Amanda Spratt keeps on climbing towards another CEGORR title

AMANDA Spratt will be playing a patient game when she rolls out in the Michelton-SCOTT team and tries to secure her second Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race (CEGORR) title.

The Australian cyclist is excited that the women’s WorldTour is starting on home soil.

“From the first year the race has been one of those races that stands out in terms of professionalism and the course and the way they treat the women,” she said. “I think it is a very deserving WorldTour race and I think we can make it a really exciting race out there.”

This year’s race will see the inception of the UCI 1.1 Race Torquay. The criterium’s course has already been predicted as favouring the sprinters, and Spratt said she was looking forward to racing alongside new British team-mate Jess Roberts.

“She is a really talented up and coming sprinter. In the 2019 season she really caught my eye when she beat Kirsten Wild in a couple of finishes, and everybody knows how fast Kirsten is. She was a track rider and now focusing more on the road, so she will be one to watch from Mitchelton-SCOTT.”

The winner of the CEGORR has come from a mix of different styles of riders over the years. Spratt – who lifted the trophy in 2016 and finished third in 2019 – said the key to winning was “using your energy wisely”.

“If it is really windy then it can split apart early but if not, you have to patient. You can’t do stupid things like attack early; you just have to wait, wait for the legs to wear away and certainly on the Challambra climb it is what everybody focuses on.

“I love the last 30km, that’s when it really starts climbing and it just gets harder and harder and that is where the race has been made every year. It is an exciting course and it has been won in different ways over the years.”