Tiffany Cromwell finished 9th in the Australian national championship road race. The 102km course was made tough in hot and windy conditions with ten ascents of the Mt Buninyong climb. A three rider break formed after 20km and it was Orica-Scott who eventually forced a selection of riders, without Cromwell. that would go across to the break to fight for the green and gold jersey. The podium results were Katrina Garfoot and Amanda Spratt (GEW) with Lucy Kennedy from Queensland in third.

After the race Cromwell said: “I felt good at the start although I came into the nationals this year still in my building period. I tried to put myself into the race at the start, and either make the break or go with it. I had nothing to lose.”

“When the break went and it had Shara Gillow and Ellen Skerritt there with one Orica rider it was quite a good situation still for me because it forced Orica to use some energy to get another rider up there. Garfoot who drove it several times on the climb to bring the break back and I was able to go with it the first few times but I don’t have that continual high intensity at the moment and couldn’t go with the final selection. After that I tried to make something to bridge across but it became a U23 race in my group and the best I could do was sprint for 9th.”

Cromwell will now go into her hometown race Santos Women’s Tour in Adelaide starting Saturday 14 January, where her European team mates will join her to form a strong line up. “Santos Women’s Tour will be a completely different race. Like I said my general fitness is good but it’s just that little bit of high intensity that is lacking. I’m confident that I can do something good in Adelaide and we’ll be looking to win a stage or two at least. We can’t wait to race.”

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