Ally Wollaston’s historic win at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race came with a language warning, thanks to her joyful rehashing of the team motto.
The New Zealand sprint ace capped an outstanding performance from FDJ United-Suez on Saturday in Geelong to successfully defend the women’s title.
She is the first women’s or men’s multiple winner of the Cadel Evans race since its 2015 inception.
As Wollaston celebrated with teammates seconds after easily sprinting to the win, the race coverage picked up some colourful language which she later revealed was the motto her team used at the same race a year earlier.
“I don’t think I said it this year. I don’t actually know if I’m supposed to be saying that any more,” she said.
“But last year’s motto was ‘f**k yeah’.”
Embarrassed, Wollaston briefly paused and added “s**t”.
“I’m trying to stop that one, actually. My teammates definitely use it more than I do,” she said.
“But yeah, it’s a good motto and it’s a real spirit-of-the-moment thing when we come across the line.”
Victory capped a prolific three-week WorldTour campaign for the team in Australia, with Wollaston also winning two stages at Adelaide’s Tour Down Under.
Even more than her wins earlier this month, Wollaston’s triumph on Saturday in the Mapei-sponsored race was all about team.
She had been ill after Adelaide and Saturday’s two crucial climbs up Challambra Crescent inside the last 30km of Saturday’s 142.2km race had her struggling.
The New Zealander was twice dangling off the back of the race at the summit, only for teammates to make sure she rejoined the front group.
After the second climb, a front group of five nearly achieved their goal of distancing Wollaston – clearly the best sprinter among the contenders.
But Dutch teammate Amber Kraak – who also earned plaudits for her tireless domestique work at the Tour Down Under – and British rider Lauren Dickson made sure Wollaston rejoined them.
So it became a group of 12 and Wollaston predictably dominated at the finish..
“There was a pretty impressive split … if I didn’t have my teammates, the race would have been gone, for sure,” Wollaston said of the race situation after the second Challambra climb.
“Once that came back, I knew I was in with a really good chance.
“My teammates did an incredible job to get me back to the front end of the race.”
Wollaston’s struggles on the first Challambra climb knocked her confidence, but again team support kept the 25-year-old’s head in the race.
“The team believed in me arguably more than I believed in myself today – I am so thankful,” she said.
“They just kept me grounded and I had a few tough words in my race radio, saying I could do it. The belief was pretty strong from the team.”
Wollaston’s Australian partner Kelland O’Brien, who will race on Sunday in the men’s event, celebrated with her.
“Obviously seeing him at the end was really amazing – probably the highlight of my day, actually,” she said.
British rider Josie Nelson (Team Picnic PostNL) was second and Spain’s Mireia Benito (AG Insurance-Soudal) completed the podium.
Newly crowned Australian road champion Mackenzie Coupland (Liv AlUla Jayco) was fourth, again confirming the WorldTour rookie is a massive talent.
At the other end of the spectrum, much-respected Australian Amanda Spratt (Lidl Trek) finished 36th in her last domestic race. She will retire at the end of this season.
The men’s race on Sunday will be the career swansong for compatriot Simon Clarke, like Spratt one of cycling’s most respected competitors.
