Grace Brown gears up for Elite Women’s Race

ONE of Australia’s best female riders is locked in to the next Deakin University Elite Women’s Race, part of the 2023 Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race (CEGORR).

Commonwealth Games gold medallist and Camperdown local Grace Brown is the first cyclist to confirm she will participate in the event.

Brown comes into the 2023 season in hot form – her gold in the time trial in Birmingham last year sits alongside wins at the time trial of the National Road Championships and at La Perigord Ladies in France, second in the time trial at the UCI World Road Championships, and second overall in The Women’s Tour in the UK, among others.

She has spent most of the past six years riding in Europe, signing with FDJ Suez Futuroscope at the start of the 2022 season.

Brown visited Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds campus on Tuesday this week for the official Elite Women’s Race launch alongside CEGORR founder Cadel Evans, and said she was thrilled to be riding in the event’s return to local roads.

“It is great to compete once again in the Deakin University Elite Women’s Road Race for 2023, especially after a tough couple of years without the event due to the pandemic,” Brown said.

“The event is one that I always look forward to on the cycling calendar every year, given the chance to ride against some of the best riders in the world along the picturesque Geelong and the Surf Coast roads.

“I can’t wait to get back on the bike for the event in January for such a marquee event for the Geelong and Surf Coast region.”

The Elite Women’s Race on January 28, 2023, will again be a UCI Women’s WorldTour sanctioned event.

“I’m so happy that we can look forward to welcoming the very best female riders in the world back to the Geelong and Surf Coast regions for the return of the Deakin University Elite Women’s Race,” Evans said.

“To be able to announce a rider of Brown’s calibre is exciting, and we can’t wait to welcome more riders in the coming weeks.”

The circuit for the Elite Women’s Race will be different this year, with the 143km course running in reverse compared to the Elite Men’s Race course. Starting and finishing at the Geelong waterfront, the female riders will pass through Ceres and Moriac first, before heading to the Surf Coast and Torquay, through Barwon Heads, and finishing as usual with two loops of Geelong including the Challambra Climb.

Deakin University has supported the Elite Women’s Race partner since 2016.

“Deakin lives and breathes a love of sport, and our partnership with the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race as naming rights partner for this event cements our commitment to women’s sport,” Deakin Centre for Sport Research Associate Professor Natalie Saunders said.