Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) won a rain-soaked U23/Elite women’s road race at the Federation University Australian Road National Championships, relentless in her efforts to stay at the front of the race which she ultimately claimed in a small bunch sprint.
Lauretta Hanson (Lidl-Trek) was second in the dash to the line, crossing ahead of Alex Manly (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) who came third in the 104.4km race in Buninyong. Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez) was fourth. breaking a four year run of podium appearances.
Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM) took out the under 23 title, being the only rider in that category in the lead group of 11, while Haylee Fuller (Team BridgeLane) took the U23 silver as last years winner Ella Simpson (ARA Skip Capital) claimed bronze.
When asked how she felt about the result Roseman-Gannon said: “I think shock, it hasn’t sunk in yet. I’ve been dreaming about this day for a long time.”
“I knew I’d done a lot of work,” she later added. “I’d been pretty motivated and trained hard but I don’t think anyone really feels confident coming in to the summer of cycling because you just never know as you haven’t raced.”
However, a criterium title win earlier in the week had been a good indicator and then during the race the rider who spent her formative stages at the Brunswick Cycling Club, was a regular in the lead group as the dynamic race, with a rainy second half, kept changing shape.
In the final kilometres Roseman-Gannon had initially been out the front with two former winners, Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) and Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) but the chase group rejoined to make it a sprint from a lead group of 11.
How it unfolded
The race, which started with a minutes silence for Melissa Dennis (née Hoskins), set off in dry conditions but a warning of what might happen in case the race needed to be stopped due to extreme weather, given there was rain on the radar and the forecast warned that there could be “the chance of a thunderstorm, possibly severe”.
The race, decided over 9 laps of an 11.6km circuit including the Mount Buninyong Road climb, was together as the riders passed through the line the first couple of times. Then Courtney Sherwell delivered a dig and set off on a solo sortie, stretching the gap to around a minute at some stages.
The gusts of wind were blowing, tree branches swaying and then the rain started about half way through the race and it was also then, as spectators were scrambling for cover, that two key favourites, Gigante and Spratt, attacked out of the peloton and bridged to Sherwell on the climb. There was chaos behind, as riders scrambled to try and link up with such a powerful move, and enough did that it was a group of around 11 by the time they crested the climb.
As the descending began the digs kept coming and the group at the front swelled to closer to 30 and ultimately Hanson, Roseman-Gannon and 2022 winner Nicole Frain (HESS Cycling) jumped out front.
Once the riders started to head uphill again after crossing the line with three laps to go, there was another reshuffling on the climb, with U23 rider Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM), Gigante and Spratt joining the lead group and making it a group of six up the front at the top of the hill as the rain continued to fall. Again the group swelled after the climb and another break was formed, with Georgia Baker (Liv-AlUla-Jayco), Hanson and Roseman-Gannon
Then on the final lap, and with yet another shuffling of the deck, it was Gigante, Spratt and Roseman-Gannon who looked like they may just have to decide the race between them, but the determined chase brought it down to a sprint of 11, and Roseman-Gannon made her final leap to the front right when it counted.
The combined U23 and elite women’s road race was the second last event of the 2024 Australian Road World Championships which has been held in and around Ballarat for nearly two decades, but will head elsewhere in 2025.
This year could also mark the last year that the U23 road title is decided within a combined race, with AusCycling saying that the category could get its own stand alone competition as soon as 2025.