Cyclist celebrates seventeenth in style

SEVENTEEN-year-old cyclist Belinda Bailey recently celebrated her birthday in a unique way, by racing through Adelaide Hills for the final stage of the women’s event at Adelaide’s Santos Festival of Cycling.

The race replaced the Tour Down Under, which was cancelled for a second year in a row due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions and featured three stages over three days, as well as a 1.35-kilometre criterium.

Bendigo local Bailey was the youngest rider in the field and had the opportunity to soak it all in the 86.9-kilometre final stage.

“My overall experience at the Santos Festival of Cycling was amazing,” she said.

“To race against some of Australia’s best riders with the support of StepFWD Soomom and my teammates was an awesome time away.

“To top it off I had my birthday on stage three and they let me start on the front row of the start line. A bonus was getting an intermediate sprint in the crit.”

The final stage and overall race were won by Melbourne cyclist Ruby Roseman-Gannon, who continued her run of success after claiming the criterium national championship in Ballarat and the Bay Classic in Geelong.

Bailey went into the race with reasonable expectations and while she finished 56th overall, she said she was proud she was able to complete the distance.

“Going into the race I wasn’t really sure what to expect, my main goal was to finish each stage and complete the tour, avoiding race incidents and staying upright,” she said.

Bailey will now look toward this year’s National Road Series with the Tour of Gippsland that starts at Woolamai on 13 February.