Sydney Uni Staminade competed in the Tour of Tasmania at the weekend. Representing the team in the final National Road Series event of 2018 was Megan Scott, Jade Colligan, Emily Watts, Anna Booth and Georgie Whitehouse.
The team started the tour off with a 71.5km road race, finishing with a category one climb. Spirits were high going into Stage 2 of the inaugural Women’s Tour of Tassie with Georgie wearing the green jersey after Stage 1 and Emily finishing 11th up Poatina. Special mention goes to Jade who covered moves to keep Sydney Uni’s protected riders fresh.
Following a tough 70.5km Stage 2, the riders regrouped and reset before the final stage of the tour. Stage 3 was a 36km criterium in Devenport. Jade, Emily and Anna worked tirelessly to put power house Georgie in a position to win the stage and reclaim the sprint qualification.
Indeed, things came together for the team in this race, as Georgie also won the intermediate sprints, and overtook Charlotte Lucas from Specialized Women’s Racing to take the green sprinter’s jersey for the Tour.
“All that huffing and puffing to get over the stunning yet tortuous Tassie mountains was worth it for the sweet treat that came in the final stage,” Whitehouse said following her victory.
“The sweetest part of all was having the support of my teammates Anna, Jade and Emily who left nothing in the tank to get me across the line in first. The confusing thing about cycling is that it’s a team sport but only one person is awarded. This was a massive team effort and everyone of my teammates earned this result,” she added.
The team have alot to look forward to in 2019. They have been invited to compete in the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under, in January. Racing in Adelaide against professional teams from Europe and the USA, racing will take place from 10 to 14 January. Also they have been invited to compete in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race series. The program for elite women is the Towards Zero Race in Melbourne, an international criterium on the Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit on 24 January, Team Presentations on Friday 25 January and then the 113km Deakin University Elite Women’s Race on 26 January (Australia Day). Both races will involve women’s teams from all over the world.
