Saturday, 26 January 2019:
 | | ANNEMIEK VAN VLEUTEN (NED) Mitchelton-Scott celebrates winning the Women's 2018 Herald Sun Tour Prologue, 1.6km Individual Time Trial in Melbourne, Australia. | |
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A Cuban missile crisis derailed the Australia Day party for Mitchelton-Scott as Arlenis Sierra won the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road race in Victoria.
Australian teammates Lucy Kennedy and Amanda Spratt had to settle for second and third on Saturday after the Cuban's perfectly timed attack turned the tables on them in Geelong.
Sierra soloed to the biggest win of her career, 19 seconds ahead of the Mitchelton-Scott pair.
"It was better to attack and not have both the Mitcheltons working against me," the 26-year-old Astana rider said.
"I decided to risk all or nothing and it worked out."
As expected, Mitchelton-Scott had driven the pace inside the last 30km of the 113.2km race in and around Geelong.
Sierra, Kennedy and Spratt, the top rider in the field, were in a front group of six who had formed on the brutally steep Challambra climb with about 10km left.
Kennedy went clear on the final climb, but Sierra put a spanner in the Mitchelton-Scott works when she bridged across.
Sensing Kennedy was struggling from her earlier efforts, Sierra launched her bold attack with 4km left.
By the time Spratt bridged across to Kennedy, the Cuban cruise missile had launched.
Kennedy was asked if she felt disappointed, or had respect for how well Sierra rode.
"(It's) a bit of both - I'm really happy to be standing on the podium," Kennedy said.
"But also I was off the front on my own for a little bit there, so you start seeing it.
"She was stronger today. We had a really good plan and it worked really well. She was just better."
Mitchelton-Scott's near-miss leaves them open to criticism of hesitating in the crucial closing kilometres after doing so much to set up the race.
But Spratt, one of the smartest and best riders in the women's peloton, said they had no regrets.
"The team rode brilliantly. We had a plan - we were really patient," Spratt said.
"You could see the way all my other teammates absolutely killed themselves for us, to set that up for the final.
"Sometimes, you're really disappointed with a second place, but we were actually proud of the way we raced."
Defending champion Chloe Hosking had her chances cruelled by a mechanical problem with about 20km left, but she finished and took out the sprint category.
The men's 163.4km race will be held on Sunday, with Richie Porte, defending champion Jay McCarthy, Daryl Impey and Elia Viviani headlining a strong field.
