It’s the best victory salute of the 2025 season so far. Frenchwoman Clara Copponi (Lidl-Trek) confidently folding her arms across her chest and nodding her head as she took a compelling sprint win in the Schwalbe Women’s One Day Classic.
“It was a deal with the soigneur,” the 26-year-old explained after winning the 90 km circuit race around northern Adelaide, a week after the women’s TDU wrapped-up. Georgia Baker (Liv AlUla Jayco) was second with Rachele Barbieri (Picnic PostNL) rounding out the podium.
It was a fast and aggressive two hours of racing that featured countless attacks as the opportunists sought to thwart the predicted bunch kick. Curiously, despite having one of the strongest sprinters in the race in Baker, Liv AlUla Jayco were the main aggressors on the day, seemingly keen to have a finger in both pies.
Indeed, of the six riders representing the Australian-registered team, only Baker wasn’t on the move. Amber Pate and Josie Talbot were particularly aggressive, with Pate ultimately winning the most combative prize for the day.
“The team strategy was to be aggressive in the first basically three quarters of the race, and then reset for the final if it wasn’t going to be a break that was going to win for the day,” Pate said. “And I think everybody stuck to it perfectly. We all backed Georgia for the sprint and once again, she’s done a fantastic job – we really are proud for second. Being aggressive at the start and sprinting like that, it really works well for us.”
Pate was the instigator of the only break that managed to get any meaningful advantage on the day. The South Australian’s attack with 41 km remaining saw her followed by Greta Marturano (UAE Team ADQ) and the pair combined well to build an advantage that peaked at around 25 seconds with 26 km remaining. They’d ultimately get caught, though, with around 15 km to go, setting the race up for the seemingly inevitable bunch sprint.
Chloe Dygert (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) had other ideas though. The winner of the final stage of the Tour Down Under burst away from the field on the only climb on course with around 7 km to go, prompting panic in the peloton.
“I think everyone was feeling it,” Copponi said of Dygert’s move. “When she attacked, I was maybe four places behind. And yeah, just everyone went full gas,” she added with a laugh.
Only Barbieri was able to follow Dygert. The pair led with a narrow advantage for a few kilometres before the peloton – led by Liv AlUla Jayco climber Silke Smulders – reeled them in roughly 4 km from the finish.
In the sprint that ultimately decided the race, Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto led through the final corner, trying to set up Dygert for the sprint. Ultimately it would be Copponi who took her first win on the road for more than two years; her first since joining Lidl-Trek in 2024.
“I was waiting – I was in a good wheel I think,” Copponi said. “I was not stressed, and yeah, I knew that I don’t have to go too early. So I just wait for the right moment and when Georgia [Baker] went full gas, I just went full gas too.” Another laugh from the reigning European champion in the scratch race.
Baker took second while Barbieri and Dygert rode through for third and fourth, despite their earlier exertions. Pre-race favourite Ally Wollaston (FDJ-Suez) could only managed seventh after a frustrating day out for the Kiwi. Wollaston was brought down in a crash in the very first lap and spent almost 10 km chasing back to the bunch with her teammates. A further 10 km up the road she had a mechanical issue that necessitated a bike change. It took most of 15 km for her to get back from that mishap.
With the women’s Tour Down Under carnival now complete, the peloton will now make its way to Victoria for the Surf Coast Classic (UCI 1.1) on Wednesday and then the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race on Saturday.
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