CYCLING: In only her second appearance at the UCI Road World Championships, reigning Oceania champion Katrin Garfoot put in the ride of her life in Richmond on Tuesday to finish to tantalizingly close to the podium in the women's time trial.
The sixth last of 44 riders to set out on the challenging course, Garfoot covered the 30-kilometre distance in 40mins 30secs, placing her in the virtual silver medal position with five riders still to complete their ride.
By race end, the Queenslander who had been targeting a top eight finish had secured fourth place - only four seconds off the bronze medal and just nine seconds slower than Linda Villumsen's (NZL) winning time of 40mins 29.87secs. The Netherlands' Anna Van Der Breggen (40:32.41) and Lisa Brennauer of Germany (40:35.13) rounding out the podium.
“It’s pretty amazing,” said Garfoot, 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist. “I’m stokked with this. The time gap is pretty small compared to the kilometres that there are in the course. It’s realistic to keep fighting for those nine seconds for next year.”
Garfoot kitted up with a clear approach to the two-lap effort. The 15-kilometre circuit included a more technical second half, a strong headwind section, several sharp turns and a steep hill before a false flat run to the line.
“My approach was to take it easy in the first lap, to settle in,” she explained. “Coming back over the bridge at the end of the lap, I knew I wanted to put it in a big gear and really hit it there. That’s where I could make up time.”
Garfoot’s race unfolded to plan – and the plan delivered a happy surprise. Garfoot was fourth-fastest at the first time check and fifth fastest at the next two intermediate checks.
“It was hard out there,” she remarked. “I got the first time check, and I thought to myself: ‘Let’s do this.’ What else can you do? I checked how I feel and what I should be doing, and I put my head down to do what needed to be done.”
Initially disappointed to miss out the medals, Garfoot quickly changed her tune. As she cooled down, she turned to senior women’s national coach Martin Barras and presumptuously asked: “So – when do I get to go check out the [Olympic] course in Rio?”
“(Of course) I would love to take part in the Olympics for Australia,” Garfoot later remarked. “I would love to podium. I have a lot of work ahead of me, but it’s not an unrealistic goal anymore.”
Garfoot now turns her attention to Saturday's women's 129.6km road race where she will be part of a strong eight rider Australian team which includes Tiffany Cromwell (SA/Velocio-SRAM), Katrin Garfoot (QLD/Orica-AIS) Rachel Neylan (NSW/Orica-AIS), Loren Rowney (QLD/Velocio-SRAM) and Lizzie Williams (VIC/Orica-AIS), Gracie Elvin (ACT/Orica-AIS), Amanda Spratt (NSW/Orica-AIS) and Lauren Kitchen (NSW/Hitec Products).
Cycling Australia
