Maeve Plouffe on Sunday firmly stamped her name onto the results sheet as the first ever winner of the Lochard Energy Warrnambool Women’s Cycling Classic, with even 160 kilometres of racing not enough to dent her powerful sprint as she carved out a clear victory from among the heavy-hitters in a break of six.
“It was a bit of a dream break, we had four or five of the strongest riders in the whole peloton in that breakaway, everyone with different strengths," said Plouffe. "Everyone had a crack at that finale there, which I thought was really cool.”
The attacks flew on the run into the line of the first stand-alone women’s version of the long running Melbourne to Warrnambool, but once it was clear that the race was set to be decided in a sprint all eyes turned to National Road Series (NRS) leader Plouffe. Despite being the clear target for all to beat, the composed ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast rider didn’t for a second look like she would be caught once she wound up the pace ahead of the Warrnambool finish line.
Josie Talbot (Sydney Uni-Staminade) initially tried to hold alongside Plouffe when she jumped, but quickly slotted into the slipstream to secure second, while Matilda Raynolds (InForm TMX Make), who has a strong history of success in Warrnambool, came third.
“To be honest, Maeve was in a league of her own," said Talbot. "It turned into a bit of a track sprint there with all the cat-and-mousing around, I was hoping that after Nicole’s [Frain] attack at the end there that I’d be able to come off Maeve’s wheel but she was just way too strong."
It may be the first edition of the Warrnambool Women’s Cycling Classic but there is already a considerable amount of women’s history written into the one-day race finishing in Warrnambool. Beryl Burton, in 1980, was the first in a continually growing list of women to finish the event. Then a women’s category within the 260km race – first won by Lauretta Hanson – was introduced in 2015, with the names added to the list of victors including Tessa Fabry, Peta Mullens and Raynolds, twice.
This year, however, was the first time there was a standalone event and it was included in the National Road Series, with a field of 46 lining up in Colac to take on the inaugural edition.
“This is a much better race and I’m really pleased the women put on a show as it was a really strong race. I’m just so glad that everyone took it really seriously,” said Raynolds, the 2020 and 2021 women's category winner. “There were attacks all day, I think we really showed the level of the peloton.”
The race may be 100km shorter than Saturday's Melbourne to Warrnambool, which started in 1895, but organisers have pointed to it still being the longest one-day road race in the world for women in 2022. The distance is also approximately double the length of the road stages seen in the earlier events of the National Road Series, which Plouffe is leading.
How it unfolded
Tracey Gaudry – one of 13 women that had earned themselves a spot on the finishers list of the Melbourne to Warrnambool before the women’s category was introduced in 2015 – fired the start gun in the lakeside town of Colac.
With plenty of kilometres still to go the field didn’t seem keen to let the splits happen early and it wasn’t until about 70km into the racing that a group of about ten riders, led by Emily Watts (Knights of Suburbia Racing), built a solid gap. However, on a gravel section, the bridging from the group started and there were more attacks, but Amber Pate (InForm TMX Make) and Georgie Howe (Knights of Suburbia) were two names rivals were loathe to let loose, even with more than 80km still to go.
After all that attacking, a peloton of about 30 reformed but it didn't last. With a little over 50km to go it was time the group started to stretch and splinter while a group including some key names got the gap.
ARA Pro racing Sunshine Coast was the only team with two riders, Plouffe and Anya Louw, while InForm TMX Make had the winner of the women’s category in the last two editions of the Melbourne to Warrnambool, Raynolds. Then there was another fast finisher in Talbot as well as Australian road champion Nicole Frain (Roxsolt Liv SRAM), individual rider Megan Armitage and recent Tour of Gippsland winner Howe.
The group of seven worked well together to quickly carve out a solid gap, with Louw working hard for teammate Plouffe, and after a while it became clear that there wasn’t the firepower within the teams left behind to drag them back in.
The group of seven left it to the final kilometres to break their rhythm, with the speedy Plouffe and Talbot, two riders their rivals clearly wanted to shake. After all the hard work, Louw fell off the back within the final 10km but, despite repeated break attempts, it came down to a sprint from the remaining six, a scenario that played perfectly to track-focussed Plouffe’s key strength.
After Plouffe claimed victory, the under 23 time trial and criterium champion, Louw, came over the line 1:46 after her teammate to take out the young rider category, while it took just over three further minutes for the remainder of the peloton to start coming through.
