Rising Australian cycling star Annette Edmondson has secured a stunning double success at the Tour of Chongming.
Edmondson won the last stage of the Chinese race and also snared the overall title.
Compatriot Chloe Hosking led by nine seconds heading into the finish of the last stage.
That meant Edmondson had to gain the 10-second time bonus for winning the stage and hope that Hosking finished no better than fourth.
Amazingly, Edmondson and her Orica-AIS team pulled off the double.
Italian Giorgia Bronzini also finished outside the top three for the stage to ensure that Edmondson took the overall win.
Edmondson won bronze on the track in the omnium at last year’s London Olympics and these are her first wins on the road.
“In the end, I think I had a bit of luck on my side,” Edmondson said in a team statement.
“It was a fairytale ending.
“At the end of the day, all that mattered was that I tried to win – that was all that we could do.
“We could only focus on ourselves (and) it didn’t matter about Chloe or Bronzini.”
Edmondson’s team director Dave McPartland said she learnt quickly after making some tactical errors earlier in the three-day tour.
“It was a long shot for us to win and Chloe to finish outside the top three,” he said.
“But the girls stayed calm and relaxed and stayed near each other in the bunch.
“We concentrated on our own race and were rewarded for not getting sidetracked.”
It is the second-straight year that Orica-AIS have won the overall title at the tour, following Melissa Hoskins’ success.
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