If January is anything to go by, then it’s shaping up to be a good year for Springwood cyclist Amanda Spratt.
The 28-year-old won the 102km Cycling Australia Road National Championships in Queensland on January 10 and then the 113km Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race on January 30.
And in between those two titles, she produced a marathon solo effort at the Santos Women’s Tour in South Australia on January 18 to help put her race team, Orica-AIS, in a great position.
In the Cadel Evans race, Spratt got to the front with 23km to go.
As there was not a strong wind blowing, the peleton did not split in the first half of the race and Spratt saved a lot of energy for the hardest section – the last 40km of the course.
“Once we were into the final 30km the three of us [from Orica-AIS] raced hard, attacking at every opportunity with the aim to get one of us away solo. The hills definitely took their toll and at the top of one of the longest climbs with 23km to go there were only four of us left in the race, including my team-mate Rachel [Neylan],” Spratt said.
“I attacked here and got away solo and that's where I stayed until the finish.”
It was challenging to hold the lead with 23km to go, but having Neylan behind her was comforting and she was well-suited to the hilly terrain.
“Racing down the finishing straight with 1km to go was an incredible experience - the crowds were three to four deep and I was lucky that I had enough time up my sleeve to be able to celebrate a little as well,” Spratt said.
The Australian Championships win was a big confidence-booster for Spratt, who is now in Europe taking time to recover before a massive season starting February 28. She will race almost every week until October.
“I will head to Mallorca, Spain, for a training block in some warmer weather before heading to Belgium for the early races,” she said.
Her focus is two of the hilly World Tour races - Trofeo Binda in Italy on March 20 and La Fleche Wallone in Belgium on April 20 – both important for Olympic selection.
