Lauretta Hanson may not be a rider that draws widespread attention even though she is among the best in her domain, repeatedly having her tenure with one of the top women’s team’s, Lidl-Trek extended due to her ability to help the team add to its results tally. The wins she has worked toward with such success may not have, so far, been her own but after starting the season with clear signs of growing strength it looks like the valued domestique could be heading toward a new phase in her career.
Not that there will be any wholesale change for the 29-year-old Australian who is quick to emphasise that “getting the best results for Lidl-Trek is the priority of the season” but perhaps she could, at times, emerge as the rider who is chasing them.
“As a domestique I love helping my teammates to achieve the best results possible, and I really feel rewarded and recognised within Lidl-Trek,” Hanson told Cyclingnews as she discussed the year ahead while starting the season in Australia. “But I guess there’s still that little bit of a hunger in there to get my own results as well and it’s also about having the confidence and belief in yourself to take those chances.”
The season so far, has surely helped give her that, with the rider from regional Victoria having already signaled her growing strength as a potential contender. She started her season with a second place in the road race at the Australian National Championships – a race her mother Heather won in 1981 – and added another podium place at the Geelong Classic criterium before heading to Europe and then picking up an eighth at Omloop van het Hageland.
The Classics period, which recently got underway with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, is certainly an area where Hanson’s strength and speed at the end of a long, hard and selective race are a distinct advantage. It is, unsurprisingly, a part of the year that the rider has pinpointed.
“In terms of goals for the season, I want to be the best support I can be through the Classics and, take my chances as well if they come,” said Hanson.
It’s not that Lidl-Trek are short on potential winners, with riders like Elisa Longo Borghini, Lizzie Deignan, Gaia Realini, Shirin van Anrooij, Elisa Balsamo and Ellen van Dijk among Hanson’s teammates. If anything, they are light on dedicated domestiques, although no rider appears to consider themselves above slipping into a support role. So it is a clear sign of the respect for the continued growth of the rider…
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