Katrin Garfoot and Amanda Spratt go 1-2 in the women’s road race
Win completes time trial, road race double for Garfoot
ORICA-SCOTT women take clean sweep of women’s championships
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ORICA-SCOTT women have completed the clean sweep at the Australian Championships after Katrin Garfoot claimed the elite road race in Buninyong today.
The result completed the double for Garfoot following her victory in the time trial on Thursday. 23-year-old teammate Jessica Allen started the championships with a win in the criterium on Wednesday.
Garfoot arrived at the finish line alongside teammate Amanda Spratt, having worked together to break away from a small group on the eighth of 10 gruelling laps of the 10.2km course, before going head-to-head in a sprint finish.
“It feels really good,” the 35-year-old said. “I have wanted this for years now and the double was also a dream coming into it.”
“Spratty made the call that we worked together to make sure we stayed away and wait until the sprint. My plan was to be on her wheel coming in with one kilometre to go and then hit her but of course she is too smart for that.
“She had me at the front and I knew it was the same scenario as last year with Ruth (Corset) so I kept watching her shadow. I couldn’t wait for her to get the jump on me, so I tried to leave it as late as possible but I had to get the jump on her.”
Spratt, a former two-time winner, was thrilled for her teammate despite falling just short herself.
“We decided we wanted to get to the finish line together,” Spratt said. “We’d worked so hard for this and I don’t think we could have dreamt of a better scenario than being off the front with a teammate in the last lap of a national championship.”
“We were both cramping in the finish but hats off to Kat, she had a really strong ride and she deserves it.”
To cap off a perfect day for ORICA-SCOTT, Alexandra Manly sprinted to the under 23 championship from the bunch to mirror Garfoot’s efforts for the time trial and road race double.
“I came here wanting to win them both (the time trial and road race) so I am really happy,” Manly said.
“I was aware where (the other under 23 riders) were. They rode really well, they were really strong on the hills so I needed to wait for the sprint.”
How is happened:
Kick starting where she left off in the criterium championship on Wednesday evening, Allen made the first attack of the road race up the climb on the second lap.
But it was the counter attack of teammate Jenelle Crooks, Shara Gillow and Ellen Skerritt that started to shape the race.
The trio rode out to a three and a half minute advantage before a chase group of seven launched from the peloton and joined at the front.
After a brief stint together, Spratt launched from the group and was chased by Lucy Kennedy (QLD) with Garfoot on her wheel.
Once the trio joined together, the ORICA-SCOTT pair proved too strong for Kennedy and went alone on the eighth lap.
They worked hard together to ensure a victory for the team before going head-to-head for the jersey in the sprint.
