Preview: 2022 Lochard Energy Warrnambool Women’s Cycling Classic 

The first of its kind and the longest women’s one-day race in the world – welcome to the inaugural Lochard Energy Warrnambool Women’s Cycling Classic.

The women’s AusCycling National Road Series (NRS) continues this Sunday with a race that is already one for the history books before it starts.

Held in Victoria since 1895, the ‘Warrny’ is the world’s second-oldest one-day classic and since 2015, women have raced alongside the men, with current Trek-Segafredo rider Lauretta Hanson the first recognised winner of the women’s race-within-a-race.

On Sunday, the women’s peloton will begin etching their history in a race that is not only imposing but aspirational, with the legacy of the race one of the most important in Australian cycling folklore.

Matilda Raynolds (InForm TMX Make), the first woman across the line in the last two Melbourne to Warrnambool editions, said she was conscious of the symbolism of a separate women’s race when it was announced late last year.

“While I will miss rubbing shoulders and racing with the boys, it is so good to finally have a women’s event that we can call our own and continue to grow the breadth and depth of the women’s field,” Raynolds said.

“You can’t be what you can’t see, so I’m excited to be able to provide that for young women.”

Set to become an instant classic, the 160 kilometres of racing begins in Colac but will still traverse the same route as the Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Classic from the small Western District town’s starting line.

The route

The Colac start will be interesting, as the hardest terrain of the race arrives immediately, and rather than a break forming, it seems more likely that it will be a whittling down of the peloton in an attritional style in those early kilometres.

The run towards the coast may be the time for the teams with numbers left to make their move and it should be an aggressive race as the riders hit the Great Ocean Road.

The flat run into Warrnambool will be the last chance for riders to get themselves back in contention, and with 6km to go, a final rise on the outskirts of Warrnambool can set up a race-winning split – as happened last year in the men’s race – before a few corners and roundabouts lead into an uphill drag to the finish on Raglan Parade.

What to expect

We know there are plenty of women in the NRS peloton eyeing off the bragging rights of being the first-ever winner of the Warrnambool Women’s Cycling Classic, and rightfully so.

There is little to go off on how the Warrnambool Women’s Cycling Classic will unfold other than by peeking into how the traditional Melbourne to Warrnambool has been raced.

The wind is always a major factor in the final 50km, where the attacks will surely begin in earnest – if they haven’t already.

If the air is still, and enough teams want a sprint, we could see a large group survive until Raglan Parade.

If the crosswind blows, however, and the team tactics work out just right, expect to see just a handful contest the win.

Sunday’s Warrnambool Women’s Cycling Classic could end up sharing familiarities with last year’s inaugural Gibraltar to Inverell des Femmes, which was raced over 136km.

On that day it was a bunch sprint finish in Inverell, won by ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast’s newest WorldTour graduate Ruby Roseman-Gannon, followed by Josie Talbot and Peta Mullens (Roxsolt Liv SRAM).

Riders to watch

The writing was on the wall at the Santos Festival of Cycling (SFoC) that while Georgie Howe (Knights of Suburbia Racing) may be a newcomer to cycling, she has a massive engine, and with just a fortnight having passed since Adelaide, her first NRS stage and overall tour win came knocking at the Mitchelton Tour of Gippsland earlier this week.

Howe enters as a major threat and will most likely go on the attack in the hope of distancing some of the faster finishers in the NRS.

Speaking of fast finishers, two of that ilk in Maeve Plouffe (ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast) and Josie Talbot (Sydney Uni-Staminade) arrive in Colac fresh off NRS stage wins.

ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast look set to ride for the current NRS overall leader in Plouffe on Sunday and are bolstered by the inclusions of Australian Cycling Team Podium Potential Academy member Alex Martin-Wallace and U23 time trial national champion Anya Louw.

Talbot finally cracked the top step of an NRS podium on Tuesday at the final stage criterium of the Tour of Gippsland in Rhyll.

She will receive quality support from her teammates, particularly Alyssa Polites and Georgia Whitehouse, and is a serious contender to double her NRS win tally in Warrnambool.

National champion Nicole Frain (Roxsolt Liv SRAM) will be back on the start line in Colac after missing the Tour of Gippsland.

Frain hasn’t missed a beat through the first two months of 2022 and showed she does possess a quality kick to the finish at SFoC.

However, Frain is at her strongest on the attack and she will favour splintering the pack up before Warrnambool.

The Tasmanian is also not a stranger to the route being raced on Sunday after finishing third in the 2021 women’s category at the Melbourne to Warrnambool behind Roxsolt Liv SRAM teammate Justine Barrow and Raynolds.

Raynolds will be well and truly up for the fight on Sunday, and she knows how to win on Raglan Parade.

Two of her InForm TMX Make teammates in Amber Pate and Carlee Taylor are also names to highlight for Sunday.

Full start list

Where to watch

The 2022 Lochard Energy Warrnambool Women’s Cycling Classic will be live streamed on SBS On Demand and the SBS Cycling Central Facebook page on Sunday from 10:30am–1pm AEDT.

You can follow the Lochard Energy Warrnambool Women’s Cycling Classic on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and visit their website for more information. Follow #M2W22 and #NRS22 on your favourite social media platforms.

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Pictures: Con Chronis