Katrin Garfoot gave the Australian team a second medal in the UCI Road World Championships in Bergen, saving the women in green and gold from any embarrassment and fallout about the squad selection policy under new performance director Simon Jones.
The Australian team has often been dominant in the women's road race but has never won the world title. Jones initially opted for a single-strategy, five-rider squad as he tries to instil a new philosophy in Australia cycling. But he was forced to add Chloe Hosking and Rachel Neylan after they won an appeal. The seven riders raced on equal footing, marking specific rivals, rather than respecting a specific hierarchy.
Sarah Roy and Shara Gillow finished in the main group in the same time as Garfoot, after Australia tried to place riders in every attack. Neylan was 53rd at 4:01, with Hosking 58th at 4:43.
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It was team veteran Garfoot who brought home the medal, adding silver to her bronze in the time trial. She rightly considered it a success rather than defeat.
"I think I 'won' a silver medal. It was always going to tough against three Dutchies; in a race of seven, the odds were stacked against me," she said with pride.
"I've won quite a few medals. They all mean a lot to me in a different kind of way, each has an individual story attached to them. This was a lottery."
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