The weekend brings the final international events of the Australian road racing summer – the 143km Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race on Saturday and the 176.5km Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race on Sunday.
Both races take place in Geelong, the host town of the 2010 World Championships, just outside Melbourne and 700km south of the Tour Down Under base city of Adelaide.
The pair of one-day races, run since 2015 for the men and 2016 for the men, offer a last chance at success down under for the European teams and riders who have flown across the world to kick off their season before taking the long trip back to racing in Spain, Italy, Belgium, and France.
Both races have seen varied winners since their inception, from sprinters such as Marius Mayrhofer, Chloe Hosking and Elia Viviani, to attackers including Annemiek van Vleuten, Dries Devenyns and Amanda Spratt.
The weekend is set to bring another clash of styles on the predominantly flat courses, so we’ve scoured the startlists to find 10 riders to watch at the Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race and Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
Amanda Spratt is impossible to leave off a contenders list for the Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race, given her history of results. Spratt was second in 2023, third in both 2020 and 2019, and she took victory in 2016 at the first time of asking at the one-day race, when it was still a 1.2 event.
She comes into the race after a solid Tour Down Under performance where she finished in the top ten of each of the three stages but wasn’t as successful as last season, where only Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez) could best her. Spratt finished fourth overall.
Her talents don’t suit the mainly flatter 143km route, but steep inclines in the final 40km offer Spratt a place to animate the race. Backed by a strong Lidl-Trek outfit that includes Brodie Chapman – who could also challenge for the win – Spratt will want to attack away on one of the inclines. After losing the two-up sprint to Loes Adegeest last season, expect Spratt to light the race up over one of the two ascents up Challambra Crescent (1.1km at 8.5%) to distance the faster finishers. (JM)
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