Sofia Bertizzolo wins Geelong Classic in Australia

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Sofia Bertizzolo wins Geelong Classic in Australia

January 24, 2024

It comes from Australia the second victory of the season for UAE Team ADQ. Sofia Bertizzolo won the Geelong Classic.

It comes from Australia the second victory of the season for UAE Team ADQ. Sofia Bertizzolo won the Geelong Classic, beating Georgia Baker (Liv) and Francesca Barale (dsm) in the sprint.

After two third places in stages and winning the Points Classification at the Santos Tour Down Under, the Italian rider confirmed her growing shape and sprinted to victory in the criterium at the end of another great team effort. After the podium finish, local champion and former Road World Champion Cadel Evans also congratulated Sofia Bertizzolo.

The race took place in Geelong, near Melbourne, and the very fast circuit, which had to be repeated 25 times, provided a great spectacle. Over the 50 kilometres of the race there were several attempts to attack. The UAE Team ADQ riders were always very alert and gave their contribution to the group to close in on the attacks. Eugenia Bujak, Mikayla Harvey, Safiya Alsayegh, Dominika Wlodarczyk and in the finale Anastasia Carbonari put Sofia Bertizzolo in the best position to take her winning sprint.

After her first personal victory of the year, Sofia Bertizzolo said: “Very fast circuit, beautiful view of the ocean, the team did a great job, I really have to say thank you to all my teammates who were amazing. I'm happy because my goal was to build up my good shape here over the last few weeks in order to be ready for Saturday's race and this win is already a first confirmation, beyond the win, of how I felt in the race. So it means we have done a great job. I must also thank all the team staff for the support they have given us here in Australia. Now the last important race awaits us, and I will definitely arrive there with high morale and good legs,” Bertizzolo concluded.

On Saturday 27 January, the team will close its experience in Australia with the Deakin University Elite Women's Road Race, a race on the UCI Women's WorldTour calendar.