Roseman-Gannon and Jones open Bay Crits with impressive sprint wins

It was wins for two riders who have made the Bay Crits a happy hunting ground in their respective careers, with Ruby Roseman-Gannon and Brenton Jones taking victory the women’s and men’s opening stages of the 2023 Citroen Bay Crits.

(L to R) Ruby Roseman-Gannon and Brenton Jones take victories on Stage 1 of the Citroen Bay Crits 2023 (Con Chronis)

Two riders at the opposite ends of their career, but both boast notable records at the Bay Crits, and their palmares at the event grew with opening victories at the 2023 running of the premier criterium series.

The triumphant pair employed very different styles in their wins, Ruby Roseman-Gannon (Bayside Citroën) wasn’t shy in launching her own attacks throughout the race before regrouping for the bunch sprint. Meanwhile, retiring Brenton Jones (Bayside Citroën) played a wily waiting game in the heat of the Geelong foreshore to emerge the strongest in the gallop to the line.

The women’s race was peppered with a lot of attacks and counterattacks, with no one move getting clear for too long despite the willingness of a lot of riders to either make or join initial moves.

Australian WorldTour squad Jayco-AlUla riders were competing within the Bayside Citroën team, and were aggressive early, with even the sprinters on the squad in Georgia Baker and Ruby Roseman-Gannon looking to make the race.

Lizzie Stannard (Bayside Citroën) had the longest stretch off the front of the peloton, though only managed a small gap over the main bunch with her solo move in the middle stages of the event.

The most dangerous move of the coastal laps of Eastern Gardens saw Danielle De Francesco (Zaaf) attack, along with Matilda Raynolds (Bayside Citroën), Rachael Wales (ARA Skip Capital) with just a handful of laps to go. They received the three laps to go signal shortly after breaking away, but the peloton caught the trio just ahead of tackling the final lap.

There was jockeying for position at the head of the race, with Peta Mullens (Roxsolt Liv SRAM) taking up the pace early on the small climb in the back half of the course, driving to the front of the peloton and eventually opening up the sprint after a long time at the head of affairs.

Roseman-Gannon stayed cool and slotted in just behind, before exploding around the final corner to take the win, with Spratt doing a remarkable sprint home for second, and Mullens impressive with her staying power for third.

“I saw Spratty coming around the outside of me for a second, that was a bit of a shock… she’s sprinting so well at the moment. In the off-season, you spend a lot of time putting in the hard yards, and it’s nice to see that the legs are there.

“We wanted to be pretty aggressive and I think we were. We kept sending people up the road during the race. It ended being that it was too hard out there and not enough teams wanted to cooperate out the front so we went for the bunch sprint and I had a great lead out from the team. You can always depend on Georgia and the other teammates, I really appreciate their work.

“It was pretty hot, I think in previous summers we’ve had some more hot weather, but this was really a bit of a surprise.”

The men’s race followed immediately after and was a more measured contest, with an early breakaway of Tom Chester (Blackshaw Racing), Elliot Schultz (Bridgelane) and James Moriarty (CCACHE-Par Kup) caught after toiling away out front for the first half of the race.

It was kept more together in the second half of the 50 minutes plus three laps of racing, with a few attacks, particularly from reigning National Road Series champion Kane Richards (ARA Skip Capital), punctuating the race. National Road Race champion Luke Plapp (Bayside Citroën) did a tremendous job at the head of the race to lead things out, with teammate Blake Quick surging through to the head of the peloton with 400 metres to go, putting Brenton Jones in a great position.

The strength of the leadout from Quick saw them gap the rest of the field going through the final corner, leaving a straightforward sprint for Jones, who posted up to celebrate a comfortable victory in his final race on the elite level.

“It might be good to finish on a high and maybe keep it going,” said Jones after the finish. “It was a great day today and I can’t thank Blake and the boys enough. It was a sensational leadout, must have been copying someone from last year (editor: when Jones led out Quick for the win), and I was really happy to get the win for the boys.”

“I know this course is one for sitting in a bit more than a hotdog or other criteriums. I think that experience played a bit of a part today.”

Graeme Frislie (CCACHE x Par Kup) was eye-catching as he came from a long way back to slalom through the other sprinters to finish second on the stage, with Blake Agnoletto (ARA Skip Capital) third.

“I hope so, I’ve worn the yellow jersey in the race before, but never in the race, only at the finish. Hopefully, I can keep it all the way until the end.”

Racing continues from the Citroen Bay Crits, with Stage 2 streamed live on the SBS Sport Facebook and SBS Sport Youtube pages from 15. 55 to 18.10 AEDT.