Chloe Hosking won her very first race in the black and orange colours as she took the opening stage of the 2015 Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic, on Ritchie Boulevard, Geelong, Victoria, for the Wiggle Down Under team. The 24-year-old from nearby Bendigo was the fastest of a group of five riders that escaped midway through the 45 minute race, and beat former Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling rider Lauren Kitchen (Roxsolt) and Lizzie Williams (Orica-AIS) into second and third.
“It’s a pretty incredible way to start with a new team I think!” Hosking laughed. “I don’t think it could have been much better!
After several early attacks had been chased down, Hosking escaped with Williams, Kitchen and fellow former Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling rider Peta Mullens, and Miranda Griffiths (Holden Women’s Cycling) and this was the group that managed to make it stick. They crossed the line 19 seconds clear of the next group, containing Wiggle Down Under teammate Giorgia Bronzini, the 2014 Bay Crits champion and only overseas rider ever to win the series overall.
“We went away about 25 minutes into the race, and all the big teams were in there, so I think the peloton was like: ‘we’re happy with that.’” Hosking explained. “I was confident; I knew the girls in there, and I thought I had it over them in the sprint. But then also having Bronzini in the back there took a lot of pressure off, and gave me a pretty easy ride.”
“It was pretty aggressive,” Hosking continued. “Roxsolt was pretty aggressive in the beginning, and we had Emilia [Fahlin] and Eileen [Roe] up there covering everything. But we knew we had Bronzini and I, so we wanted to make sure we were represented in anything that really went, and as it just turned out I ended up in a break!
“I just looked around and thought: ‘okay, they’re letting us go!’”
Having officially become part of Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling on the 1st of January, Hosking’s victory for Wiggle Down Under is a perfect start to her season in the black and orange colours. As a committed team player, however, the Australian was still thinking of her teammates even as she stood on the podium.
“I don’t think it could have been much better,” she smiled. “It could only have been bettered if I could have helped one of the other girls to a win. But Wiggle got the win and it was really nice!
“I’m really, really happy and hopefully in the next three stages we can pick up some more wins, with Giorgia and some of the other girls.”
Hosking’s victory is her second on the Ritchie Boulevard stage, and the 24-year-old took last year’s second stage in Eastern Park ahead of new teammate Bronzini. With one win already for the team in this year’s series, Wiggle Down Under could come close to its near-total domination of 2014, where the Italian former World Champion took three stages and the overall.
“We’ll just see how it goes tomorrow,” Hosking said. “We’re not really thinking about the overall yet, so I’m not really sure what the team plan is, but with having such a strong team we’ve got more than one option.”
Result
1. Chloe Hosking (Wiggle Down Under)
2. Lauren Kitchen (Roxsolt)
3. Lizzie Williams (Orica-AIS)
