Tiffany Cromwell has finished the first of three Australians in the top 20 at cycling's UCI Road Championship in the US.
Cromwell crossed in 17th, one spot ahead of fellow South Australian Rachel Neylan, while Victoria's Lizzie Williams came home 20th.
Britain's Lizzie Armitstead outraced Dutch rival Anna Van der Breggen over the final 100 metres to claim the crown.
She trailed until the final climb, completing the 129.8km course in 3hrs 23mins 56.00secs to defeat Van der Breggen by half a length with American Megan Guarnier third.
"The team as a whole raced a very good race," Cromwell said.
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"We put ourselves out there. We showed ourselves against the world's best and ultimately, the best rider won."
Australia fielded eight riders, the maximum allocated to the top five nations.
Gracie Elvin (CAN), Katrin Garfoot (WA), Lauren Kitchen (NSW), Loren Rowney (QLD) and Amanda Spratt (NSW) joined forces with Cromwell, Neylan and Williams to take on eight laps of the challenging 16.2 kilometre city circuit.
The peloton faced wet roads and intermittent rain as they tackled cobbled climbs, constant corners and one particularly fast descent.
Although the course was technical and the conditions slick, the first half of the race was relatively quiet.
Despite the calm, the Australians remained attentive toward the front over the triple threat of Libby Hill, 23rd Street and Governors Hill during the first three laps.
There was stress in the early laps that was mainly about positioning, Cromwell explained.
"It was hard to hold your spot because of the washing machine effect.
"Obviously the key was to get into the first climb in good position because that set you up for the next climbs. I think we did that well."
Garfoot and Williams each launched solo moves on lap four over the wide, flat roads that dominated the first half of the circuit.
Both attempts were quickly neutralised. Garfoot went again on lap six and carried a small gap on the fourth ascent of Libby Hill. The Dutch led the chase, shutting her down over the climbs.
Meanwhile, Michael Storer's 16th was the best of the Australians in the junior men's road race.
"The race was really hard today, it was very wet and slippery and quite dangerous," he said.
He, Samuel Jenner (NSW) and Harry Sweeny (QLD) had to negotiate a number of crashes on the opening lap.
