2025 starts off with a bang for Tour Down Under stage winner Chloe Dygert - "Last year, nothing really went according to plan"

Cycling
Sunday, 19 January 2025 at 11:57
chloe dygert captura de pantalla 2025 01 19 a las 80429

Chloe Dygert opted with a different type of start to her 2025 season, travelling to Australia and racing the Tour Down Under. Her performances were a reflection of 2024 where she achieved good results but not quite the ideal goal, but she was happy nevertheless to win the final stage with an impressive sprint.

“We started the race with the ambition to win the final classification, but a stage win was also a goal," the American rider admitted in a post-race interview, with honest words. "Today we went all out for the stage win, since we were no longer really competing for the classification. I am very happy that it worked out".

The 28-year old hoped to be in the fight for the ochre jersey this week, but this was not the case as she struggled in the Old Willunga Hill and lost over three minutes to the eventual winner Noemi Rüegg. However it wasn't lack of form for Dygert certainly, as in today's hilly circuit in Stirling she proved to be the strongest.

The peloton was severely reduced with the strong pace throughout the day and only around 20 riders made it to the final meters in the front group. Out of these, Dygert launched a terrifying sprint which saw no-one even be able to follow her wheel. It was a comfortable win, her first of the year.

“But this win gives me a huge boost to work even harder and stay injury-free. I’m really happy that I’m healthy again now," she says. It was important to start off her season with a win, her first in over a year on the road. In 2024 she put out great performances including a third place at both Olympic and World time-trial championships, and then surprised to a second behind Lotte Kopecky in the Zurich road race. But it was a year where she could not pin 1 victory to her name with Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto.

“I am very happy. Last year, nothing really went according to plan. Yes, we won Olympic gold with the American team in the team pursuit and I won two more World Championship medals, but those are not the results I had hoped for. There are no excuses though: it just wasn’t my year. The competition was just better.”

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