Sarah’s ready for race day

Here’s the third exclusive column from Australian road cyclist Sarah Gigante in the lead-up to this week’s Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.

It’s race day! I’m so excited that the inaugural Towards Zero Race Torquay will be held this afternoon. Our race starts at noon and we should finish around 2.45pm. We’ll be racing eight 13km laps, starting and finishing on The Esplanade. I can’t wait to see all the locals and visitors cheering us on. Hopefully it will be an exciting race!

Race Torquay sounds like it will be more of a kermesse, with a few hills in there too. I’m super excited, because I love climbing. I’ve only just started with Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank this year, so I’ll have to wait and see what my role is. Hopefully I can make a difference to the team and we can come away with a great result!

It’s so great to see that Race Torquay is UCI classified, and it also means that you’ll be watching some of the world’s best cyclists. To go into the history books as the inaugural winner of this event would be a huge honour, so I know that everyone lining up will be giving it their all.

This summer has been jam packed so far, so I’m glad that I have my coach Dylan Lindsey on my side. He’s been helping me out with the balance of training, racing and recovering between all these huge races, including the national championships, Tour Down Under and Cadel. What a month it’s been!

Last year was my first Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and I had so much fun. It was my first road race as the 2019 Australian Road Race Champion, which I remember as being extremely exciting. I was caught out in the crosswinds though, so my fingers are crossed that I have come back stronger and more experienced in the bunch. We have a really strong team here, so hopefully I’ll be able to play my part and help them out.

I absolutely love the roads we get to race along here. Normally in races, I don’t really notice the scenery at all, but I did notice it in this event last year. I remember riding along the Great Ocean Road mid-race, thinking how spectacular the views of the ocean were!

Feel free to make plenty of noise for us today at Race Torquay and over the weekend for the Cadel road races. We’re so lucky to be racing in this beautiful part of the world!

Gigante will contest Towards Zero Race Torquay today (Thursday, January 30) and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race on Saturday (February 1). For details on the events, head to cadelroadrace.com.