Women’s Tour Down Under preview: Field chasing red-hot favourite Amanda Spratt

An upset win isn’t out of the question in this year’s Women’s Tour Down Under, with in-form riders battling it out across all four stages. But reigning champ Amanda Spratt will once again start a raging favourite. SEE THE TEAMS AND MAPS.

• READ BELOW: 2019 Women’s TDU teams

• SEE BELOW: TDU 2019 stage maps

• All the latest TDU news and previews
• Stars on track for SuperDrome
• Hilltop finale to break new ground
• Life no menace for Dennis
• How to follow the Tour Down Under

Want to know which woman will win the 376.6km 2019 Santos Tour Down Under?

Draw a Venn diagram and put the riders who dominate Europe’s Spring Classics in circle one; put the in-form Aussies in circle two.

Where the circles cross, write one name: “Amanda Spratt”.

Spratt, the 2017 and ’18 TDU winner and a dominant force at Europe’s early-season events starts as red-hot favourite.

But the 2019 TDU parlours has been designed to give any woman who has the legs, the guts and the smarts a chance to score an upset win.

“In 2019, it’s a chess game — it’s about who can outsmart the other,” said TDU race director Kimberley Conte. “I’m mindful that we’re the first race of the season. I never know where the riders’ fitness is and the riders are testing themselves, too.”

The 2019 Tour sees 90 riders across 15 teams line up.

“I like the look of the peloton with six riders per team,” Conte said. “It makes the racing short, sharp and shiny. You’re relying on everyone in that team of six. No one can sit back, have a chat about lunch.”

The women score equal prize money with the men at the TDU, too, which makes it potentially lucrative for professional riders who are on contracts of as little as $23,500 a year. No one is here for a holiday, so Spratt faces riders ready to go head to head across all four stages.

Four-time African champion Ashleigh Moolman took second at the season-starting Setmana Ciclista Valenciana in Spain last year. A formidable climber, the CCC-Liv rider has shifted her focus to Adelaide.

Tour Down Under 2018 overall winner of the women's tour Amanda Spratt. Picture: Sarah Reed

Finnish national champion and fast finisher Lotta Lepisto loves to escape subzero Scandinavia and she arrives with new team Trek-Segafredo, which also boasts Olympic medallist Elisa Longo-Borghini and Australian gun Lauretta Hanson.

Of course, the Australian National Championship on January 6 ensures the Aussies such as Spratt, Hanson, Chloe Hosking, Brodie Chapman, Lauren Stephens and last year’s national champion Shannon Malseed are in peak condition.

Chapman recently raced The Pioneer, a 424km mountain bike race across New Zealand’s Southern Alps, where she finished second

She has a reputation for riding intelligently and will be in blistering form.

The other key factor will be the strength of the teams. In 2018, team Wiggle High5 was able to challenge Mitchelton-SCOTT, but Wiggle folded before the season ended.

The good news is new squad Trek-Segafredo is every bit as strong as Wiggle was, and with two-time Olympian Ina-Yoko Teutenberg on race radio, it packs the firepower and tactical ability to take it to the former GreenEDGE team.

In Hosking, Alé-Cippolini has the rider to take stages, but this approach could see their general classification (GC) ambitions falter.

Last year, underdog team Tibco–Silicon Valley Bank scored second at the TDU with Stephens, second at the Herald Sun Tour and first at the national championship — they love to be underestimated.

Likewise, the TDU gives unsigned and underestimated Aussies a chance to impress by placing them on local teams as domestiques.

“They get a sense of what a big race really looks and feels like. We’re focusing on development — and development at a high level,” Conte said.

Amanda Spratt. Picture: Sarah Reed

2019 Women’s TDU

Team: Mitchelton-Scott (AUS)

Team line-up:

1 Amanda SPRATT (AUS)

2 Sarah ROY (AUS)

3 Gracie ELVIN (AUS)

4 Georgia WILLIAMS (NZL)

5 Lucy KENNEDY (AUS)

6 Grace BROWN (AUS)

Sports director: Martin VESTBY (NOR)

Sponsor: Mitchelton Wines, Scott Bikes

Team facts: The women’s Mitchelton-SCOTT team was founded in 2012, with the first win to its name the Santos Women’s Cup in Adelaide.

Rider of interest: Amanda Spratt (Australia)

Born: September 17, 1987

Accolades: 2017-2018 Santos Women’s Tour Down Under winner, 2018 GP Cham-Hagendorn winner, winner of the 2016 National Road Race Championships and second place at the 2017 National Road Race Championships.

Team: CCC-LIV (NED)

Team line-up:

11 Jeanne KOREVAAR (NED)

12 Evy KUIJPERS (NED)

13 Riejanne MARKUS (NED)

14 Ashleigh MOOLMAN-PASIO (RSA)

15 Valerie DEMEY (BEL)

16 Agnieszka SKALNIAK (POL)

Sports Director: Jeroen BLIJLEVENS (NED)

Team facts: CCC-LIV is the continuation of Waoedeals Pro Cycling team.

Rider of interest: Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio

Born: December 9, 1985

Accolades: The fourth-ranked rider in the UCI World Rankings. The 2018 winner of Strade Bianche, third at La Course, and earning a GC podium in a Grand Tour. She is a four-time African Continental Championships Road Race winner, and five-times National Champion in South Africa. She won the sprint classification at the 2017 Santos Tour Down Under and also won stage three.

Stage 1 map (Click top right corner to expand)

Team: Trek-Segafredo (USA)

Team line-up:

21 Lauretta HANSON (AUS)

22 Lotta LEPISTO (FIN)

23 Elisa LONGO BORGHINI (ITA)

24 Letizia PATERNOSTER (ITA)

25 Tayler WILES (USA)

26 Ruth WINDER (USA)

Sports director: Ina-Yoko TEUTENBERG (USA)

Sponsor: Trek Bikes, Segafredo

Team facts: This is the first time Trek Segafredo is competing at the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under.

Rider of interest: Elisa Longo Borghini

Born: December 10, 1991

Accolades: Longo-Borghini’s best results include winning the Tour of Flanders and the overall victory at La Route de France in 2015. She then secured the bronze medal in the road race at the Olympic Games in 2016, and won Strade Bianche and place second overall at the Giro Rosa in 2017. This is her first WTDU.

Chloe Hosking riding for Ale-Cipollini. Picture Sarah Reed

Team: Ale-Cipollini (ITA)

Team line-up:

31 Chloe HOSKING (AUS)

32 Eri YONAMINE (JPN)

33 Nadia QUAGLIOTTO (ITA)

34 Jessica RAIMONDI (ITA)

35 Marjolein Van ‘t Geloof (NED)

36 Romy KASPER (GER)

Sports Director: Giuseppe LANZONI (ITA)

Sponsor: Alé Cycling, Cipollini Bikes

Team facts: Alé Cipollini was founded in 2011 and quickly rose to become one of the world’s top 10 women’s cycling teams. The team finished the 2018 UCI season ranked in seventh place.

Rider of interest:

Chloe Hosking (Australia)

Born: October 1, 1990

Accolades: Hosking won stage four of the 2018 Santos Women’s Tour Down Under, and stage three of the 2017 Santos Women’s Tour Down Under. She won the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in 2018 and claimed the gold medal in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Road Race.

Team: Astana Women’s Team (ITA)

Team line-up:

41 Elena PIRRONE (ITA)

42 Jeydy PRADERA BERNAL (CUB)

43 Carolina RODRIGUEZ (MEX)

44 Lizbeth SALAZAR (MEX)

45 Marie Soleil BLAIS (CAN)

46 Arlenis SIERRA (CUB)

Sports director: PierAngelo DAL COLLE (ITA)

Team fact: This will be the first time Astana has attended and competed in the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under.

Rider of interest: Elena Pirrone

Born: February 27, 1999

Accolades: Pirrone is a 2017 Double Junior World Champion.

Stage 2 map (Click top right corner to expand)

Team: Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank (USA)

Team line-up:

51 Alison JACKSON (CAN)

52 Brodie CHAPMAN (AUS)

53 Sharlotte LUCAS (NZ)

54 Shannon MALSEED (AUS)

55 Lauren STEPHENS (USA)

56 Alice COBB (GBR)

Sports director: Kim PALMER (AUS)

Sponsor: TIBCO Software, Silicon Valley Bank

Team facts: The team’s sports director is Linda Jackson, a former professional cyclist and six-time Canadian national champion who has also worked as an investment banker.

Rider of interest: Shannon Malseed (Australia)

Born: December 27, 1994

Accolades: Malseed was the 2018 National Australian Road Race Champion, after finishing fourth in 2017. She also won the 2016 Oceania Continental Championships road race and finished second in the same event in 2017. She finished 7th in last year’s WTDU.

Team: BePink (ITA)

Team line-up”

61 Rachele BARBIERI (ITA)

62 Francesca PATTARO (ITA)

63 Katia RAGUSA (ITA)

64 Nicole STEIGENGA (NED)

65 Silvia VALSECCHI (ITA)

66 Tereza MEDVEDOVA (SLOV)

Sports director: Sigrid CORNEO (SLO)

Sponsor: Cogeas Consulting

Team facts: BePink was founded in 2012 and uses Kemo bikes.

Rider of interest: Rachele Barbieri

Born: February 21, 1997

Accolades: Barbieri won the omnium at the 2018 National Track Championships, and also won the scratch race at the 2017 UCI World Track Championships. Barbieri was 47th in General Classification and ninth in Youth Classification for the 2018 WTDU

Stage 3 map (Click top right corner to expand)

Team: Rally Cycling (USA)

Team line-up:

71 Sara Helene BERGEN (CAN)

72 Krista DOEBEL-HICKOK (USA)

73 Gillian ELLSAY (CAN)

74 Heidi FRANZ (USA)

75 Abigail MICKEY (USA)

76 Summer Deshea MOAK (USA)

Sports director: Zachary BELL (CAN)

Team facts: Rally UHC completed its women’s team for the 2019 season with the hiring of Joanne Kiesanowski, a three-time Olympian from New Zealand, who will act as assistant director alongside fellow Olympian Zach Bell.

Rider of interest: Sara Bergen (Canada)

Born: December 6, 1988

Accolades: Bergen won the Sprint Classification for the Joe Martin UCI America race. The 2019 race will be her first Santos Women’s Tour Down Under.

Team: Doltcini Van Eyck (BEL)

Team line-up:

81 Bryony VAN VELZEN (NED)

82 Daniela REIS (POR)

83 Tetiana RIABCHENKO (UKR)

84 Jesse VANDENBULCKE (BEL)

85 Anisha VEKEMANS (BEL)

86 Victoire BERTEAU (FRA)

Sports director: Sarah-Jeanne FRASER (AUS)

Team facts: The Doltcini-Van Eyck team will be the first Belgian team to race in the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under.

Rider of interest: Daniela Reis (Portugal)

Born: April 6, 1993

Accolades: Reis is the three-time National Road Race Champion of Portugal (2015, 2016 and 2018). This will be her first Santos Women’s Tour Down Under.

Stage 4 map (Click top right corner to expand)

Team: SWAPIT-AGOLICO (MEX)

Team line-up:

91 Brenda SANTOYO (MEX)

92 Paola MUNOZ (CHI)

93 Maria Jose VARGAS BARRIENTOS (CRC)

94 Andrea RAMIREZ FREGOSO (MEX)

95 Milena SALCEDO (COL)

96 Anet BARRERA ESPARZA (MEX)

Sports director: David PLAZA ROMERO (ESP)

Team facts: Swapit Agolico is a Mexican team that joined the UCI circuit in 2018 and will be racing at the Tour Down Under for the first time.

Rider of interest: Paola Munoz (Chile)

Born: April 14, 1986

Accolades: Munoz was Chile’s National Road Champion in 2007—2009, 2012, 2014, 2017 and won the Pan American Championships Road Race in 2017. This will be her first Santos Women’s Tour Down Under.

Team: Vantage New Zealand (NZL)

Team line-up:

101 Deborah PAINE (NZL)

102 Elyse FRASER (NZL)

103 Kirsty MCCALLUM (NZL)

104 Grace ANDERSON (NZL)

105 Amanda JAMIESON (NZL)

106 Niamh FISHER-BLACK (NZL)

Sports director: Katri LAIKE (NZL)

Sponsor: Vantage Windows and Doors

Team facts: The Vantage New Zealand National Team brings emerging riders from teams across the country together under the national banner with the support of High Performance Sport New Zealand supports Cycling New Zealand.

Rider of interest: Deborah Paine

Born: February 16, 1997

Accolades: Sixth in the 2018 National Championships New Zealand Road Race. She finished 30th in the general classification at the 2018 Santos Women’s Tour Down Under and fourth in the Youth Classification.

A five woman breakaway consisting of Chloe Hosking (1), Lauren Kitchen, , Elizabeth Williams, Peta Mullens and Miranda Griffiths in the 2015 Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic. Picture: Leanne Kelly

Team: UniSA Australia (AUS)

Team line-up:

111 Lauren KITCHEN (AUS)

112 Rachel NEYLAN (AUS)

113 Emily ROPER (AUS)

114 Rebecca WIASAK (AUS)

115 Josie TALBOT (AUS)

116 Anya LOUW (AUS)

Sports director: Donna RAE-SZALINSKI (AUS)

Sponsor: University of South Australia

Team facts: 2018 saw the Australian women’s national team join forces with UniSA to become our female team UniSA-Australia.

Rider of interest: Lauren Kitchen (Australia)

Born: November 20, 1990

Accolades: Kitchen is also a professional rider for FDJ. She finished second in the 2018 Australian National Championships Road Race and fourth overall at the 2017 Santos Women’s Tour Down Under.

Team: Specialized Women’s Racing (AUS)

Team line-up:

121 Amy CURE (AUS)

122 Ashlee ANKUDINOFF (AUS)

123 Matilda RAYNOLDS (AUS)

124 Ella BLOOR (AUS)

125 Jaime GUNNING (AUS)

126 Taryn HEATHER (AUS)

Sports director: Mark BRADY (AUS)

Sponsor: Specialized

Team facts: Specialized Women’s Racing is a non-profit women’s cycling team that was established in 2011 by Elizabeth Phillipou under the name of Specialized Women SA.

Rider of interest: Amy Cure (Australia)

Born: December 31, 1992

Accolades: Cure represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics and won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Team Pursuit and Scratch Race. She is the first person in history to medal at every endurance track event at world championship level. She competed in the 2017 and 2018 editions of the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under, finishing 20th in the general classification last year.

South Australia's Jessica Mundy wins stage for of the 2014 National Road Series Stage.

Team: Gusto StepFWD KOM (AUS)

Team line-up:

131 Jessica MUNDY (AUS)

132 Nicola MACDONALD (AUS)

133 Jennifer PETTENON (AUS)

134 Jemma EASTWOOD (AUS)

135 Veronica LEBEDEV (AUS)

136 Elizabeth STANNARD (AUS)

Sports director: Marty TOBIN (AUS)

Sponsor: Gusto bicycles

Team facts: Gusto StepFWD KOM is the former Holden Gusto Team.

Rider of interest: Jessica Mundy (AUSTRALIA)

Born: September 25, 1994

Accolades: The South Australian finished second in December’s St Kilda Shimano Super Crit, part of the Shimano National Crit Series. She finished second in the Oceania Continental Championships Road Race in 2016. She has competed in the Santos Women’s Tour Down Under twice, finishing in third place in Youth Classification in 2016, and 39th place in General Classification in 2018.

Team: Sydney Uni (AUS)

Team line-up:

141 Georgia WHITEHOUSE (AUS)

142 Gina RICARDO (AUS)

143 Anna BOOTH (AUS)

144 Jessica PRATT (AUS)

145 Jade COLLIGAN (AUS)

146 Emily WATTS (AUS)

Sports director: Tegan COX (AUS)

Sponsor: Sydney Uni Sport and Fitness

Team facts: Sydney Uni-Staminade Women’s Cycling Team aims to create a sustainable New South Wales-based race team that will advance female athlete development and provide academic support to riders.

Rider of interest: Georgia Whitehouse (Australia)

Born: November 4, 1991

Accolades: Whitehouse returned to cycling from injury in 2017 after being hit by a car, achieving several top-10 finishes on the Australian racing circuit. She turned heads on the international scene following an epic breakaway in the 2018 Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. She finished 64th in the general classification at the 2018 Santos Women’s Tour Down Under.

Originally published as Women’s Tour Down Under preview: Field chasing red-hot favourite Amanda Spratt