Roseman-Gannon unstoppable as Frislie wins dramatic sprint battle at Bay Crits

Ruby Roseman-Gannon continued her winning ways at the 2023 Citroen Bay Crits in the women's race, while it was a new man in yellow as Graeme Frislie (CCACHE x Par-Küp) took the win.

(L to R) Ruby Roseman-Gannon and Graeme Frislie win Stage 2 of the 2023 Citroen Bay Crits (Con Chronis)

Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Bayside Citroën) stretched her impressive winning streak at the Bay Crits to four races in a row while in the men’s event, it was Graeme Frislie who took the first win with his new team CCACHE x Par-Küp after finishing second the previous stage, making the most of a tight squeeze through the final corner before unleashing a strong final sprint to take the final victory.

Roseman-Gannon entered the stage as the leader of the race after her sprint win the previous day. The peloton tackled the Eastern Gardens course in the opposite direction this time, with the weather cooler, but significantly more windy than the previous day.

An aggressive start threatened to break the race apart, but it was Matilda Raynolds (Bayside Citroën) who launched the first attack solo. She was brought back as the aggression continued with the strongest riders all looking to either make or cover moves.

An elite group formed at the front of the race with Roseman-Gannon, Amanda Spratt (Novotel Prestige Jayco), Dani De Francesco (Zaaf), Keely Bennett, Emily Watts (Team Bridgelane), Chloe Hosking, Peta Mullens (both Roxsolt Liv SRAM) and Lucinda Stewart (ARA Skip Capital).

A number of attacks broke the rhythm of the front group and the chasing bunch came back into the race for the final three laps of the two-kilometre circuit.

Raynolds launched a final lap flyer off the back of an Spratt acceleration, a moment of pause from the peloton saw her drag out a gap over the main group. She was hauled back on the turn into the short, punchy climb towards the finish line, with Georgia Baker providing a splendid leadout for Roseman-Gannon to capitalise and take the victory comfortably in the sprint.

Bennett came from a fair way back to push Roseman-Gannon in the finish, while Hosking had good positioning, but ultimately not the legs to follow her younger rival’s acceleration.

Roseman-Gannon now holds a nearly unassailable lead, she would have to finish outside the top 10 on the final stage and Amanda Spratt would have to win. She reflected on the stage that saw her present in both the main attacking and sprinting of the stage.

“We put on a show and tried to attack a lot, I think you saw that right until the end when Matilda attacked,” said Roseman-Gannon. “We were hoping that would stay away but my teammates and Georgia gave me the perfect lead out yet again, I really appreciate it.”

“It was a bit of a messy break, it came together and people weren’t keen to work and I was, then I was a bit outnumbered so I stopped working and everyone else started again. I think for a break of that size it probably won’t work unless we have the right combination, I could have pushed it, but it wasn’t the right decision for us.”

The 24-year-old is looking forward to the final stage, to be held on the hotdog circuit down on Ritchie Boulevarde.

“I’ve only raced that once,” said Roseman-Gannon. “That was the start of 2020 with Spratty, it was a very hot day and I was just hanging onto her wheel for dear life and she won that race. It was a special moment for me because I was riding with my idol and I’d be keen to get back on that course, it’s really fun.”

The men’s race saw a lot of initial skirmishing without a decisive move getting clear until James Whelan and Connor Sens broke clear. None of the major teams were represented, with both of the riders individuals, though highly regarded with James Whelan a former professional rider and Sens a regular at Continental level.

The pair built their lead out to 20 seconds where it remained for the majority of the race, with a number of riders looking to bridge over from the main bunch to the front pair as the race came to a head, with Ben Hill (Novotel Prestige Jayco), James Moriaty (CCACHE x Par-Kup), Jack Aitken (St George Continental) making some headway initially before finding Whelan and Sens too hard to catch.

The peloton ramped up the pace significantly in the final few laps, obliterating the leader’s advantage and bringing things back together for a bunch sprint with Luke Plapp the main man contributing to the chase alongside ARA Skip Capital.

It was ARA Skip Capital again in the final dash to the line who had their sprinter Craig Wiggins in the perfect position through the final corner, with previous series leader Brenton Jones having to bail out of the inside line. Frislie was well positioned and kept himself clean through the final bend before exploding clear of Wiggins to take the win and the series lead.

“There was a bit of an incident in the last corner with BJ (Jones) where he had to unclip, that was why he wasn’t there in the finish,” said Frislie. “It was nice yesterday it was a bit of a pleasant surprise coming back from the Tassie carnival. I woke up and felt good this morning.”

Frislie goes into the final stage with a lead on the points tally with his 22 leading Jones on 18 after the previous day’s winner recovered from his final corner mishap to finish fifth on the day.

“I wasn’t even planning to race tomorrow to be honest,” said Frislie. “I was hoping to have a few days off before road nats, but it looks like I’ll have to line up now! It’s always a bit of a hard one, and I’m sure the boys won’t make it easy for me, so hopefully I have a decent day out.”

Racing continues tomorrow from the Citroen Bay Crits, with Stage 3 streamed live on the SBS Sport Facebook and SBS Sport Youtube pages from 17.25 to 18.50 AEDT.