It’s been a big year for Springwood cyclist Amanda Spratt, and to top it off she’s been named the Elite Female Road Cyclist of the Year.
She accepted the award at a Cycling Australia awards ceremony in Melbourne in late November, after recently returning to Australia from a successful racing season in Europe.
“I’m really honoured to receive the award. It’s been a great year for me with a lot of big results and it’s a great way to finish the year,” Spratt said.
The 31-year-old has a current World Tour ranking of third, behind Dutch champions Anna Van Der Breggen and Annemiek van Vleuten.
Spratt was victorious at the Women's Tour Down Under in South Australia and Emakumeen Bira in Spain, and picked up a stage win at the Giro Rosa in Italy and podiums at two of the Ardennes Classics in the Netherlands and Belgium – Amstel Gold and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. She also won silver at the Road World Championships in Austria in September.
The silver medal at the World Champs was definitely the highlight of my year and of my career so far.
- Amanda Spratt
“The silver medal at the World Champs was definitely the highlight of my year and of my career so far. I’ve been working hard for so many years and it feels like this year it all came together,” Spratt said.
Her success this season has encouraged Spratt to believe in herself more.
“I can take a lot of confidence from this year into the 2019 season. I have some big goals next year including the Ardennes, the Giro and World Championships in Yorkshire,” she said.
Another big focus will be working towards the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
But first, there’s the Australian racing season, and defending her Tour Down Under title in January.
“I’m excited for the Aussie racing – it’s always a special feeling to race in Australia in front of a home crowd. The last two seasons I have had a really slow build with my training so I will take the same approach – even so I still manage to race pretty well in January,” Spratt said.
On Saturday the cyclist took part in L’Etape Australia, a 170km race through the Snowy Mountains. As one of the official ambassadors Spratt wasn’t racing competitively, instead engaging with as many riders as possible as well as stopping at the feed zones to chat to volunteers.
The Blue Mountains was well represented in the race. Spratt’s brother Nick finished third and Peter Wakefield from Mt Riverview was 10th, in a strong field.
