Santos Women’s Tour Down Under Pre-Race Press Conference

Flash Quotes:

Amanda Spratt, Mitchelton-SCOTT
The live streaming is a fantastic step up. I’ve been involved in every Santos Tour Down Under since its inception. I see the race growing in a really smart way. It came with equal prize money, now with live streaming people can realise how exciting women’s racing is. It’s not a predictable course this year. It’ll be harder to win again. No one knows where GC is going to be made. As a team, we definitely have other cards to play. Grace Brown is in incredible form, Lucy Kennedy is going very well too. My family is here to watch, so the Australian summer of cycling is more pleasure than pressure. A fourth win would be amazing. I love everything this race has to offer, but the biggest priority is to keep the jersey in the team

Leah Kirchmann, Team Sunweb
Team Sunweb is really excited to be here for the first time. Being a Canadian, it feels amazing to be racing in summer conditions, rather than riding a bike in Canada in January. We had a training camp in December and everyone is motivated to start the year. We’re going to look for opportunities this week.

Ruth Winder, Trek-Segafredo
Coming from California, I’m really excited to be back in Adelaide. We’ve got a really strong team. I’m excited to start racing.

Chloé Hosking, Rally Cycling
There’s a circuit race, so being the Australian criterium champion, I’ll be able to wear the green and gold stripes, so it’s really exciting, but I don’t think it’s the only stage I can win. With my new team, this will be an opportunity for us to race with each other in the peloton and get to know each other. A more dynamic race helps that as well whereas in a mountain top finish, it’s just about surviving. It’s fantastic that it’ll be televised. Aussies come to this race in form. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see domestic riders beating the international.

Kimberley Conte, Race Director Santos Women’s Tour Down Under
This is the 5th year of the race being on the UCI calendar. It’s very exciting to see the race continue to develop, and I’m really proud to be part of it. For the first time we have live streaming and the course has changed a bit. No hilltop will be decisive, we’ve mixed it up a little bit and chosen a dynamic course to provide opportunities to riders who are fit and willing to attack. It’s great to organise the first race of the season and see Team Sunweb and FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope here for the first time.