we didn't really have a GC rider," Cromwell explained, a position she believed she could fill.
"I didn't get to race in any of the big races which I had big goals for like Tour of Flanders. I wasn't able to get a Visa for China - it would have meant a month and a half without racing and then there was Spain this weekend and I got pulled out of that race," she continued. "There was just a lot of miscommunication on both myself and the manager's behalf – it's always hard because his English isn't fantastic and I have no idea with Flemish."
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Cromwell will head to Norway this weekend to meet with her new team which said via statement that: "We are sure she will strengthen our team in the hard race programme that we are expecting in the near future."
Cromwell's next race will be the Giro del Trentino Alto Adige – Südtirol which starts June 17.
As a sports journalist and producer since 1997, Jane has covered Olympic and Commonwealth Games, rugby league, motorsport, cricket, surfing, triathlon, rugby union, and golf for print, radio, television and online. However her enduring passion has been cycling.
Jane is a former Australian Editor of Cyclingnews from 2011 to 2013 and continues to freelance within the cycling industry.
