Australian builds bridges with Simon Jones as they look to the future
Image 1 of 5
Chloe Hosking (Australia)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Rachel Neylan and Chloe Hosking lead the Australian team during the ride(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Gracie Elvin, Rachel Neylan and Chloe Hosking (Australia) post-race(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Chloe Hosking (Alé Cipollini)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Chloe Hosking celebrates the win but would finish second after the photo finish(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Chloe Hosking is ready to put the episode involving her initial non-selection for the UCI Road World Championships to bed as she looks to the future and the Tokyo Games in 2020.
Hosking was initially left out of the Australian squad but won the right to compete after an appeal. Cycling Australia were allocated a quota of seven spots in the women's event but selected just five, citing sporting reasons. The decision not to send a full line-up to Bergen caused dismay and controversy, with both Hosking and Rachel Neylan filing successful appeals.
New Australian high-performance director Simon Jones admitted to Cyclingnews on the eve of the women's race that he would possibly have done things differently, but according to Hosking the pair have started to repair what looked on the outside as a troubling situation.
"I seem to get on with him quite well," Hosking told Cyclingnews after the women's road race. "I've only just met him really, but he seems to understand the Australian sense of humour and I've definitely not gone easy on him. I've made a few jokes, but he seems to take it all in his stride.
"I met with him and my coach as soon as the five were announced, and he talked me through what his plans were and it was probably the most positive meeting I've ever had with Cycling Australia in my career, but the principle was that we deserved to have seven riders and it sent the wrong message to female cyclist in Australia. But I'm looking forward to working with him in the lead up to Tokyo, and I think today was a step in the right direction for me as a rider."
Australia claimed a silver medal in the women's road race thanks to Katrin Garfoot's canny ride. The result will no doubt lift the pressure on the management, but for Hosking the reason for her appeal was due to principle.
"I'm really glad that I fought to be here, and I think that it made a real difference having seven riders. We would have loved to win but coming away with the silver is amazing. I think that the Aussie women really proved why we deserved to have seven women. At the start of the race I said that we were the strongest team after the Dutch, and I think that the results proved that. We tried to match them and we were the closet team to do that.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
"I just think that we deserved to have seven. They were filling a full men's team and we were ranked third in the world. I just thought that if we let this sit, then they'd do it more in the future. Maybe next year you pipe up and you say something, but they've already done it. I didn't want that precedent set."
Hosking said she also took action because she didn't want younger female riders to look at Cycling Australia's initial selection as acceptable. She picked Madeleine Fasnacht as an example – a junior rider who on a bronze in the time trial.
"We've got a young girl here, Maddie, and it's important for her to see that Cycling Australia is supporting the elite women and that they get the same opportunities as the men – that we got our full seven, and came out here and had a great race. It sort of justifies it."
More like Ina-Yoko Teutenberg
In terms of the road race in Bergen, Hosking admitted that the course had been too tough for her to be in contention at the finish. She was dropped in the latter stages and added that her earlier role had been to mark eventual winner Chantal Blaak.
However, Hosking's season has been one of success, and the last two years have seen her notch up a number of impressive victories. Still just 26, she his hoping to develop further has a rider and improve her overall skillset.
"At the end it was probably two hills too many for me, and I was really struggling on the second last lap," she said. "After that I never got back and that was a bit of a downer for the team, that I could stay there to help but I did a good job until that point and it was still better than if we'd had five riders.
"I want to change the sort of rider that I am. I want to turn into more of an Ina Teutenberg than just a sprinter, and that I lasted until two laps to go and a lot of the sprinter types were dropped before. That was a step in the right direction."
Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
