New Zealand’s Ally Wollaston wins Cadel Evans Road Race in style

Ally Wollaston took the win at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. The 24-year-old New Zealander riding for FDJ-SUEZ was the strongest in a breakaway of 14 riders. In the sprint, she powered past Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) and Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly), the recent Tour Down Under winner. Silke Smulders (Liv AlUla Jayco) finished fifth.

The Australian one-day race marks the end of two weeks of racing Down Under. The course is relatively flat, but the finale towards Geelong — where the 2010 Cycling World Championships took place — is defined by a local circuit, with the Challambra Crescent acting as the decisive point: a 1.1-kilometer climb at 9.3 percent, making it the race's ultimate test.

Babette van der Wolf (EF Education-Oatly) was the first to attack in the finale. Well, if you can call it the finale — she broke away with 70 kilometers to go. She was soon joined by Stine Dale (Coop-Repsol), but she couldn't hold on for long and had to let her Norwegian companion go. Back in the peloton, she later crashed, making it a far from ideal day for the Dutch rider. She wasn’t the only one to hit the asphalt, as Daniek Hengeveld (CERATIZIT Pro Cycling Team) also crashed. Unlike Van der Wolf, she was unable to continue and abandoned the race.

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Amber Kraak guides Wollaston to victory

Once on the local circuit, the pace picked up significantly. On the Challambra climb, several riders tried to break away, but in the end, FDJ-SUEZ was in solid control of the race. Wollaston managed to stay in touch on the challenging sections, and with the help of her teammates Amber Kraak and Elise Chabbey, she was perfectly positioned for the final kilometers. In the sprint, the track world champion was by far the strongest, leaving Swinkels in second place. Chloe Dygert, one of the pre-race favorites, finished fourth.

"I'm so proud to win here," Wollaston said afterward. "I've felt so strong over the past two weeks. It’s such a great start to the season." In the Tour Down Under, the New Zealander finished second in the opening stage and later won the Surf Coast Classic. This marks her second consecutive victory. "I knew I just had to conserve my energy all day long," she added. "My team kept all attacks in check, and I felt really strong today. I’m super proud of the girls, they gave it everything today."

Her FDJ-SUEZ teammate Demi Vollering celebrated the win on Instagram. "Whaaa! Team on fire!" wrote the Dutch leader. "Another win," she continued, referring to both the team’s second win and Wollaston’s second triumph after her Surf Coast Classic victory in January.

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