Shortly before the finish, the 23-year-old New Zealander proved to have the freshest legs thanks to a spirited attack at the right moment, outsprinted the competition and won the bunch sprint. Italy's Katia Ragusa was in good form, winning both mountain classifications. Meanwhile, everything is still possible for last year's winner Grace Brown, who crossed the finish line at the same time as the winner and is only ten seconds behind her in the overall standings.
Wollaston keeps a cool head in hectic bunch sprint
Ally Wollaston kept a low profile in a hectic sprint to the finish and waited a long time before launching the decisive attack. At first she stayed behind the leading riders, but shortly before the end she launched an attack at the right moment and overtook her rivals. As a result, she relegated Georgia Baker and Sofia Bertizzolo to second and third place.
Women's Tour Down Under 2024 - Results: The top 10 of stage 1
- Ally Wollaston (AG Insurance - Soudal Team) 2:32:37
- Georgia Baker (Liv AlUla Jayco) +0:00
- Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ) +0:00
- Kristyna Burlova (Lifeplus Wahoo) +0:00
- Gladys Verhulst-Wild (FDJ-Suez) +0:00
- Francesca Barale (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:00
- Roxane Fournier (St Michel-Mavic-Auber93 WE) +0:00
- Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez) +0:00
- Soraya Paladin (Canyon//SRAM Racing) +0:00
- Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) +0:00
The current overall standings
- Ally Wollaston (AG Insurance - Soudal Team) 2:32:27
- Georgia Baker (Liv AlUla Jayco) +0:02
- Sofia Bertizzolo (UAE Team ADQ) +0:06
- Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Liv AlUla Jayco) +0:07
- Katia Ragusa (Human Powered Health) +0:07
- India Grangier (Team Coop-Repsol) +0:08
- Dominika Wlodarczyk (UAE Team ADQ) +0:09
- Matilda Raynolds (Team Bridgelane WE) +0:09
- Kristyna Burlova (Lifeplus Wahoo) +0:10
- Gladys Verhulst-Wild (FDJ-Suez) +0:10
How the 1st stage of the women's Tour Down Under 2024 went
After the first intermediate sprint of the race, a three-man lead group formed after around 15 kilometres, consisting of Katia Ragusa (Human Powered Health), India Grangier (Team Coop-Repsol) and Matilda Raynolds (Team Bridgelane WE). Kate Richardson (Lifeplus Wahoo) also joined the leading group later on and closed the gap to the leaders, which at one point was around four minutes. However, the peloton did not really let the escapees off the leash.
Ragusa collects mountain points
One rider in particular stood out in the day's leading group: Katia Ragusa not only won both mountain classifications and will wear the mountain jersey in tomorrow's stage 2, but also won the intermediate sprint and thus collected three bonus seconds. She is now in fifth place in the overall standings.
Wollaston wins bunch sprint
After the last mountain classification, the peloton caught up with the four breakaway riders again, with only Matilda Raynolds trying her luck as a breakaway rider. The Australian held out for a long time, but was eventually swallowed up by the peloton with less than ten kilometres to go. This led to a bunch sprint in which Ally Wollaston overtook all her rivals with a perfectly timed attack and won the first race of the year. Georgia Baker crossed the finish line just behind the 23-year-old in second place. The podium was completed by Sofia Bertizzolo from UAE Team ADQ.
