Race Results

Tour Down Under - Women's Criterium Series

^{January 18-23} 

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Round 1

She had to make two breakaways off the front, but in the end, it paid off for Alexis Rhodes. Her efforts gave her a repeat of her victory in the inaugural 2004 series first round win. 

The 30 minutes-plus-one-lap race started with a small bunch of 30 women facing the gun. It was a 30'C evening with no wind on Adelaide's East End streets. A large crowd saw Rhodes break away with Sally Cowman just 2 laps into the race. They built up a lead of about 20 seconds before the bunch responded to the move and Cowman was brought back. Rhodes stayed away a little longer and managed to record the fastest lap of the race, covering the 2km circuit in 2 minutes 22 seconds. 

Rhodes rested in the bunch for a couple of laps and then went away again with 2 laps to go.  This time, Lorian Graham, newly crowned Australian RR Champion went with her. They were brought back during the penultimate lap, but she was joined by Bianca Rogers in the final lap. As the race came into sight for the finish on the long straight, the group was accelerating. Rhodes managed to hold them off as she headed alone towards the line - she had time to give a double handed salute and to coast over the line whilst there was a high-speed battle for second place going on behind her. Rochelle Gilmore beat Jenny Macpherson in that battle.

Rhodes goes into the second race of the series on Thursday with the Adelaide Advertiser yellow jersey on her shoulders. She will be hoping to do better than last year when she lost it in Race 2.

After the race, Rhodes admitted that her first breakaway was a little mis-timed "I thought it was a bit later in the race than that." That long, final lap on her own was a deliberate tactic though - "I knew that if I could get a bit of a gap, it would probably last because people in the last lap don't generally want to do work because they're saving themselves for the sprint so if you can get that bit of a hesitation and a gap you're usually alright." 

Results

Round 1  

Photos

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