Felicity Wilson-Haffenden (Lidl-Trek) claimed the elite women's Australian time trial title on Thursday, riding to victory in Perth by trumping defending champion Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ) in a tight battle.
The 20-year-old Wilson-Haffenden, who was contesting the elite category at the Westbridge Funds Road National Championships for the first time, crossed the line with a time of 40:15.71 for the 29.3km effort around Bold Park.
“That’s right up there with the best of them for me,” said Wilson-Haffenden. “It’s a title I really wanted and I really believed I had the ability to do it. I didn’t expect it to come this year, but I’m just proud of myself and proud I committed to doing the elite race, because I really believed I could win it. To actually do it feels really surreal.
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“It proves to me I’m on the right path and heading in the right direction, I had great success as a junior and then I was really in the deep end the last couple of years."
Chapman had a deficit of 22 seconds with ten kilometres to go, but a huge final lap enabled her to pull back the gap significantly. But after finishing fourth in the individual time trial at the Kigali Road World Championships, ultimately Chapman had to concede defeat on home soil as well.
Chapman was quick to go over and offer her teammate in the World Championship-winning Mixed Relay team – whom she had predicted would be a dangerous rival – a hearty congratulations when it became clear she had lost by 3.8 seconds on what was a tough day out on course in Perth.
“The headwind was super strong and it got stronger through the race," said Wilson-Haffenden. "The hardest part of the race was actually the gusts of the wind, obviously with such deep wheels it is a bit scary when they catch you. I spend enough time on my TT bike to feel pretty comfortable in it.”
Josie Talbot (Liv AlUla Jayco) also delivered a strong performance to claim third, just 18.4 seconds back on Chapman - already a 2023 junior World Champion in the same discipline and now with her first elite national title, too.
The event was run over three laps of the 9.8km circuit with a relatively flat start that included a hairpin bend and climbs that deliver just over 100m of elevation gain a lap.
On the same circuit, William Holmes (Hagens Berman-Jayco) claimed the U23 men's time trial on Wednesday while earlier on Thursday Sophia Sammons won the U23 women's time trial. The elite men's event then unfolded later on Thursday evening, with Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) claiming the win.
