The opening round of the ProVelo Super League, SA Kick It, concluded with a scorching final round on Monday, with Odette Lynch (Butterfields Ziptrak) and Oliver Sims (COBRA9 x Leigh Surveyors) claiming the wins at Bend Motorsport Park.
Start times were shifted early given the weather, with temperatures in the area hitting 45°C on Monday. The 11-lap 85.8km women's race began at 7:00am, so with the 9:20am finish escaped the fiery temperatures, though Lynch turned up the heat on her rivals with the Butterfields Ziptrak rider scooping up six bonus seconds during the stage which meant she was all of a sudden in within a chance of taking overall victory.
The winning sprint on the final line then consolidated that move into the top spot, with Lynch beating Amelie Sanders (Meridian Bikebug) while Claudia Marcks snared third place.
In the 14-lap 109.2km men's race a break of five went out with 30km to go and while the gap never got too big, the break was still out front for the final lap although the gap certainly was slimming. Still, with the bunch closing,
Sims and Ivan Bennett (Butterfields Ziptrak) dashed to the line and held off the pursuit with Sims shooting from behind Bennett's wheel to claim victory. The group then crossed the line two seconds later, with Kurt Eather (CCACHE x Bodywrap) leading the bunch to take third. Conor Leahy (Team Brennan) crossed the line in fourth.
That was enough to keep the winner of the stage 1 time trial in the top spot overall, with a nine second advantage to his teammate, stage 2 criterium winner Tom Cornish.
Results
Position |
Rider |
Time |
|---|---|---|
1 |
Oliver Sims |
2:14:25 |
2 |
Iven Bennett |
|
3 |
Kurt Eather |
+2 |
4 |
Conor Leahy |
|
5 |
Graeme Frislie |
Position |
Rider |
Time |
|---|---|---|
1 |
Odette Lynch |
2:03:06 |
2 |
Amelie Sanders |
|
3 |
Claudia Marcks |
|
4 |
Belinda Bailey |
|
5 |
Alyssa Polites |
