Santos Tour Down Under 2019: Australian cyclist Amanda Spratt is ready to claim the TDU crown ... again

Amanda Spratt has been one of Australia’s most successful athletes over the past 12 months ... and she’s hungry for more. Meet the Mitchelton-Scott rider, and the contenders determined to stop her claiming a hat-trick of Tour Down Under crowns.

• Santos Tour Down Under 2019 — Full Coverage

“You do realise that it’s my job to find the most creative ways to make you suffer.”

Amanda Spratt smiles as she recounts the words of her South Australian coach, Gene Bates, and sums up her training regime heading into the Santos Tour Down Under.

The Mitchelton-Scott rider kicks off 2019 in Adelaide off the back of a break-through season – but her stellar performances over the past 12 months have been long predicted by those close to her.

When it comes to training – creative suffering as her coach might call it – Spratt knuckles down and does what needs to be done, putting in up to 700km a week, including gruelling days in the saddle spent climbing at altitude.

“Amanda is and always has been an absolute gem of an athlete under all of the coaches that she’s ever worked with,” said Cycling Australia’s national road technical director Brad McGee.

“She’s highly coachable, very professional, very well organised.

“The way Amanda works is very effective, not only with her coaches but with all of the people involved in her development. She’s about as good as it gets.”

Amanda Spratt celebrates on the podium after winning the Women's Tour Down Under in 2018.

The 31-year-old Aussie climber scored results right across the season last year, with a second win in the Tour Down Under kicking off a highly successful eight months of racing on the Continent.

Podium placings at the prestigious Liege-Bastogne-Liege in Belgium and Amstel Gold in the Netherlands, and top fives in Belgium’s Fleche Wallonne and Italy’s Trofeo Alfredo Binda, were followed by third place and the climber’s jersey in premier multi-stage race the Giro Rosa and a silver medal at the World Championships in Innsbruck.

Many top riders only hit peak fitness once or twice a year. Spratt found top form in March, July and October – and won the TDU on pure guts.

“I normally have a bit of a break after the Aussie summer is over and then build up to those Ardennes Classics such as Liege, then a little break before the Giro and then again a little break before the Worlds.

“It can be tricky to have three peaks, so I try to build up slowly through the Aussie summer,” Spratt said.

“I’m definitely not peaking for the TDU, but I just love the racing so much that I always manage to be going well there. I love racing in the Aussie summer, so I’m always ready to suffer.”

 

Worryingly for Spratt’s competition, recent testing by Brad McGee’s team at the NSW Institute of Sport has confirmed that the Blue Mountains-based rider already has the form she needs to win a hat-trick of TDUs.

“It’s looking really good actually,” Spratt said.

“I did the testing, which is something we do every pre-season, and I’d say that I’m probably in the best shape that I’ve ever been at this time of year.

“And, honestly, that’s happened without even trying. I’ve been on the bike but I’ve done nothing specific, so it’s good for the confidence to see those numbers and see that the form is good. I think I’m in great shape to get to the TDU in race-winning form.”

Race-winning form means matching, or beating, some of the world’s best climbers on the Novatech Stage 2 up Mengler Hill.

“Of the Aussie riders, Brodie (Chapman) has been getting better and better with every race that she’s done. So she’ll be in great form and Menglers will suit her,” Spratt said.

“Lauren Kitchen is another one. She always comes into January firing. She’s getting stronger and stronger and she finished off the European season really strongly.

“And Shannon (Malseed) showed her form last year – so I’m sure she’ll be in good shape.

“While the Aussies will be the ones that I’m really watching, with the international stars that are coming out you’re just not sure.

“It’s January, it’s early for them, but they’re world class. Ashleigh (Moolman) is one that I’ll really be looking at.

“She’s in South Africa - it’s great great weather there and she’s always going pretty well at the start of the season, so she’s someone who the Mengler Hill finish will really suit. She’ll be a real danger.

“...it sounds like the climbing pedigree is going to be very, very strong. So I think it’ll be really interesting to see what happens on that climb.”

 

Defending champion — Amanda Spratt.

The chance at a third TDU win in a row has not come easily for Spratt. Over the years, she’s suffered injury and illness including chilblains and sciatica.

“What’s not widely understood about Amanda is that she’s had some setbacks,” said McGee.

“But she’s just worked her way tenaciously and without making any noise or commotion. She never cried ‘poor me’ – she just got on with it. It seems like she’s just come on strong from nowhere, but you need to understand what’s happened.

“She’s been fighting hard all along, and now that the stars are aligning she’s starting to get results.”

Those wins include her two Tour Down Under victories. “My TDU wins are hugely memorable, but the biggest standout is just how quickly this event is growing and how much the community supports it. Last year, I really noticed how much bigger our race was. Walking around in Adelaide I felt like a bit of a rock star,” Spratt said.

“That’s not normal, I don’t get recognised ever, but walking down Rundle St I was getting recognised and asked for my photo.

“It shows how much this event is growing and that people are starting to follow it and follow women’s cycling in Australia.

“When people see it or can watch it on TV they see just how exciting it is.”

 

MEET THE CONTENDERS

 

THE AUSSIES

Brodie Chapman

Lauren Kitchen

Shannon Malseen

Lauretta Hanson

Chloe Hosking

Grace Brown

Lucy Kennedy

THE INTERNATIONALS

Ashleigh Moolman

Diana Penuela

Lotto Lepisto

Elisa Longo-Borghini

Elena Pirrone

 

Originally published as Santos Tour Down Under 2019: Australian cyclist Amanda Spratt is ready to claim the TDU crown ... again