There is little question that Lidl-Trek are as soon as once more one of many key groups to look at on the Women’s Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, as they hunt for that first victory on the one-day Women’s WorldTour race with a packed hand with an thrilling new card added into the combination in 2025, Niamh Fisher-Black.
The rider from New Zealand hasn’t but raced the occasion, the closest factor she has to a house one-day WorldTour occasion, largely as a result of she has spent the previous 4 years with SD Worx – a staff that doesn’t enterprise out to the Australian WorldTour openers in January.
Fisher-Black’s shift to Lidl-Trek has opened the door to the Australian summer season racing and the rider is now wanting ahead to her first alternative to tackle the 142.4km occasion which sweeps out from Geelong through the coast and into rolling countryside earlier than tackling the quick however steep climb of Challambra Crescent twice within the Geelong ending circuit.
“I’ve solely ever watched on TV, however I’ve seen the way in which it is raced – it is steep and punchy hills, which usually I actually like and it ought to swimsuit me,” Fisher-Black informed Cyclingnews in Adelaide final week after racing the Santos Tour Down Under.
It’s the kind of terrain the place she has definitely delivered loads of proof of her prowess, from Giro d’Italia stage podiums to a Tour de Suisse stage win and the very first U23 girls’s world highway title in Wollongong in 2023.
Fisher-Black is coming into the occasion from a Tour Down Under which didn’t essentially ship on all of the groups hopes however definitely wasn’t a interval of racing with out some reveals of energy – Fisher-Black ending twelfth total whereas Amanda Spratt was seventh.
“For positive, I missed some race legs this time of yr, however now I’ve the [Tour Down Under] within the financial institution,” stated Fisher-Black who has additionally since then added Sunday’s 1.Pro ranked Schwalbe Women’s One Day Classic and Wednesday’s 1.1 ranked Surf Coast Classic.
“We can see if we will open one thing up however I feel it is also a vastly tactical race, and I’ve a pleasant staff behind me.”
Fisher-Black shall be racing alongside skilled fingers on the occasion like Lauretta Hanson and Spratt, who shouldn’t be solely a fount of information but additionally an alternate card. The 37 yr previous who received the race in 2016 – whereas racing with the Australian staff now known as Liv-AlUla-Jayco – has additionally been on the rostrum in her final three begins plus has put clear proof of her kind on show on the Tour Down Under. Add to that the staff have additionally obtained a lift from the in-form Clara Copponi’s dash victory on the Schwalbe Women’s One Day Classic.
That means whereas the ladies’s Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race usually throws up unpredictable outcomes – with final yr’s shock winner being Rosita Reijnhout (Visma-Lease a Bike) – given that there’s terrain that fits, a robust staff and extra race legs within the day Fisher-Black heads towards the race with each purpose to hope.
“I’m excited for it, optimistic as nicely,” concluded Fisher-Black.
Keep watching Cyclingnews for extra from the interview in Adelaide with Fisher-Black, with a characteristic coming quickly.
