It seems that Australia suits Chloé Dygert, with the Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto rider cheerfully rocking up to another podium, all smiles at the Women’s Surf Coast Classic in Torquay after salvaging second on a day when she didn’t start out as the team's plan.
The North American is using this block as training for the bigger goals ahead, but even then, it’s yielding results, with her bunch sprint runner's up finish at the 1.1 race, following on from a stage 3 victory at the Tour Down Under and fourth at the Schwalbe Women’s One Day Classic in Adelaide. Dygert, who has had a long run of rocky seasons, is starting this one with some smooth sailing.
"I feel like this is the most consistent I've been in such a long time," said the former time trial world champion, who has undergone several surgeries on her leg after a brutal crash in 2020, a couple of cases of COVID-19, a bout of Epstein-Barr virus-induced fatigue and surgery to correct a heart arrhythmia in the last five years.
"I'm just happy to be healthy, and every day I'm seeing gains, and I think that's great for me, and I'm just continuing on training because the best is yet to come for the year."
Dygert hasn't been able to compete over a full season since she turned pro in 2020, having actually planned to come out to Australian races in 2024 before a 'minor injury' got in the way.
This time, however, Dygert started on a more optimistic note, which had already got going before the racing even began after her first healthy and injury-free winter in some time. She and her team are definitely making the most of it with the first, fourth and second place finishes in her last three days of racing, and she wasn’t even the rider the team they were looking to at the start of the day. The smooth sailing was largely confined to Dygert, with Neve Bradbury not starting and both Tiffany Cromwell and Maria Martins not finishing.
"The day was for Maike [van der Duin] but she had a little bad luck on the climb and kind of got caught out, so she had to chase a bit," said Dygert. "So we switched halfway through the race and sprinted for me. So yeah, luckily, I was in decent position up those little rollers where things were starting to go, and just kept myself there and stayed patient and just tried to go."
The speed that she delivered when she did go certainly fired another warning shot ahead of the 142km Women’s WorldTour Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, which faces much of the same terrain and many of the same challenges.
"That's probably the one I'm looking forward to," said Dygert.
As for what she took away from the race on Wednesday that may help her in three days' time Dygert said: "I think positioning, especially if the there's a lot of crosswinds and wind, I think we’ve got to make sure that we're smart and making the right decisions as a team, staying together and just making sure that we're safe. I guess that is the most important."
