RACE REPORT: Women's Be Safe Be Seen Stage 3

25 Jan 2022

Ruby Roseman-Gannon overcame pre-race nerves before taking ownership of the Santos Festival of Cycling’s Be Safe Be Seen Stage 3.

Roseman-Gannon delivered her promise – a stage win on the last day - since taking overall lead in the race on Sunday after finishing third overall at the 2021 Festival of Cycling.

Roseman-Gannon winning the Be Safe Be Seen stage 3 Lobethal to Lobethal capped off a stunning three days of racing after the Victorian star was crowned the Australian criterium champion 11 days ago.

“I always wanted to win the stage and we did it, it was a dream job,’’ Roseman-Gannon said.

“I think we got better as the week went on, it’s hard taking all the glory, but it was the team which got me this one.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself, and I guess I care so much, but as soon as the race starts, I’m in the zone and I don’t think much, it just happens.”

Roseman-Gannon earned a hat-trick of Festival of Cycling jerseys to keep including the ZipTrak Sprint jersey.

And, after Roseman-Gannon penned a two-year deal with women’s UCI WorldTour team BikeExchange-Jayco in September she repaid her new team in droves.

The strength of the 22-year-old was incredible, but her team was simply stunning led by teammates, three-time Santos Tour Down Under champion Amanda Spratt, Georgia Baker, Alexandra Manly and Amber Pate.

They provided Roseman-Gannon with the perfect lead out train to beat 2022 national road champion Nicole Frain and track 2020 Tokyo Olympian Maeve Plouffe to the line after the SA favourite won stage 2 on Monday.

Roseman-Gannon said she would celebrate the win with teammates on Tuesday night but also wanted to win Wednesday’s final women’s event, the Trek Night Riders Criterium at Victoria Square / Tarntanyangga.

However, before Roseman-Gannon was centre stage on top of the podium at Lobethal for an adoring crowd, stage 3 was an absolute cracker.

The pace of the race was frenetic as soon as the start gun was fired.

Frain put the peloton on full alert when the perfect timing of her attack enabled her to claim bonuses in the Ziptrak Sprint 1 on Main Street, Lobethal.

Georgie Howe from Knights of Suburbia and Tuesday morning’s race leader Roseman-Gannon also picked up vital sprint bonuses.

However, two gravel sections – the first an 1.8km stretch on Western Branch Road, Lobethal and 3.7km of dirt just before the finish on Five Lanes Road, Charleston tested the early season legs and bike handling skills of the peloton.

And a rising star also emerged during the race.

Royal Adelaide Hospital ICU nurse Libby Young thrilled cycling fans with a brilliant breakaway for Butterfields Racing to win the second intermediate sprint before the peloton swallowed her up.

Young’s attack made race favourites Roseman-Gannon, Plouffe and Frain a little nervous but Ruth Corset seemed to enjoy the aggression just before the Queen of the Mountain approached.

Grace Brown from Garmin-Australia then launched what appeared to be a perfect attack towards the Ngangkiparri Climb near Charleston.

The 29-year-old FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope WorldTour riders who was on Team Garmin at the Festival of Cycling looked to have taken QOM until Corset used her experience.

As the hilltop was approaching – it was just 476m from start to finish – Corset, the 2010 Australian road champion, got on Brown’s back wheel before overtaking.

Corset won the jersey for the second time in as many days in a remarkable comeback to cycling after she retired five years ago.