Alex Manly wins again as race honours Amy Gillett

27 May 2022 | 07:35 AMBy: Ryan Miu

South Australian track and road cyclist Alexandra Manly has doubled her tally of UCI road wins, conquering the uphill finish on stage three of the Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour in Germany.

Manly continued the streak of Australian wins after she and Georgia Baker, both riding for Team BikeExchange-Jayco, claimed their maiden professional victories on stages one and two.

Alexandra Manly, an Australian Cycling Team athlete riding for Team BikeExchange-Jayco, during stage 3 of the 2022 Internationale Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour in Dörtendorf, Germany

Stage three of the 2022 Lotto Thüringen Tour was a circuit race starting and finishing in the village of Dörtendorf. The 129.2-kilometre route passed by a memorial dedicated to Amy Gillett, the Australian cyclist who was tragically killed on those roads in 2005 while training for the race with the national team.

Gillett’s death inspired the creation of the Amy Gillett Foundation, a leading cycling safety organisation.

The stage finished on the local climb known as the “Hanka-Berg”, which rises for 1.1km with steep sections of up to 15%.

The rapid pace on the hilly parcours saw a select group of about 25 riders contest the finish. They included the green-and-gold bands of Australian national champion Nicole Frain (Roxsolt Liv SRAM), Manly’s teammate Ruby Roseman-Gannon, and Manly herself in the yellow jersey of race leader.

The former team pursuit and points race world champion made the climb look easy as she punched clear with 150 metres to go and secured the win by several bike-lengths.

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“I’m just stoked to win it for the girls,” Manly said. “It’s a strange feeling for me to be in the yellow and to have people always working for me, everyone committing 100 per cent, so I really wanted to finish it off and I’m just so happy that I can.

“It’s the girls doing a lot of work out there, I’m just finishing it off.”

The 26-year-old will aim to defend her overall lead in the Lotto Thüringen Tour.

“I would like to [keep the jersey], but there’s three more stages to go, every day is nice and I’ll just enjoy it while I can,” Manly said.

The success of Australian Cycling Team athletes this week will give them confidence ahead of the Giro d’Italia Donne and inaugural Tour de France Femmes in July. It also demonstrates the depth of Australian women’s cycling ahead of a home World Championships on a punchy Wollongong course.