AL ULA/ GEELONG
Double Olympic mountain bike champion Tom Pidcock won Saudi Arabia's Al_Ula Tour on Saturday in his first race since joining the Q36.5 team.
Pidcock quit Ineos in the close season in an eyebrow-raising switch to the ambitious but second tier outfit and the Yorkshireman and the Swiss team have both reaped instant benefits.
"I did it at junior level but never at elite," said the 25-year-old after the five-day race, describing it as a career breakthrough.
"We won as a team. I know it's only a five day race but we didn't even know each other until December," said the sprightly Pidcock who was disaffected in his time with British outfit Ineos despite winning a Tour de France stage at the iconic Alpe d'Huez.
Pidcock took the lead on stage two attacking on a steep slope and easing away from his rivals. He won again on stage four to extend that lead and was little troubled defending his jersey on the final flat run.
The fifth stage itself was also won by a Q36.5 rider as the Italian Matteo Moschetti outsprinted Dutch speedster Dylan Groenewegen.
Wollaston wins women's Road Race
New Zealand's Ally Wollaston powered home ahead of the Netherlands' Karlijn Swinkels in a bunched sprint finish to claim her first World Tour victory in the women's Cadel Evans Road Race on Saturday.
FDJ-Suez's Wollaston, a double-medallist at the Paris Olympics, sat at the back of the peloton for much of the race then timed her move perfectly in the final dash to cross the line in 3hrs 59.43mins.
She came home just ahead of Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) and Switzerland's Noemi Ruegg (EF Education-Oatly), who won last month's Tour Down Under which opened the World Tour season.
New Zealander Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) took Queen of the Mountain honours.
"I knew that what I had to do is conserve all day. I was really lucky that my teammates were strong enough to follow all the moves," said Wollaston, the reigning omnium track world champion. AFP
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