Georgia Baker proved both her ability and versatility by adding the Commonwealth Games road race to the two gold medals she had already won on the track.
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A week after taking points race and team pursuit victories, the Perth 27-year-old won a bunch sprint to become a triple Commonwealth champion.
She also finished fourth in the time trial and was delighted with her time in London and Birmingham.
"I'm pretty happy. It was a whole team effort and I'm just so proud that I could pull it off for the team," Baker said.
"I think this is great for Australia because they get behind the Commonwealth Games so much and it's great that they can support us and our sport.
Representing my country any time at any championship is super special and I think we've had a great team result here.
"Birmingham's been really good for me. It's been a really impressive Commonwealth Games for Australia and a privilege to be a part of it."
Baker has been a team pursuit world champion and twice finished fifth in the same event at Olympic Games, but after a disappointing Commonwealth Games debut on the Gold Coast where her involvement was limited to 21st place in the points race, was thrilled to join a select group to have won titles on both track and road.
The victory on the streets of Warwick was even sweeter as Baker's mum and sister arrived the night before to watch it.
The Australian team, which also included Alex Manly, Sarah Roy, Ruby Roseman-Gannon, Brodie Chapman and time trial gold medallist Grace Brown, dominated the 112km event over seven laps and formed a perfect leadout train as a bunch sprint became increasingly inevitable.
Brown's lengthy shift on the front was followed by Chapman, Roseman-Gannon and Manly before Baker sprinted home in a time of 2:44:46 and Roy claimed the bronze behind Scotland's silver medallist Neah Evans.
"That was the plan from the start of the race," Baker explained. "If it went the way that we'd hoped and it was going to be a bunch sprint, then I'd be sprinting. We made the call out there on the road with about 20ks to go. I was feeling good, we stuck to the plan, the girls led me out beautifully.
"This just goes to show the depth of our team and how we support each other and trust each other, a lot of girls can win. I think we were really controlled and calm out there. We trusted everyone. Everyone had their role and when you execute that, special things like this can happen - first and third on the podium."
OTHER NEWS: Baker grabs second gold medal of the Games
Baker's success in multiple formats prompted questions about her preferred future as she looks ahead to more road commitments with Team BikeExchange-Jayco.
"The way that Australian cycling is developing and moving forward we should be able to do this more in the future and be able to transition easily and support each other with ambitions on the track and the road. We have all managed our loads well and so far it's worked great.
"I think this year was just the start of the road for me. I'm in a WorldTour team and that's my ambition now to really push it on the road and see how far I can go but I also want to touch back in on the track as well. I started my cycling career on the track, a lot of my passion with cycling started there so I'd definitely love to pursue that as well."
Tasmania's success in Birmingham was not lost on Baker, even if the state's seven gold medals have come from just two competitors, with Ariarne Titmus claiming four in the pool.
"To be a part of that medal tally for Tassie is great. Ariarne has got four and we've got the hockey boys to go and I follow that with Eddie (Ockenden) being our flag bearer as well so we're not finished yet."
HOCKEY
Australia's scare in the men's hockey semi-final has left Tasmanians Eddie Ockenden and Josh Beltz eager to bounce back in the final against India on Monday.
The Kookaburras cruised through their group matches, dispatching Scotland 12-0, New Zealand 7-2, South Africa 3-0 and Pakistan 7-0, but looked like coming unstuck against England in Saturday's semi-final.
In front of a partisan crowd at a packed University of Birmingham Hockey Centre, the host nation stormed into a 2-0 lead before the Aussies fought back to win 3-2.
The side's Hobart duo said the team would be eager to make amends against an India side which won three and drew one of its four pool matches, scoring 27 goals in the process, before beating South Africa 3-2 in the semi-final.
"India are another quality team and we know we're going to get another tough game," said Ockenden, who has extensive experience in the hockey-mad nation.
"It's silver and bronze from Tokyo and I think that's pretty cool for the Commonwealth Games.
"They have exciting skilful players, they're fun to watch, tough to play against and are well-rounded and a solid world-class team.
"They love their hockey. I've played a lot of hockey in India which has been great, they just love it."
Beltz added: "I think they're a really in-form team at the moment and will be going in with a lot of confidence. It's always a tough game against them, we know they're skilful, we know they're fast and we'll have to be better than we were in the semi.
"It would mean a lot to me to win this. Playing with Eddie, playing with the boys, and Australia's obviously got a very proud history with this tournament so to continue that legacy would be really special."
Ockenden said the team learned plenty from the England match.
"There's a lot of things we need to improve on. There's a few differences with the way England play and India play. We need to limit the number of times they come through us and get into our circle. We had a lot of corners against which is difficult to defend against India.
"We know we can play better and know we have to but we want to put ourselves out there. We want to be here and we want to be playing on the final day and play our best then. That's the challenge in front of us. It's what we train for, to be able to play well under pressure in finals."
THE STORY SO FAR:
JAKE BIRTWHISTLE (men's triathlon) 4th; (mixed team relay) BRONZE
GEORGIA BAKER (women's team pursuit) 1st qualification, GOLD; points race GOLD; (women's road time trial) 4th; (women's road race) GOLD
JOSH DUFFY (men's team pursuit) 3rd qualification, BRONZE; (men's scratch race) 6th qualification, DNF
ARIARNE TITMUS (women's 200m freestyle) 1st qualification, GOLD; (women's 4x200m relay) GOLD (WR); (women's 800m freestyle) 1st qualification; GOLD; (women's 400m freestyle) 1st qualification, GOLD
NICOLA CAREY (Twenty20 cricket) d India by 3 wickets (DNP), d Barbados by 9 wickets (DNP), d Pakistan by 44 runs (DNP), d New Zealand by 5 wickets (DNP)
BEC VAN ASCH (women's fours) dw Botswana 15-15, d Fiji 16-10, lt Scotland 9-16; 3rd in pool; (women's triples) d Singapore 21-11, d Falkland Islands 29-8, lt South Africa 12-17, d Northern Ireland 19-9, quarter-final lt New Zealand 10-14
JAKE TEMPLETON (50m freestyle S13) BRONZE
EDDIE OCKENDEN, JOSH BELTZ (men's hockey) d Scotland 12-0, d New Zealand 7-2, d South Africa 3-0, d Pakistan 7-0, d England 3-2
HAYDEN ARMSTRONG (guide for Gerrard Gosens, para triathlon) 6th
ERICA BURLEIGH (para triathlon) 6th
SAM FOX (men's mountain biking) 6th
EMILY MEANEY (women's 10m platform diving) 12th qualification, 5th
JACK HALE and JACOB DESPARD (men's 4x100m) DNF qualification
STEWART McSWEYN withdrew
Monday, August 8
12.30pm EDDIE OCKENDEN and JOSH BELTZ hockey final (University of Birmingham Hockey Centre)
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