Sophia Sammons dominates women’s U23 time trial at Australian Road National Championships

Sophia Sammons (Praties) rolled off the ramp last at the U23 women’s Australian time trial title on Thursday and quickly started chipping away at the times of her rivals, widening the gap on each of the three laps around Bold Park in Perth.

Ultimately, Sammons completed the 29.3km race against the clock at the Westbridge Funds Road National Championships with a time of 40:22.42, which put her 55 seconds ahead of her nearest rival Sophie Marr (Liv AlUla Jayco Continental).

Mackenzie Coupland, who has this year moved up to the WorldTour Liv AlUla Jayco squad, was third, 1:10 back from Sammons.

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“It was just insane, I knew how much work I put into it, I knew I put everything out onto the course today,” said Sammons. “To be rewarded with this result is really, really good. Crossing that line was such a big relief.”

The competition unfolded over three laps of the 9.8km circuit with a relatively flat start that includes a hairpin turn and climbs that deliver just over 100m of elevation gain a lap. It was a course Sammons was particularly familiar with, making the most of her home town advantage by training on the circuit on the run-in to her target event.

“My team and I had a plan that we stuck to, we really wanted to control the first lap and see how it was going on the second lap and then go balls to the wall on the final lap, that’s exactly what we did. My legs really delivered today,” said Sammons.

“I hope this is a big step forward for my career.”

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William Holmes (Hagens Berman-Jayco) claimed the U23 men’s time trial on Wednesday, finishing just one second ahead of Julian Baudry (Team Brennan) while the elite women’s and men’s events also played out on Thursday afternoon with Felicity Wilson-Haffenden (Lidl-Trek) and Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) scooping up those titles.