New Zealand’s Sharlotte Lucas added an Oceania road race crown to the Stan Siejka Classic title she also claimed on Tasmanian soil last year.
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In persistent rain in Railton, the 26-year-old had the stamina to hold off Melbourne’s time trial champion Grace Brown after the pair broke away with 10 kilometres remaining on the fourth lap of a 26.2km circuit.
“It’s awesome, Oceania champ sounds good,” Lucas said.
“I love Tassie. I live in Hokitika on the west coast of South Island and this is a lot like home, especially with the rain.
“It’s hard to compare the two races. With this you’re doing 105km instead of 30 which is a bit of a lung buster but this one probably means a bit more.”
Like the elite men’s time trial winner Hamish Bond, the Kiwi is using the championships to prepare for an assault on next month’s Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
After perfect conditions for the time trials at Evandale, Tasmania threw some of its least welcoming weather at the field for the first of two days of road races.
A day after landing time trial silver medal, 19-year-old New Zealander Libby Arbuckle established a 30-second lead after the first lap of the elite women’s race.
By the halfway point she had increased that to 40 seconds and at the bell there were only 10 in contention.
Lucas denied Brown a golden double but Mikayla Harvey’s third place (+1:06) meant the Otago talent achieved the feat in the under-23 division, with Auckland’s Grace Anderson and Marlborough’s Georgia Catterick completing an All Black podium. Coburg’s Justine Barrow completed the elite race medallists.
The morning's under-19 men's race over the same 105km course came down to a two-horse race.
After a gutsy solo break by Friday's time trial silver medallist Finn Fisher-Black had been hauled in, Carter Turnbull, of St Kilda Cycling Club, and Josh Lane, of New Zealand's Te Awamutu club, enjoyed a minute break on the peloton as they entered Railton for the final time.
And it was the 18-year-old Victorian who took the honours by two seconds (2:46.08) although Lane was joined on the podium by compatriot and clubmate Sam Cook (+1.35) who won the sprint for third over Queenslander Elliot Schultz.
Slippery conditions saw six riders crash out on the first descent alone but a hardy 23 of 39 starters eventually made it to the finish line.
Launceston's Zach Johnson was the best-placed Tasmanian in 18th (+1:48) and was in medal contention until a last-lap mechanical.
Racing continues on Sunday with the under-19 women tackling 79km from 10am before the elite and under-23 men take on 158km from 2pm.