Formula One superstar Valtteri Bottas in South Australia with Adelaide-born cyclist Tiffany Cromwell
One of the biggest names in world motorsport has been secretly training in SA for the past week alongside Adelaide-born cyclist Tiffany Cromwell.
Confidential
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Formula One superstar Valtteri Bottas is holidaying in South Australia with good friend, Adelaide-born cyclist Tiffany Cromwell, as he prepares for the new F1 season.
Bottas, one of the biggest names in world motorsport, and Cromwell have been secretly training together in Adelaide over the past week.
They’ve been seen riding in the Adelaide Hills, and it’s understood they have also crossed paths with new Santos Tour Down Under race director Stuart O’Grady.
The 30-year-old Finnish driver, who won last year’s Australian Grand Prix in March and finished second behind Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in the F1 Championship, has kept a low profile during his time Down Under, staying off social media.
The pair spent New Year’s Eve in Tasmania before returning to SA ahead of an expected visit this week to Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula.
Cromwell, 31, who rides for professional women’s cycling team Canyon-SRAM, is based in Monaco, where it’s understood she met Bottas, who is an avid cyclist.
Also based in Monaco, Bottas and his wife of three years, Emilia, announced their separation in November last year.
Bottas is expected to remain in SA for the upcoming Santos Women’s Tour Down Under, beginning on January 16, while he trains for the new F1 season which starts in Melbourne on March 15.
Adelaide is an important place for Bottas, who has idolised countryman Mika Hakkinen, who had a horrific crash here during the 1995 Australian Grand Prix.
“He had this big crash in Adelaide in 1995 he was in a coma for a while and he bounced back fighting,” Bottas told PrePro Podcast with Eugene Laverty last year.
“(He’s a) massive hero and massive motivation and I was thinking wow I want to be like that.”
Cromwell declined to comment to The Advertiser.