It was not meant to be for
Amanda Spratt to take her fourth
Tour Down Under title. Instead, in her home stage race, she finished fourth atop Wilunga Hill to conclude the race in the same position overall.
"I do feel a bit disappointed, because obviously I was chasing the win here, a fourth is... Even a podium would have been nice in the end there, and I didn’t quite get it, so I mainly just feel disappointed for the team that I couldn’t reward all the hard work that’s gone into it with at least a podium," Spratt said after the race.
"They really supported me throughout all three stages and especially today, we tried in the crosswinds, and it was almost splitting but it just wasn’t really in our favour. They set me up perfectly to Willunga," she praised her teammates' work.
"I finished empty, I really couldn’t have done much more," she said. "Maybe I could have changed the last couple of hundred metres against Neve there, but not many regrets, put it that way. I think sometimes you just have to say that someone was stronger, and I think Sarah Gigante proved that today, she rode everyone off her wheel, even in a headwind climb. She was the strongest rider."