Ruby Roseman-Gannon Wins Australian Criterium Championships!

Friday, January 14, 2022

Ruby Roseman-Gannon stormed to victory today at the Australian Criterium Championships, her first race in full Team BikeExchange-Jayco colours, as she continues her impressive start to the 2022 season.

After taking two wins and the overall at last week’s Bay Crits series, while riding in a mixed team, the 23-year-old lined-up in Ballarat as the pre-race favourite, and proved she could handle the pressure with an imperious ride to take her first elite championship gold medal.

Teammate Alex Manly controlled the race throughout, despite being caught up in a crash inside the first 30 minutes of action, as she constantly shutdown dangerous moves. However, it was a cagey affair with few attacks until a strong group of nine-riders broke away inside the final 10 laps, with Roseman-Gannon amongst them.

It looked like the former two-time runner-up would have to battle for the gold alone, but with three laps to go, Manly bridged across the gap to make it two Team BikeExchange-Jayco riders at the head of the race. Manly then charged to the front of the bunch on the final lap, delivering Roseman-Gannon to the line and to the gold medal after executing textbook tactics with the perfect lead-out.

"I wanted this for a very long time and to finish it off in my first race in full Team BikeExchange-Jayco kit means so much,” said Roseman-Gannon. “I can’t thank Alex Manly enough, she rides for people all the time, she is the most selfless rider, and I couldn’t have done it without her, so I just want to thank her for riding so perfectly.

I knew that Alex would give me a perfect lead-out and I just didn’t want to get boxed in, I saw someone coming up on my inside, so I knew that was time to go and I just gave it everything I had and just did what I’ve done in training a thousand times and pulled it off! I couldn’t be happier, I’m speechless, really.

I think the road race is definitely more of a challenge, but look, Alex and I are a small team, but we’re a strong team and we will give it everything we have."

Source:

https://www.liv-cycling.com/global/news/ruby-roseman-gannon-wins-australian-criterium-championships/26671