Santos Festival of Cycling 2021 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE] (ladies)

January 21, 2021

Santos Festival of Cycling 2021 – Stage 1 – Seppeltsfield – Tanunda : 80,7 km

The men’s and women’s Tour Down Under may be cancelled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic but the racing is still continuing in South Australia with a four-day National Road Series (NRS) event. The Santos Festival of Cycling NRS race will run from Thursday, January 21 to Sunday, January 24 with domestic riders getting the opportunity to take on a number of WorldTour and Women’s WorldTour racers returning home for the Australian summer. Both the women’s and men’s event will travel through the towns and countryside surrounding Adelaide, tackling the popular climb of Willunga Hill on stage 3 and finishing with a criterium on the outskirts of the city.

Peta Mullens (Roxsolt LIV Sram) unleashed a powerful sprint from the lead group to take out the opening stage of four-days of racing at the Santos Festival of Cycling.

A split in the peloton, that left pre-race favourite Grace Brown (Team BikeExchange) chasing, meant it was down to a bunch of about a dozen who were jostling for position as the line of the National Road Series race approached. A well-positioned Mullens, who has a long list of Australian titles across a range of cycling disciplines, shot out of the group to take a clear win in the 80.7 kilometre stage from Seppeltsfield to Tanunda.

Then came Ruby Roseman-Gannon (ARA Pro-Racing), with a second on the stage boding well for her overall chances at the event, which replaces the cancelled Santos Women’s Tour Down Under.

“It was great,” said Mullens straight after taking the win. “We’ve been wanting to get back to racing for a really long time. I feel like this was the last time that we had a really big bike race. We just wanted to come here and animate the race. I just wanted the girls to feel part of the bike race and winning was really just part of paying them back.”

Mullens hadn’t played up her chances in pre-race interviews but with the number of wins she has clocked up over diverse terrain it’s never too surprising to see the winner of Australian road, mountain bike and cyclocross national championships out the front and charging toward the line.

How it unfolded

Starting out between the grape vines of Seppeltsfield with the blue sky of a typical sunny summer day in South Australia above, it was a serene start to the racing. Though, that’s not the way thing continued in the stage which included three ascents of Mengler Hill, approached from the east.

No sooner had the flag dropped than riders went off the front. First it was Kirsty Deacon (Veris Racing) then there was an impressive break from individual rider, Alana Forster, who first joined Deacon and then rode on alone.

The competition to mop up whatever mountain and sprint points could be found behind the breaks continued in the peloton, but then with little more than 20 kilometres to go Team BikeExchange assembled at the front on their new Bianchi bikes and it wasn’t long before the gap to Forster evaporated and the peloton started to shrink.

Then the final climb of Mengler Hill quickly split the race apart, with a small group forming out the front including many of the pre-race favourites, including Sarah Gigante (Team Garmin Australia), Roseman-Gannon and some other handy sprinters including Mullens. Lucy Kennedy (Team BikeExchange) was also in that lead group but noticeably absent was Brown.

Stuck behind, Brown’s attempts to chase were to no avail, with plenty of incentive to keep pushing the pace out the front. The lead group were still over a minute clear when they wound up for the sprint and the podium ended up being full of domestic riders, with Nicola Frain (Sydney Uni Staminade) finishing behind Mullens and Roseman-Gannon. Brown came in with the chasing group 1:12 back.

Results :
1 Peta Mullens (Roxsolt LIV Sram) 2:18:31
2 Ruby Roseman-gannon (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women)
3 Nicole Frain (Sydney Uni Staminade)
4 Matilda Raynolds (Specialized Women’s Racing)
5 Sarah Gigante (Team Garmin Australia)
6 Neve Bradbury (Team Garmin Australia)
7 Danielle de Francesco (Specialized Women’s Racing)
8 Lucy Kennedy (Team BikeExchange)
9 Carlee Taylor (Roxsolt LIV Sram)
10 Anya Louw (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women)
11 Elizabeth Stannard (Specialized Women’s Racing)Sydney Uni Staminade
12 Laura Luxford (Specialized Women’s Racing)
13 Holly Harris (Specialized Women’s Racing) 0:00:11
14 Stephanie Corset (Veris Racing Women’s Team) 0:01:12
15 Georgia Baker (Team Garmin Australia)
16 Breeana Hargrave (Specialized Women’s Racing)
17 Darcie Richards (Velofit Australia)
18 Alexandra Manly (Team BikeExchange)
19 Amber Pate (South Australian Institue of Sport)
20 Ella Bloor (Specialized Women’s Racing)
21 Ashlee Akundinoff (Team Garmin Australia)
22 Hailey Mason (Butterfields Racing)
23 Alana Forster (Unattached)
24 Haylee Fuller (Sydney Uni Staminade)
25 Bree Wilson (Roxsolt LIV Sram)
26 Grace Brown (Team BikeExchange)
27 Staci Mccudden (StepFWD IT Suzuki)
28 Emma Viotto (Giant Racing Team)
29 Chelsea Holmes (Giant Racing Team)
30 Cassia Boglio (Velofit Australia)
31 Victoria Barry (Velofit Australia)
32 Annette Edmondson (Team Garmin Australia) 0:01:27
33 Loretta Hanson (Team Garmin Australia)
34 Jennifer Darmody (Sydney Uni Staminade) 0:03:10
35 Pia Smith (StepFWD IT Suzuki) 0:03:12
36 Courtney Sherwell (Roxsolt LIV Sram)
37 Sophie Edwards (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women)
38 Holly Lubcke (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women)
39 Sarah roy (Team BikeExchange)
40 Nicola Macdonald (Roxsolt LIV Sram)
41 Jessica Allen (Team BikeExchange)
42 Catelyn Turner (Sydney Uni Staminade)
43 Hannah Seeliger (Butterfields Racing)
44 Kelly Fettes (Butterfields Racing) 0:04:22
45 Libby Young (Butterfields Racing) 0:04:32
46 Brittany Petersen (Butterfields Racing)
47 Nicole Mitsigeorgis (Veris Racing Women’s Team) 0:05:32
48 Erin Bertram (Velofit Australia)
49 Kate Bonner (Velofit Australia)
50 Maeve Plouffe (Team Garmin Australia)
51 Alexandra Martin Wallace (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women) 0:07:41
52 Shannon Mccurley (Unattached)
53 Katarina Chung-orr (South Australian Institue of Sport) 0:08:53
54 Isabella Flint (Roxsolt LIV Sram)
55 Kirsty Deacon (Veris Racing Women’s Team) 0:10:02
56 Gemma Mollenhauer (Giant Racing Team) 0:11:05
57 Sa_ron Button (Roxsolt LIV Sram) 0:13:16
58 Jessica Lawler (Velofit Australia)
59 Fleur Wellings (South Australian Institue of Sport)
60 Ella Falzarano (Giant Racing Team)
61 Celia Cowan (South Australian Institue of Sport) 0:15:10
62 Amalia Langham (StepFWD IT Suzuki) 0:18:55
63 Lauren Perry (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women)
64 Sue ann Woodwiss (Butterfields Racing) 0:19:23
65 Emily Fowler (StepFWD IT Suzuki)

General Classification after Stage 1 :
1 Peta Mullens (Roxsolt LIV Sram) 2:18:21
2 Ruby Roseman-gannon (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women) 0:00:02
3 Nicole Frain (Sydney Uni Staminade) 0:00:06
4 Matilda Raynolds (Specialized Women’s Racing) 0:00:10
5 Sarah Gigante (Team Garmin Australia)
6 Neve Bradbury (Team Garmin Australia)
7 Danielle de Francesco (Specialized Women’s Racing)
8 Lucy Kennedy (Team BikeExchange)
9 Carlee Taylor (Roxsolt LIV Sram)
10 Anya Louw (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women)
11 Elizabeth Stannard (Specialized Women’s Racing)Sydney Uni Staminade
12 Laura Luxford (Specialized Women’s Racing)
13 Holly Harris (Specialized Women’s Racing) 0:00:21
14 Alana Forster (Unattached) 0:01:19
15 Grace Brown (Team BikeExchange) 0:01:21
16 Stephanie Corset (Veris Racing Women’s Team) 0:01:22
17 Georgia Baker (Team Garmin Australia)
18 Breeana Hargrave (Specialized Women’s Racing)
19 Darcie Richards (Velofit Australia)
20 Alexandra Manly (Team BikeExchange)
21 Amber Pate (South Australian Institue of Sport)
22 Ella Bloor (Specialized Women’s Racing)
23 Ashlee Akundinoff (Team Garmin Australia)
24 Hailey Mason (Butterfields Racing)
25 Haylee Fuller (Sydney Uni Staminade)
26 Bree Wilson (Roxsolt LIV Sram)
27 Staci Mccudden (StepFWD IT Suzuki)
28 Emma Viotto (Giant Racing Team)
29 Chelsea Holmes (Giant Racing Team)
30 Cassia Boglio (Velofit Australia)
31 Victoria Barry (Velofit Australia)
32 Annette Edmondson (Team Garmin Australia) 0:01:36
33 Loretta Hanson (Team Garmin Australia) 0:01:37
34 Jennifer Darmody (Sydney Uni Staminade) 0:03:20
35 Pia Smith (StepFWD IT Suzuki) 0:03:22
36 Courtney Sherwell (Roxsolt LIV Sram)
37 Sophie Edwards (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women)
38 Holly Lubcke (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women)
39 Sarah roy (Team BikeExchange)
40 Nicola Macdonald (Roxsolt LIV Sram)
41 Jessica Allen (Team BikeExchange)
42 Catelyn Turner (Sydney Uni Staminade)
43 Hannah Seeliger (Butterfields Racing)
44 Kelly Fettes (Butterfields Racing) 0:04:32
45 Libby Young (Butterfields Racing) 0:04:42
46 Brittany Petersen (Butterfields Racing)
47 Nicole Mitsigeorgis (Veris Racing Women’s Team) 0:05:42
48 Erin Bertram (Velofit Australia)
49 Kate Bonner (Velofit Australia)
50 Maeve Plouffe (Team Garmin Australia)
51 Alexandra Martin Wallace (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women) 0:07:51
52 Shannon Mccurley (Unattached)
53 Katarina Chung-orr (South Australian Institue of Sport) 0:09:03
54 Isabella Flint (Roxsolt LIV Sram)
55 Kirsty Deacon (Veris Racing Women’s Team) 0:10:07
56 Gemma Mollenhauer (Giant Racing Team) 0:11:15
57 Sa_ron Button (Roxsolt LIV Sram) 0:13:26
58 Jessica Lawler (Velofit Australia)
59 Fleur Wellings (South Australian Institue of Sport)
60 Ella Falzarano (Giant Racing Team)
61 Celia Cowan (South Australian Institue of Sport) 0:15:20
62 Amalia Langham (StepFWD IT Suzuki) 0:19:05
63 Lauren Perry (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women)
64 Sue ann Woodwiss (Butterfields Racing) 0:19:33