When Valentina Scandolara (Alé Cycling) pulled on the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic leader’s jersey on Monday in Geelong, she decided she would quite like to keep it. Australia’s premiere criterium series was down to three days, compared to its usual four, which worked in Scandolara’s favour. The Italian had one less defence to mount, and she was the defending champion on the stage two Portarlington course.
“At the beginning of the series, of course I knew Orica-Scott would be really strong,” Scandolara told reporters, including Cyclingnews. “I wanted to go for some wins and see what happens. I won the first one. First time in four years that I wear the jersey, so I’m like ‘well, let’s try it.’”
“Last year I slipped to third [from second] on the last stage, but I was going for the stage wins because Orica was all over the place," Scandolara added. "I never really went for the series. This year, winning the first stage, I wanted to."
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Isolated from her teammates by a powerful ORICA-Scott out for redemption following a stage one blunder, Scandolara could only manage sixth place in Portarlington on stage two. The result kept her in yellow but narrowed her advantage to only two points over stage two winner Amanda Spratt.
Heading into stage three, five riders were in for a chance of stealing the jersey off Scandolara’s back.
Strong support from Scandolara’s Alé teammates set Scandolara up the overall victory. Ellen Skerritt represented in the breakaway while La Course winner Chloe Hosking gave Scandolara a well-executed lead-out.
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