Race Report: Schwalbe Women's One-Day Classic

France’s Clara Copponi has delivered a powerful UCI Women’s WorldTour message, staving off the peloton’s fast finishers to claim the debut Schwalbe Women’s One-Day Classic on Sunday. 

The 26-year-old Lidl-Trek sprinter beat Australia’s LIV-AlUla-Jayco’s best chance Georgia Baker and Italy’s Rachele Barbieri to the King William Road finish line in 30C temperatures on Sunday. 

‘I was feeling good the day before the race and I just had to get used to the heat, job done,” Copponi said. 

“For me it was to stay in the wheel and wait for my teammates to follow the attacks – we did the plan and the race was great.” 

South Australia’s Amber Pate dominated the race early, claiming the Yamaha Most Competitive Rider jersey for being super aggressive in search of the race win and for LIV-AlUla-Jayco. 

It was another brilliant accolade for the reigning national criterium champion, who won the best South Australian rider award at the Santos Tour Down Under last week.    

Italy’s Greta Maturano of UAE Team ADQ earned the Ziptrak Sprint jersey and efex Queen of the Mountain honours. 

Babette Van Der Wolf (EF-Education-Oatly) took out the Zwift Young Rider jersey.    

The Race 

Lap 4: Ziptrak preme sprint #1 (King William Road): 

US rider Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health), who won the Santos Tour Down Under in 2020, powered to earn the maximum bonus.

Ruby Roseman Gannon (LIV- Jayco-AlUla) was second ahead of EF Education-Oatly’s Henrietta Christie. 

Lap 8: efex Queen of the Mountain #1 (Montefiore Hill):

The peloton was all together just before the first efex Queen of the Mountain was approaching at Montefiore Hill, a category four climb.

Butterfields Ziptrak’s Victoria Barry, who races in the national ProVelo Super League, caught the Women’s WorldTour peloton off guard to finish first.

UAE Team ADQ’s Karlijn Swinkels and her teammate Dominika Wlodarczyk claimed second and third.   

Lap 12: Ziptrak preme sprint #2 (King William Road):

Three-time Santos Tour Down Under champion Amanda Spratt (Lidl-Trek) went to the front of the race, alongside Uno-X Mobility’s Rebecca Koerner and LIV-AlUla-Jayco’s Silke Smulders who was joined by Pate.

Pate attacked before the bell rang, signalling that there was one lap before the second preme sprint. She was joined by Maturano, who made her debut with UAE Team ADQ this year, at the front of the race.

Pate and Maturano opened up a 22-second gap before the Italian came first in the intermediate sprint.

Pate finished second before Picnic PostNL’s Becky Storrie earned the third bonus.  

Lap 16: efex Queen of the Mountain #2 (Montefiore Hill):

Maturano and Pate easily claimed maximum points as the pair recorded 46km/h during their breakaway.

They had their eyes on King William Road finish without the bunch as the gap hovered between 22 and 20 seconds.

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