In what ended up being a wet and muddy day of racing at South Australia's Ponderosa Pines, Tiffany Cromwell rode away from her rivals early to claim a second elite women's Australian gravel title.
Defending champion Cromwell took off solo early in the 123km elite women's race at the AusCycling National Gravel Championships on Saturday, pulling out the gap to three minutes with 70 km to go, and by the finish line, she had stretched the gap to her nearest rival to 20 minutes, crossing the line in 4:53:21.
Flora Johnson was second, with Victoria Barry taking third at just a minute-and-a-half further back. Sophie Edwards was another ten minutes behind in fourth while Megan Chapple claimed fifth spot.
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“Muddy, tired, but happy I can take the stripes for another year," said Cromwell after claiming the win.
"I didn’t anticipate to spend that much time off the front, but just kind of happened, and you know I was having to do all the work anyway, so I thought, why not give it a crack.
“It was super hard conditions out there. It was just that it was getting muddier as the day went on."
The women's races this year were given their own slot on Saturday, with the small field of elite riders starting out at 11:30 local time, with the various women's age group riders starting out in waves afterwards.
The course was 100% gravel with approximately 1,600m of elevation gain and the elite women took on one lap of the 17.5km Western Loop and two laps of the main course.
The elite men's title race, where Mark O'Brien will be lining up as defending champion, will be run on Sunday, along with the men's age group races.
