The Women's Tour Down Under and its Willunga Hill finish couldn't have delivered a more emotional victory, with the triumphant return of Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) from the racing and results wilderness.
She'd won before on Willunga, at the domestic Santos Festival of Cycling, but this was a Women's WorldTour win and a reward for her unrelenting persistence through a period where nothing seemed to go her way.
To make it all the more special, her team also claimed stage 1 when New Zealand rider Ally Wollaston took the sprint in Campbelltown. Stage 2 was the only stage that escaped the squad, with Cecilie Uttrup-Ludwig (FDJ-Suez) claiming the stretched out, reduced bunch finish.
It was a triumphant start to their first year as a Women's WorldTour squad for AG Insurance-Soudal, and there are still more chances as the Australian summer progresses, with the Down Under criterium on Thursday, the Geelong Classic on Wednesday January 24 and then the Women's WorldTour ranked event at theCadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race on Saturday January 27.
For now, however, let's take a look back at some of the key conclusions drawn from the first three days of Women's WorldTour racing of the year at the Women's Tour Down Under.
Loss, sadness and community
The start of the racing season in Australia is often a buoyant period filled with excitement and joy, but this year there was unquestionably a sorrowful undertone. The usual moments of lightness were at times quickly overwhelmed by tears, grief and sadness. As much as riders were trying to focus on the race at hand, the tragic death of Melissa Hoskins was clearly a loss that weighed heavily on the peloton, which included a number of riders who had raced alongside her.
Many felt the need to find a way to honour the rider and pay respect to those she had left behind. The Australian Championships road race began with a minute of silence, and the team of race winner Ruby Roseman-Gannon wore black armbands in memory of the Olympian and former World Champion on the track, who had also lined up on the road with the Australian GreenEdge squad through from 2012-2015.
The Tour Down Under also wanted to honour the rider and on stage 1 in Hahndorf roadside commentator David McKenzie led into a minute of silence with an introduction that included the following: "Melissa spent many years living, training and racing along the roads here in South Australia with the Australian cycling team, she was also a devoted mother and friend to many. We would like to pay respects to family, friends, former teammates and the broader cycling community.”
A wilier Wollaston
Ally Wollaston (AG Insurance-Soudal) has made quite a progression over the years at the Women's Tour Down Under. The first time the rider was at the race was in 2020, when she lined up with New Zealand's national team. It wasn't exactly an enjoyable experience for the young rider, who later recalled: "I finished about half an hour down every single day. It was actually quite mentally scarring."
But by the time the international race returned after its COVID-19 cancellations, she was immediately triumphant, winning the pre-race criterium the Schwalbe Classic with a storming sprint in 2023. Leap forward a year, and Wollaston was lining up with her AG Insurance-Soudal teammates, and she took the win again, this time in stage 1. That gave the rider wearing the silver fern of the national champion of New Zealand her first Women's WorldTour victory. What was really impressive, though, was the way she did it.
"It was a really long run into the finish once we turned left so I just had to be really patient," Wollaston told reporters. "Previously I'd get a little bit too excited and take on the sprint too early so I'm really proud of today and just being patient and backing myself and having the confidence to do that."
This year Wollaston has come into the race as a wilier rider and reaped the rewards.
Queen Gigante has found her kingdom
After months and months of training hard, delivering all-time personal bests but finding too few opportunities to pin on a number last season, Sarah Gigante is now intent on making the most of every opportunity – especially one as good as a Willunga Hill finish of the Santos Tour Down Under. The 23-year-old, who switched from Movistar to AG Insurance Soudal at the start of 2024 in pursuit of more racing, knew just what she could do on the climb, having in 2021 won on it at the Santos Festival of Cycling - the domestic replacement event for the international race.
The fact that a Women's WorldTour peloton and harsh winds couldn't stop her from doing it again bodes incredibly well for her form in the season ahead, but perhaps just as importantly so do the prolonged and all-embracing celebrations afterward with her new team.
"This does help my confidence," said Gigante after taking her first top-tier victory. "I know that I am going to be so happy with AG Insurance Soudal, just the belief they had in me from the very start."
"It's hard to come into a new team and take a leadership position straight away but everyone was so lovely and I feel like a new rider, I just feel at home."
And given her long list of Australian national titles, and now the win at her the home nation Women's WorldTour event, it is clear that a Gigante that feels at home is formidable.
A new crop
Sarah Gigante may have firmly taken the spotlight on the top of Willunga, but the overview of the entire podium also told another tale. The overall – which was an exact replica of the final stage due to the tight GC before the hilltop finale – was filled with climbers who for the first time got to stand on the stage in those top three positions at a Women's WorldTour level race.
The 19-year-old Nienke Vinke (dsm-firmenich PostNL) was an unexpected revelation, with the Dutch rider the only one who looked even remotely close to being able to hold onto Gigante's wheel. Still it wasn't just those watching that hadn't expected to see the second year WorldTour professional so close to the front. "Yeah I’m really surprised and happy with this result. I didn’t expect it at all," she said.
Then there was Neve Bradbury (Canyon-SRAM) who may have been a rider that many were looking to, particularly given how strong she looked at Australia's Road National Championships where she claimed the U23 road race title. The rider expressed surprise at the result, her first Women's WorldTour podium, after she "suffered like a dog" on the climb and then settled into her own pace to reel in some of the riders up ahead.
Was Willunga a winner?
Willunga Hill has been such an iconic part of the men's race for so long, but this was the first time it appeared in an international edition of the race – though it did turn up in the domestic Santos Festival of Cycling in 2021.
So was the addition of Willunga a success?
There was no doubt it delivered incredibly exciting racing, a memorable location for fans to ride out to and cheer on the riders as they want past and a finale that meant the overall of the event was totally uncertain until the final day. Cecilie Uttrup-Ludwig (FDJ-Suez) may have started the climb in ochre, but 24 other riders were within just ten seconds, an amount that could be snapped up with a stage win time bonus alone.
However it did also deliver a final stage and overall podium which was exactly the same, pretty much completely neutralising any of the slim time advantages stretched out on the earlier stages . Of course things could have turned out differently had the challenging parcours of stage 2 split the field more, but ultimately the tight time gaps at the start of the stage meant the winner on Willunga was almost always a certainty to take the overall – a compromise that was probably worth it for the excitement and attention the presence of the climb delivered.
The biggest win in having Willunga Hill in the race was that it also set the scene for an emotion-filled victory, an 'I remember when' moment that came about as circumstance and location combined to deliver a fairytale ending - one that will be long remembered and likely leave fans wanting more.
You've come a long way… what's next?
In recent years, the Women's Tour Down Under has become more and more integrated with the men's event. They now stay at the central hotel during the race, rather than out of town in university accommodation. Their bikes are in the tech zone, the prize money is equal, the race is broadcast in full – rather than just the 45 minutes mandated by the UCI – the level has been lifted to Women's WorldTour, and the fields are stronger. The women's race has also now had a Willunga finish, an iconic climb in the men's race.
However, there are still several other developments that riders would like to see. For a start, the race is three stages long, while the men's is six. "It's nice to have a few more days to work with and develop the story of the racing," said 2023 winner Grace Brown. "I think we can also increase the length of the stages as well. Each year I think there is something the Tour can work on to keep growing."
The issue of flights has also been raised, with riders from the men's race travelling business class – organisers said that was a term set into a contract with the UCI in 2016 – while the women's riders fly economy and flights are covered for a limited number of the women's teams.
"Last year we managed to find some funds to pay for six teams' flights, this year we have increased that to 10 – we hope to be able to pay for all our athletes and then also have parity between both races," said assistant race director Annette Edmondson. "It is definitely something that we are passionate about and we are pushing for but obviously things take time and unfortunately it is just taking a little bit longer than we hoped, but we are proud of the progression that we have made."
Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the Tour Down Under and Women’s Tour Down Under, including reporting from Australia, breaking news and analysis. Find out more.
