Sarah Gigante wins on Willunga to take stage 3 at Santos Festival of Cycling

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Sarah Gigante (Team Garmin Australia) put in another dominant ride on stage 3 of the Santos Festival of Cycling to become the first women’s winner on Willunga Hill and extend her lead in the overall standings.

The 20-year-old attacked twice at the foot of the climb to drop the entire women’s field before quickly establishing a winning gap on the iconic Australian climb. While her rivals struggled on the steep gradient, Gigante was able to ride on the big ring throughout and finish well ahead of Lucy Kennedy (Team BikeExchange) and Nicole Frain (Sydney Uni Staminade). There was late drama for Frain after she made a wrong turn just before the finish. That error cost her valuable time, although she clung on for third.

Gigante had a 41-second advantage over Kennedy with just under one kilometer of the climb remaining but by the finish her lead had moved out to one minute with Frain finishing a further 36 seconds back. After three stages Gigante leads Lucy Kennedy by 3:11 and by Ruby Roseman-Gannon by 3:33. Frain is just one second further back and would have finished the stage on the overall podium if it had not been for her last minute detour.

With one stage remaining in the Santos Festival of Cycling Gigante is on course to win the overall race.

“It’s so, so cool that the women were able to race up Willunga Hill for the first time, and gosh it might look like a one person race at the end but that was the best teamwork ever,” Gigante said at the finish.

“I thought that yesterday was next level but I had literal body guards around me all day, I knew that the other teams wouldn’t give it to us easily and would try and catch us out but we had such a strong team around me. It was so, so lovely. I cared so much about this one, so I was ‘nerve-cited’ about it,” she added.

How it unfolded

The 48.8-kilometer stage might have been short but it was always going to be a crucial stage in this year’s race, even after Gigante’s exploits on the previous day of racing when she established a mammoth lead over her rivals. Saturday’s stage was also bigger than Gigante and her headline grabbing efforts as it represented the first time a women’s field had raced up the iconic climb of Willunga Hill.

There were no shortages of attacks in the early kilometres as the peloton rolled out with a flurry of moves as teams tried to take the race to Gigante and the top climbers. However with an all-important intermediate sprint at 22.8 kilometers the sprinters teams and most notably ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women were always going to keep the peloton together. They were racing for sprint sensation Ruby Roseman-Gannon, who was tied with Gigante on points heading into the day.

Despite valiant efforts from several teams to split the race, most notably Velofit Australia, the peloton contested the key sprint as one, with Roseman-Gannon proving to be a class apart and taking the three points available.

There was no immediate lull in the pace after the sprint with five riders moving to go clear, including Neve Bradbury (Team Garmin Australia), sixth overall coming into the stage, part of the break that also included Bree Wilson (Roxsolt LIV Sram), and Grace Brown (Team BikeExchange).

When that escape group was quickly nullified another seven-rider split attacked from the front with 19.5km to go but despite the rolling terrain Gigante’s team controlled proceedings before shutting down the break entirely. In the end only the unattached Alana Forster was able to escape the peloton’s clutches, with the Australian building up a neat lead of 25 seconds inside the final 10 kilometers of racing. Her efforts gained some welcome TV time and showcased her ability to a watching audience but with so many riders still in contention Forster was eventually swallowed up inside the final few kilometers.

At the base of the climb Team BikeExchange looked to set up Kennedy but as soon as the road began to tilt upwards Gigante accelerated with a vicious turn of speed. She looked back once, saw the carnage she has left behind and continued to climb out of the saddle as the likes of Brown, Roy and Kennedy struggled to find their tempo.

Laura Luxford (Specialized Women's Racing) attempted to go after Gigante’s initial move but once the gap opened up to a few bike lengths only Frain looked capable of mounting any form of opposition. A second kick from Gigante with over 2.5 kilometers to go ended any hope of a comeback, before Kennedy paced herself through the field to move into second.

In the end Australian cycling was able to toast an iconic day of racing on an iconic climb, with a rider who will undoubtedly become a national icon.