Amanda Spratt wins elite women's road race title at Australian Road Championships

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Amanda Spratt took the elite women's road race title at the 2020 Australian Road Championships in Buninyong, Australia, on Sunday, out-sprinting breakaway companion Justine Barrow (Roxsolt Attaquer), with Spratt's Mitchelton-Scott teammate Grace Brown taking third place, a further 10 seconds back.

The trio had escaped on the third lap of the nine-lap, 104.4km race, and wouldn't be seen again by the peloton, which finished almost six minutes down. Within it, in eighth place, was Jaime Gunning (Specialized Women's Racing), who took the under-23 women's title in the combined race.

"This is really special; I owe my team this one," Spratt told SBS after taking what was her third elite title, having also won the road race in 2012 and 2016.

"Grace did so much work. It's unusual to have come here as the sole leader of the team, so I was under a lot of pressure, but I'm so proud of my team to have been able to help me pull it off, and so, so happy," she said.

"I don't know if anyone 'allowed' us to get away so early, but we didn't think anyone would expect such an early break. We had a really good group, with an incredible ride by Justine, who helped keep it going.

"I felt confident for if it came down to a sprint," continued Spratt, who caught Barrow slightly unawares with around 300 metres to go to take the win. "But I was very impressed by Justine. She's an incredible rider, and was matching me on the climbs."

How it unfolded

The surprise three-rider move went clear on the third ascent of the Mt. Buninyong climb, quickly building up a decent lead on the peloton, and causing mild panic among the other riders as they realised that the Mitchelton pairing of Spratt and Brown had a very real chance of going the distance.

With 50km to go, the front three – with Barrow working well with Spratt and Brown – had a 2:25 lead, with no organised chase developing behind them.

Going through with three laps of the 11.6km course to go, and with the break's lead up to just under three minutes, FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope's Brodie Chapman attacked from the bunch, but was quickly reeled in by an attentive Rachel Neylan (Casa Dorada Womens Cycling) and Lucy Kennedy (Mitchelton-Scott), with the latter policing the peloton with her two teammates up the road.

With the gap up to 3:30 with two laps to go, there was no doubt that the break was going to stay away. Going onto the climb, Brown lost contact as Spratt attacked to test Barrow's legs, but Barrow was equal to Spratt, and the pair crested the climb together, with Spratt unable to shake the Roxsolt rider.

As the chasing riders continued to tire, Spratt and Barrow held a five-minute advantage over the dwindling bunch going into the final lap, with Brown left in no-man's land, but not too far behind. The 2019 national time trial champion almost made contact again at the start of the final climb, and kept pushing as the two better climbers moved away from her again.

As expected, the game of cat-and-mouse began between Spratt and Barrow with two kilometres to go during the fast run-in to the finish, with the more-experienced Spratt letting Barrow take the lead. 

With Brown closing in again, and Barrow constantly checking over her shoulder, Spratt used that experience to wait until the moment Barrow momentarily looked forward again to launch her sprint, and had time to celebrate her victory from Barrow as she crossed the line, with Brown rolling in to take the final elite women's podium place.

Last year's elite race winner, Sarah Gigante (Tibco-SVB) – who won the 2020 elite time trial title on Wednesday – took the silver medal in the U23 event behind Gunning at this year's race with her 18th place, while Brunswick Cycling Club's Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Aus) took bronze.

"It's pretty special, as this year is my last in the under 23s, and I haven't won an under-23 category yet," said new champion Gunning, "so to come away with this win is really special, and to do it with such an awesome team makes it even better.

"Three laps in, when the two Mitchelton-Scott riders [Spratt and Brown] went off the front, we really weren't anticipating that to happen, and then, once we realised that the gap was really going out quite far, we turned all our focus onto the under-23s, and I was super stoked to have my team there at the finish with me," she said.