- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Kimberley Wells won her second national criterium title in a hard-fought race under stormy skies in Ballarat on Wednesday afternoon. Peta Mullens was second and Lauren Kitchen third.
With lightning flashing and thunder rolling, rain threatened to turn the criterium course into a slippery slide, but thankfully only a few drops fell and the race was saved from a potential deluge and undoubted carnage.
Wells, who missed last year’s event because she had contracted pneumonia, took her second win in three years by staying patient while all around her attacked and went up the road in breakaways.
Mullens, Kitchen, Chloe Hosking, Gracie Elvin and Ruth Corset – some of the biggest names in Australian women’s cycling – all chanced their luck against the field, but none were able to establish a race-winning lead.
Asked by The Roar how tough it is to let riders of that calibre open up a break mid race, Wells replied, “It’s really hard. I had (teammate) Jessie MacLean telling me to be patient. And at times I felt frustrated because I hated seeing people like Peta Mullens up the road, and Gracie Elvin up the road. It really made me nervous.
“You know what’s at stake, it’s the green and gold jersey, it’s the national title, and of the three events it’s the one I know I can win. So, seeing that gap up the road really sent my blood pressure up.”
Mullens was especially aggressive. She animated the race early, towing Hosking around in a two-rider break that established a lead of about 19 seconds over the main field. Hosking didn’t want to play however and sat up, leaving Mullens to go it alone. She was caught soon after, but bridged across to another break a few laps later.
That break was also brought back.
With five laps to go a strong group including Elvin, Corset and Kitchen looked as though they might have formed the final selection, but Carley Taylor, better known as a climber, had shot to the lead at the beginning of the last lap.
But it was the ever-patient Wells who would finish over the top of them all. Having not been caught up in the action off the front, she was the freshest at the finish in what had been a brutally contested battle that saw only 19 women complete the race.
Wells crossed the line, arms raised and screaming with joy.
The indefatigable Mullens was second, but it wasn’t close.
Like Steele Von Hoff, who triumphed in the men’s race, Wells found her second victory to be a little sweeter than her first.
“I think (winning again) solidifies the fact that the first one wasn’t a fluke,” she said after the race. “To win a second time you’re always heavily marked. People know what you can do and they try tactics to negate your strengths. To do it a second time it hurts that much more, but it’s that much more satisfying.”
An hour later, she was still smiling.
Here’s betting on a third title!
Fancy a wager on your favourite sport? Head on over to PlayUp for great odds and friendly customer service and pick a winner. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.