Australia's inaugural ProVelo Super League (PSL) continued this past weekend with the second and final one-day race in the series: the Grafton to Inverell. This staple of the Australian domestic calendar was the fifth round of this year's PSL and leaves just one round in the first-running of the series.
Here's how Saturday's races played out.
Women's race
Contested over 110 km from Mt. Mitchell to Inverell, the women's race saw an early break of six riders get up the road. Six would soon become five, but with Praties – the league's best team – having two riders up front, and with their series leader Sophie Marr back in the bunch, the break was always a good chance of surviving.
Sure enough, the five leaders made it all the way to Inverell where Gina Ricardo (Praties) took a sprint victory ahead of Rachael Wales (Butterfields Ziptrack), with Rhylee Akeroyd (Meridian Blue-99 Bikes) completing the podium. The main field was led in by sixth-placed Lauren Bates (Meridian Blue-99 Bikes), a little over two minutes after Ricardo crossed the line.
Ignore the thumbnail: highlights for the women's race start at 2:04 in this video.
Here's the top 10 from the women's race:
And see below for the overall individual leaderboard with one round remaining in the series. Note that the top-ranked U23 rider (rider with an asterisk next to their name) after the final round of the PSL will receive a one-year contract with the Liv AlUla Jayco Continental team. At this stage it will be a Praties rider who will take the contract, but who will it be: Sophie Marr or Talia Appleton?
Men's race
The 64th edition of the men's race spanned the full 228 km from Grafton to Inverell and also came down to a small group. An early break of nine got away, headlined by Brendon Davids (Brennan) and Connor Leahy (Ccache-Bodywrap), but were eventually caught after the Gibraltar Range climb.
A lead group of five eventually formed in the back half of the race, three of them from Team Brennan – including Davids and Tristan Saunders – plus Zac Marriage (Butterfields Ziptrack). Despite being out in the break all day, Davids attacked late, forcing Marriage to chase, and allowing Saunders to sit on.
In the sprint that decided the race, Tristan Saunders outkicked Marriage to take the win, with Davids third after a long day out front.
Here's the top 10 on the day:
And here's the delicately poised individual leaderboard with just one round remaining in the inaugural PSL. Marriage's second-place finish puts him within striking distance of the Jayco AlUla stagiaire contract later this year, if he can overcome Jack Ward in the final round. Ward skipped the Grafton to Inverell in favour of Australia's MTB Nationals where he won the elite XCC title and was second in the XCO.
The inaugural PSL concludes this coming weekend with the first-ever Q Tour, a three-day, four-stage race in and around Brisbane, featuring a criterium, a time trial, and two road races.
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