Santos Festival of Cycling 2021 – Stage 4 [FULL STAGE] (ladies)

January 24, 2021

Santos Festival of Cycling 2021 – Stage 4 – Victoria Park Criterium

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.

Georgia Baker (Team Garmin Australia) won the final hot and hectic stage of the Santos Festival of Cycling, wrapping up the criterium while teammate Sarah Gigante made it safely to the finish line to comfortably take overall victory at the 4-day National Road Series event.

Team Garmin Australia were always among the favourites to win the one hour criterium at the 1.1 kilometre Victoria Park circuit, as the team of the overall winner was also stacked with Australian track talent. That’s why Gigante, secure in her lead of the general classification, instead became a workhorse on the final stage of the four-day National Road Series tour.

“What a perfect day. It was so so cool. We were hoping to finish it off today strong,” said the 20-year-old Australian rider who won the tour with a gap of 3:12 to Lucy Kennedy (Team Bike Exchange).

“We were trying to keep the bunch under control, we knew we had some awesome sprinters and that was pretty much the ideal scenario. I tried my best, I’m not the best crit rider but I wanted to help pay them back for all their wonderful work this week,” said Gigante.

Team Garmin Australia made the most of those efforts, adding a third stage victory to Gigante’s overall title and two stage wins.

“Given the heat and the really hard conditions today we weren’t sure how we would go,” said Baker who said they had decided to make the call on the road about whether her or Annette Edmondson would go for the final sprint. “I am just so happy. I feel so honoured to have had my track girls lead me out. I couldn’t have asked for a better lead out in the entire world so it was just awesome.”

“We came together at the beginning of the week not having worked together much and by the end of the week it is like we have been working together all year,” said Baker.

Roseman-Gannon sprinted to second behind Baker, with stage 1 winner Peta Mullens (Roxsolt LIV Sram) in third. That second place and time bonuses from the intermediate sprints meant Roseman-Gannon comfortably retained her third position on the overall and even got close to threatening Kennedy’s second place, finishing only one second behind.

How it unfolded

Riders on the exposed Victoria Park track were desperately trying to keep cool any way they could with ice vests and stockings filled with ice cubes shoved down the back as the temperature hovered around 40 degrees. The wind too was set to add to the degree of difficulty, with the flags on the side of the course flying and the sight of a billowing plume of smoke rising off in the distant hills of the bushfire prone area.

When they took off from the line the ever-aggressive individual rider, Alana Forster went straight to the front leading out the peloton as they braced for an hour of hot racing. The speed ebbed and flowed, with some small digs at the head of the race and riders falling off the back when the accelerations came but it was the intermediate sprints the riders were mainly saving their reserves for.

At the bell to indicate the first of four intermediate sprints the group wound up the pace but with teammate Alexandra Martin Wallace providing a powerful lead out for Ruby Roseman-Gannon (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast) there was no real competition. The young rider swept up the top points and 3 second time bonus with ease, both crucial to Roseman-Gannon as at the start of the stage she was just two seconds ahead of Nicole Frain (Sydney Uni Staminade) on the overall and was equal with Gigante in the competition for the sprint jersey.

Right before the second intermediate sprint with 15 laps to go Chelsea Holmes (Giant Racing Team) took off out the front to take maximum points while Roseman-Gannon secured second just ahead of Frain. As the third approached Amber Pate was off the front on her own, but was more interested in grabbing a bottle of water than trying to grab the points so got swept up before the line and Grace Brown (Team BikeExchange) took maximum points. The fourth, at five laps to go, ended up going to Kelly Fettes (Butterfields Racing) but by now the focus in the peloton was squarely shifting toward that final line.

Team Garmin Australia started flexing their muscles with an impressive train led by Gigante. Other riders tried to infiltrate but ultimately the team managed to placed Baker where she needed to be before the tricky run into the line so she could respond to the charge of Mullens and Roseman-Gannon and take victory on the final stage.

Roseman-Gannon’s second added to her lead in the sprint classification, which meant that at least one of the individual jerseys went to some one other than Gigante. Not surprisingly Team Garmin Australia also won the team classification.

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

Final General Classification :
1 Sarah Gigante (Team Garmin Australia) 7:02:01
2 Lucy Kennedy (Team BikeExchange) 0:03:12
3 Ruby Roseman-Gannon (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women) 0:03:13
4 Nicole Frain (Sydney Uni Staminade) 0:03:28
5 Laura Luxford (Specialized WomeN’S Racing) 0:03:47
6 Neve Bradbury (Team Garmin Australia) 0:03:50
7 Carlee Taylor (Roxsolt LIV Sram) 0:03:53
8 Elizabeth Stannard (Specialized WomeN’S Racing)Sydney Uni Staminade 0:04:04
9 Matilda Raynolds (Specialized WomeN’S Racing) 0:04:13
10 Danielle de Francesco (Specialized WomeN’S Racing) 0:04:48
11 Holly Harris (Specialized WomeN’S Racing) 0:04:52
12 Anya Louw (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women) 0:05:07
13 Alexandra Manly (Team BikeExchange) 0:05:11
14 Chelsea Holmes (Giant Racing Team) 0:05:15
15 Amber Pate (South Australian Institue of Sport) 0:05:16
16 Peta Mullens (Roxsolt LIV Sram) 0:05:40
17 Grace Brown (Team BikeExchange) 0:05:47
18 Ella Bloor (Specialized WomeN’S Racing) 0:05:57
19 Staci McCudden (StepFWD IT Suzuki) 0:06:34
20 Hailey Mason (Butterfields Racing) 0:07:15
21 Georgia Baker (Team Garmin Australia) 0:07:17
22 Bree Wilson (Roxsolt LIV Sram) 0:07:32
23 Cassia Boglio (Velofit Australia) 0:07:40
24 Darcie Richards (Velofit Australia) 0:08:03
25 Breeana Hargrave (Specialized WomeN’S Racing) 0:08:08
26 Alana Forster (Unattached) 0:08:36
27 Haylee Fuller (Sydney Uni Staminade) 0:08:58
28 Loretta Hanson (Team Garmin Australia) 0:09:23
29 Hannah Seeliger (Butterfields Racing) 0:09:31
30 Ashlee Akundinoff (Team Garmin Australia) 0:09:43
31 Annette Edmondson (Team Garmin Australia) 0:09:51
32 Sarah roy (Team BikeExchange) 0:10:45
33 Maeve Plouffe (Team Garmin Australia) 0:12:09
34 Victoria Barry (Velofit Australia) 0:14:44
35 Emma Viotto (Giant Racing Team) 0:16:21
36 Pia Smith (StepFWD IT Suzuki) 0:17:56
37 Brittany Petersen (Butterfields Racing) 0:18:04
38 Nicola Macdonald (Roxsolt LIV Sram) 0:18:06
39 Courtney Sherwell (Roxsolt LIV Sram)
40 Sophie Edwards (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women) 0:18:21
41 Jessica Allen (Team BikeExchange) 0:18:41
42 Libby Young (Butterfields Racing) 0:18:43
43 Jennifer Darmody (Sydney Uni Staminade) 0:18:46
44 Holly Lubcke (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women) 0:18:55
45 Kelly Fettes (Butterfields Racing) 0:19:33
46 Erin Bertram (Velofit Australia) 0:21:33
47 Shannon McCurley (Unattached) 0:22:05
48 Katarina Chung-Orr (South Australian Institue of Sport) 0:24:33
49 Stephanie Corset (Veris Racing WomeN’S Team) 0:26:02
50 Alexandra Martin Wallace (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women) 0:26:04
51 Nicole Mitsigeorgis (Veris Racing WomeN’S Team) 0:26:36
52 Fleur Wellings (South Australian Institue of Sport) 0:27:16
53 Jessica Lawler (Velofit Australia) 0:28:52
54 Sa_ron Button (Roxsolt LIV Sram) 0:29:12
55 Kate Bonner (Velofit Australia) 0:30:39
56 Celia Cowan (South Australian Institue of Sport) 0:30:49
57 Emily Fowler (StepFWD IT Suzuki) 0:32:31
58 Amalia Langham (StepFWD IT Suzuki) 0:35:11
59 Gemma Mollenhauer (Giant Racing Team) 0:36:48
60 Kirsty Deacon (Veris Racing WomeN’S Team) 0:37:11
61 Lauren Perry (ARA Pro-Racing Sunshine Coast Women) 0:49:15