In the big Australian summer season targets Amanda Spratt hasn’t once missed the podium, but again at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, it wasn’t quite the step the new Trek-Segafredo rider was looking for as her scorching escape on the climb again didn’t quite play out the way she wanted on the downhill run to the line.
Amanda Spratt was in all too familiar territory on Saturday, as on the final stage of the Tour Down Under it was another FDJ Suez rider that was with her as she raced toward the final line, then it was Grace Brown she came second to, on the stage and overall, this time it was instead her teammate Loes Adegeest.
“It’s a bit bittersweet,” said Spratt. “I was definitely chasing that win there and the team rode amazingly all day so I’m disappointed, definitely, that I didn’t nail that sprint but Loes had a strong ride as did FDJ.”
Consistency however has its rewards, and the second place at the Deakin University Elite Women’s race at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road, along with her second overall at the women’s Tour Down Under meant Spratt was now in the purple jersey of the WorldTour leader. It also wasn't the only consolation, as at the start of the season in 2022 the Australian rider was in recovery mode after surgery for
Iliac artery endofibrosis and making it over the finish line was perhaps the biggest target.
“This time last year I was getting dropped when we went uphill so it's nice to be up there and it's a huge honour to be up there and animating the race and it’s a huge honour to be in this jersey,” said Spratt, who made the shift to Trek Segafredo at the start of this season.
Spratt had pushed the pace over the climb of Challambra Crescent, which was the central feature of the twice-lapped finishing circuit, and the second time with about 9km of the race left she pushed on with the Dutch Esports World Champion to keep the rest of the chase at bay, leading to a two-way showdown on the run into the line alongside the Geelong waterfront.
“I knew I needed to be second wheel and I knew there was a group coming from behind, a large group too. We knew we didn’t want them to catch us and I got stuck on the front but I tried to play it slow down there and then get a kick but she just played it really well and got me in the end,” said Spratt of Adegeest.
The thirty-five-year-old who won the race in 2016 and has now been on the podium three editions in a row, said she was quite pleased when she saw it was Adegeest on her wheel as Spratt had hoped that would mean the pair could work together to get away, which they initially did. But could she have perhaps taken a different path as the move progressed and turned the chips in her favour?
“I don’t think I could have done too much differently,” said Spratt. “We had the plan to race the climbs hard. I tried to shake her on the climbs, she then told me she wasn’t going to work with me anymore so I knew we just had Brodie (Chapman) in the group behind but it was really hard with communications to know exactly what was happening from behind so I tried to get her through to do a couple of turns. I think I did mess up the sprint a little bit – I knew I wanted to come from behind but she played it really well too and just got the better of me.”
That meant Spratt came so close to another victory, but missed out at the final moment. Though at least now the rider from New South Wales feels she is well on the path to getting to throw her hands in the air in victory again, just like she last did back in 2020 at the Santos Tour Down Under.
“It’s funny, two years ago I think I would have been really happy with second in these races, in two WorldTour races, but now I feel a little bit disappointed and just so hungry to get that win so I think there is a lot of fire in the belly,” said Spratt.
“I am a bit disappointed but it's also nice to feel like this. I mean I’m really chasing that win now and I haven’t done that for a couple of years. I’m excited - I'm not in top shape now. We fly to Europe tomorrow and then we start building towards the European goals so that’s given me a lot of excitement and confidence, tee up with some of my European teammates and get stuck into the Euro season.”
And after the two opening WorldTour events in Australia, she will be doing exactly that in the purple jersey of the leader of the Women’s WorldTour.
