The final race of the Australian Women's WorldTour summer, the Mapei Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, brought a repeat of the head-to-head battle that opened the month of racing at the Women's Tour Down Under.
That opening stage in Willunga saw Ally Wollaston (FDJ United-SUEZ) take on Josie Nelson (Picnic-PostNL) and win, and Saturday brought a repeat of the result, with the Australian once again coming out on top.
23-year-old Nelson comes away from Australia with two second places and a third place on stage 2 at the Tour Down Under. She didn't take the win she came so close to earning, but nonetheless, it's the strongest season start of her career to date.
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"It's obviously a bit bittersweet, but I think we came here and all the girls have done great. I can't thank them enough for supporting me out here in Australia, so I'm glad I can get some results for them," Nelson said after the race, which ran 141km around Geelong.
"I was looking forward to a head-to-head again, but she just came out stronger."
Nelson was up there among an elite 12-rider group, which also included Tour Down Under winner Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) following the two tricky late ascents of Challambra Crescent (1.1km at 9%).
FDJ had three riders in the group with Wollaston alongside Amber Kraak and Lauren Dickson, while several other teams – Visma-Lease a Bike, UAE Team ADQ, and Liv-AlUla-Jayco – could rely on two riders. Despite being outnumbered, Nelson was prepared for a finishing sprint, which, thankfully for her, came to pass.
"Coming into the final lap, I thought maybe [FDJ] would try some cards of attacking; they and UAE both had quite a few riders, but both teams were pretty much just pacing. That suited me better because I was just by myself in the final. So, I was happy with a bunch sprint," she said.
She expanded on the tactics of the final kilometres in a Picnic-PostNL press release, too, noting that she had followed the moves on the late climbs after her teammates had set her up near the front.
"The girls did a quality job positioning me into the climb for the final time, so I just followed at the front and was strong enough to follow a move, but the bunch brought us back in," Nelson said.
"In the finish, I just fought for the good wheels and launched my sprint, but couldn't come around Ally. But I'm super happy to finish the Australian block with a podium and can't thank the girls and the team enough for their support in the races!"
