Matilda Raynolds won the final stage of the Citroën Bay Crits in the Australian city of Geelong after taking flight on the final corner from a group of four that had lapped the field while teammate Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Bayside Citroën), who had an insurmountable lead coming into the final stage, claimed the yellow jersey of the overall race leader for a second year running.
Italian rider Valentina Scandolara – who has long been a regular at the Australian racing – came second in the final stage of the race while Tilly Field (Roxsolt Liv SRAM) swept up third and the final member of the group, Alisha Wells (ARA Skip Capital) took fourth in what turned out to be a tactical finale, with the rest of the field pulled and the break riders left out there alone for the final three laps to decide the podium.
It was, without doubt the slowest three laps of the race, with a tactical game more familiar to track racing than a crit playing out until the very last corner when Raynolds, who is still looking for a team for this year to race in Europe, took “a flyer”.
“There were points there I could feel it overcoming me because I’ve had so many thirds and seconds that I just really needed the win today and obviously that added pressure, with wanting a team for 2023, but I just actually stopped myself and just said go with your gut, it rarely lets me down,” Raynolds told Cyclingnews.
“I’ve never been in a situation like that and to have Scandolara there who is just so experienced and the girls have a really good snap in them, so I knew I had to go long. I whacked them before the corner, stayed last wheel – I’ve never done anything like that before and I just had to back myself.”
The result was that the composite Bayside Citroën team walked away with stage and overall victory and teammate Georgia Baker also came second on the overall, although it was clear coming into the stage that no one was in a position to challenge Roseman-Gannon’s top spot.
More to come ….
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