Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race: Amanda Spratt leads Orica AIS one-two

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Australian national road race champion Amanda Spratt led home an Orica-AIS one-two in the women’s event at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race on Saturday.

Spratt beat teammate and defending champion Rachel Neylan to the line by 48 seconds, with Dani King (Wiggle High5) finishing a second later and completing the podium.

“It was perfect from kilometer zero. We had Loren Rowney, Chloe McConville and Sarah Roy who did a lot of work to set myself, Rachel and Tayler Wiles up for the final,” Spratt said at the finish. “It was just a battle once we got to the climbs. We were constantly attacking and the peloton just kept whittling down, so we just kept the pressure and just kept sticking at it. I thought Rachel's move would stay away with Chloe Hosking, but then it came back so I countered over the top and managed to get away."

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Orica-AIS dominated the race, with Spratt’s winning move coming inside the final 25 kilometres, after she and her teammates had softened up the peloton over the 113 kilometre course.

Neylan made her most aggressive move with Hosking joining her but the vastly reduced peloton – down to fewer than 20 riders at this point – had just enough to catch the pair.

“It was painful over all those climbs but when you’ve got a team like that you're always motivated for the finish,” added Spratt.

“Taryn Heather jumped across to me and we went pretty hard together for about 15km, opening up a gap of over a minute, the bunch caught us again after the feed zone.

“It was great to have the opportunity to get this jersey thanks to the support of my High5 Dream Team teammates and staff.”

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