Australian Road Championships: Chloe Hosking takes victory in elite women's criterium

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Chloe Hosking (Rally Cycling) won her first elite women's criterium title at the 2020 Australian Road Championships in Ballarat, Victoria, on Friday evening after overpowering 21-year-old Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Brunswick Cycling Club) and Mitchelton-Scott's Gracie Elvin in a bunch sprint.

Like the elite men and under-23 men's criteriums before the women's race, Hosking and her rivals had to contend with extremely wet and windy conditions, which forced the organisers to shorten the combined elite and under-23 women's event by 10 laps to 30 laps due to the impending lack of light.

Twenty-nine-year-old Hosking had won the under-23 criterium title back in 2010, and then took her previous-best placing of third in the senior race the following year, and so the reigning Commonwealth Games road race champion was therefore delighted to finally be able to claim what many would view as a long-overdue elite road national title.

"This is my first elite national jersey, despite being around forever, so it is nice," said Hosking. 

"It was important for me this year as I am going to America to race with an American team and we do a lot of criteriums. I really wanted to take the green and gold crit jersey with me and I have done that so I am really excited. 

Rapidly rising star Roseman-Gannon claimed the under-23 title for the second year in a row by virtue of her second place, with Brunswick Cycling Club teammate Elizabeth Nuspan and Alexandra Martin-Wallace (ARA-Pro Racing Sunshine Coast) taking U23 silver and bronze, respectively.

Defending elite women's champion Rebecca Wiasak (Team CCS Canbera Women's) could only finish sixth, behind fourth-placed Matilda Raynolds (Specialized Women's Racing) and fifth-placed Nuspan.