Maggie Coles-Lyster (Human Powered Health) did not arrive in Australia ahead of the Santos Tour Down Under feeling invincible. In fact, it was the opposite. She stepped off the 15-hour flight from Europe in pain, her body suddenly lit up with discomfort after a pain-free December training block. She wondered if it was a pinched nerve from being folded into an aeroplane seat or just inflammation. Either way, she suffered through the three-day stage race, trying to decipher whether what she felt was ordinary aches or fallout from her iliac artery endofibrosis surgery last fall.
But instead of spiralling, the 27-year-old Canadian stayed calm and trusted herself and the people in her corner. Two days later, she won the one-day Santos Tour Down Under Women's Classic. After everything Coles Lyster went through last year, one could easily call it a comeback — and she’s fine with that.
