Ally Wollaston wins Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race

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Ally Wollaston (FDJ-Suez) waited until the final metres to open her sprint to win the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race from a reduced bunch sprint in Geelong. The New Zealander claimed her first one-day WorldTour victory by a few bike lengths.

Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) was second and Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) took third from the 14-rider group.

With 300 metres to go, Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco) launched her sprint from the back of the lead group, and Wollaston responded immediately with an acceleration that no one could match. 

One of the pre-race favourites, Wollaston confidently spent most of the 120km race at the back of the peloton, avoiding the numerous crashes and trusting her teammates to control when needed. She moved into the top third of the field the first time up the Challambra Crescent climb and was in the whittled-down peloton on the second and final ascent. 

The final nine kilometres saw a flurry of attacks but all were shut down, some by Wollaston’s teammate Elise Chabbey, setting up a select group to battle for the victory. 

“I knew that what I had to do was to conserve all day,” said Wollaston who added that she “felt quite comfortable at the back” of the peloton. 

“I was really lucky that my teammates were strong enough to follow all the moves. But the first time up Challambra, I said to the girls, 'I feel super strong today', I was really surprised actually, that I could go over with the front group. So proud of the girls, they just went all in for me in the final.”

It was the second victory in four days for Wollaston who won the first 1.1 ranked Women's Surf Coast Classic in Torquay on Wednesday.

"This is actually my first one-day WorldTour win," said Wollaston. "I'm just so proud, and it's such a great such season. I can't wait to go over to Europe with these girls."

How it unfolded

A field of 81 riders from 14 teams lined up for the Women's Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, the first one-day race and second event of the Women’s WorldTour, following the Tour Down Under. Absent from the start in Geelong was Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), who was sidelined due to illness.

It may have been the cooler of the two days of weekend racing for the men and women, with Saturday’s race rolling out to an afternoon with a maximum of 27°C, but in the sun and on the road it was still warm. That meant some, like UAE Team ADQ, had the ice vests out and riders waiting for the start were spread out, finding a patch before the start line where trees provided some shelter from the sun.

The peloton stayed together for the first 62 kilometres, as they followed a clockwise direction, racing past the scenic Thirteenth Beach through Torquay and Bells Beach on their way to Moriac. As the first climb neared, the pace quickened, teams at the front, and the tension continued to build. 

The heat began to take its toll, as riders were pouring water over their head, and tucking ice socks down the backs of their jerseys to stay cool.

Kim Cadzow (EF Education-Oatly) launched the first two attacks, with the latter move causing a short lived 12-rider break which included Katia Ragusa (Human Powered Health), Nicole Steigenga (AG Insurance-Soudal), Maike van der Duin (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Eugénie Duval (FDJ-Suez), Kristyna Burlova (Ceratizit), Clara Copponi (Lidl-Trek), and Lauren Bates (Australia). UAE Team ADQ teammates Sofia Bertizzolo and Karlijn Swinkels and Liv AlUla Jayco duo of Josie Talbot and Ruby Roseman-Gannon also made the front group which was doomed by the lack of cooperation.

Cadzow’s teammate Babette van der Wolf took a solo flyer with 68 kilometres to go and was joined by Stine Dale (Coop Repsol) a few kilometres later.  

A series of crashes took down riders in the peloton. The first one involved Alyssa Polites and Maeve Plouffe, both of Australia team, Dominika Wlodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ), Alison Avoine (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93), Mara Roldan (Picnic PostNL) and Daniek Hengeveld (Ceratizit) who abandoned the race. In the chaotic aftermath, Sandra Alonso (Ceratizit) and Lidl-Trek teammates Lauretta Hanson and Isabel Sharp were embroiled in other crashes.

The Belgian team of AG Insurance-Soudal made the most of the crosswinds to put pressure on the peloton but a change of direction negated the dynamics.

Working well together, Van der Wolf and Dale built a maximum lead of 3:01 with 39km remaining before a charging peloton nibbled away over one minute at the bottom of the Challambra Crescent Climb. Dale pulled away from her breakaway companion and continued solo as Van der Wolf was reeled in by the FDJ-Suez-led peloton. 

Another crash took a few riders out of contention, including Ella Simpson (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93) and AG Insurance-Soudal teammates Steigenga and Justine Ghekiere who abandoned.

More brief attacks flew at the front the first time up Challambra from Henrietta Christie (EF Education-Oatly), Amber Pate (Liv AlUla Jayco) and Maike van der Duin (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) while riders were shelled off the back. 

With 19km to go Dale was back in the reduced peloton as Canyon-Sram continued to launch riders off the front, making it harder for teams to organise which would benefit their leader Chloe Dygert.

Chaos continued to reign as the group raced towards the second ascent of Challambra. A move by Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco) was quickly countered by Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) with nine kilometres to go, reducing the already whittled down peloton to around 12 riders.

Having missed the split, Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) was forced to chase with Amber Kraak (FDJ-Suez) and Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) on her wheel. Spratt bridged up to the group inside of three kilometres to go as more attacks continued to fly. 

Chabbey closed down the final attack by Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Uno-X) to secure the sprint finish from among the group, which her teammate dominated.

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