'Maybe it's an Australian thing' - TTT heritage powers repeat mixed relay world title
Australia’s second successive victory in the mixed relay team time trial at the World Championships begged an obvious question – why is the nation thriving in a discipline that has been neglected by so many others?
Michael Matthews, part of the winning sextet for the second straight year, put it down to cycling heritage. Australia’s successes from the 1990s onwards owed much to the country’s emphasis on the track in general and the team pursuit in particular.
The commitment to collective effort has endured and spread to the road, as testified by the success of Matthews’ GreenEdge squad in team time trials over the years.
“I think with Jayco we’ve always had good team time trial teams, so maybe it’s an Australian thing,” Matthews told Cycling Pro in Kigali. “We seem to go well at team time trial events, whether it’s on the track or the road. It must be just our event.”
It was certainly their event on Wednesday in Rwanda. The men’s trio of Matthews, Jay Vine and Luke Plapp was quickest on the first leg, 33 seconds up on France. Brodie Chapman, Amanda Spratt and Felicity Wilson-Haffenden then did enough to fend off the French on the second leg to claim the title by five seconds.
Spratt echoed Matthews’ thoughts on Australia’s pedigree in the team time trial, and she also alighted upon another key factor. While some countries were all but scrambling to field a team in Rwanda, Australia had competition for places.
“I think it’s an event we take seriously,” Spratt said. “We have a long heritage in the team pursuit on the track, and in this event, when there’s an opportunity to race together, we really want to take it and inspire people back home in Australia. It’s an absolute honour to win the jersey like this.
“We also put a lot of work into it. We had a camp beforehand, and I want to mention Loretta Hanson, our other teammate, who just missed out on selection for this. We really push each other, and we have fun while we do it.”
Fun might not have been the word for Vine as he stood in the finish area watching the clock count down on the Australian women’s effort. “I didn’t believe it, these guys had more faith than I did with 200m to go,” he admitted.
In the closing kilometres, however, Chapman and Spratt had dovetailed their efforts smartly to ensure Australia did just enough to see off the French challenge and claim the rainbow jerseys.
“We wanted to keep it in the country,” Chapman said. “I think it was just a matter of digging deep. I did the individual time trial, so I knew where it would hurt and where I could gain speed. On the cobbles, Spratty and I used our strengths. I was trying to hold her wheel on the steep bit, and then we changed roles in the final.”
In Zurich twelve months ago, Ben O’Connor, Ruby Roseman-Gannon and the retired Grace Brown were part of the Australian squad that claimed a narrow victory over Germany. Their replacements replicated the feat here, with Plapp performing strongly on the first leg.
“It’s awesome to do it with these guys,” Plapp said. “As Aussies, it’s actually a more special event than anything we do. We relish riding together in team time trials on the road and the track. I think it’s a discipline that Aussies love to do together. It’s awesome for the guys to go back-to-back and for Australia to be on top.”
