ARA Australian Cycling Team wins mountains jerseys in exciting TDU campaign

The ARA Australian Cycling Team has completed a successful and entertaining campaign at the Santos Tour Down Under, winning both mountains classifications and animating the men's and women's races.

In the women's race, Alyssa Polites won the efex Queen of the Mountains jersey by just two points. She sealed the narrow victory at the final sprint in Stirling after a stellar lead-out by former national champion Nicole Frain.

"To be able to pull off a hard-fought battle for the QOM jersey meant a whole lot," said Polites, who has returned to domestic racing after turning pro with GreenEDGE in 2023. "Personally, it was a full-circle moment for me to be able to claim the overall lead after coming back from a rough two-and-a-half seasons as a professional early on in my career.

"This couldn’t have of come at a better time and I finally feel like a confident racer again. And to be able to win it for the ARA Australian Cycling Team in Aussie colours, in front of a home crowd, with my family watching on the sidelines, made it even more rewarding and special to share."

Polites was delighted to win the QOM jersey in her home race.

In the men's race, Fergus Browning led the efex King of the Mountains from start to finish. Browning made the breakaway on each of the first three stages. He took maximum points on seven of the nine categorised climbs, giving him an unassailable lead before the final stage in Adelaide.

Browning said winning a jersey at the Tour Down Under was a dream come true.

"For me, it means so much," Browning said. 'It’s been one of my dream races to come to. I’ve watched it a couple of times as a kid. To actually get here and race is a bit of a dream come true, let alone be on the podium."

The young and developing riders of the ARA Australian Cycling Team made their presence known at the WorldTour-level event, getting into almost every breakaway and securing excellent results.

As well as Browning's hat-trick of breakaways, Polites (women's Stage 1), Maeve Plouffe and Alli Anderson (women's Stage 2), Lauren Bates (women's Stage 3), Zac Marriage (men's Stage 1), Oliver Bleddyn (men's Stage 5), and senior rider Damien Howson (men's Stage 6) were all seen on the attack across the last week.

Browning (left) and Marriage animated Stage 1 in a two-up breakaway.

Liam Walsh earned the team's best stage result with fourth in the reduced bunch sprint into Victor Harbor. That was matched by Cameron Scott's fourth place in the earlier warm-up race, the Villawood Men's Classic.

Rudy Porter also impressed by finishing just outside the top 10 on the climb of Willunga Hill, ultimately securing 16th on GC.

Marriage, at 21 years old, was also second in the Zwift Young Rider's Classification, as was 18-year-old Emily Dixon in the women's race.

Browning paid tribute to the versatility and teamwork of the ARA Australian Cycling Team, and the leadership of Howson.

"We had a really balanced squad of probably three fast guys and four skinnier guys for the hills. We put that to work really well. Whether it was to work for the sprint guys on the flatter days, or for the bigger guys to position us before the climbs on the GC days," Browning said.

"To have the experience of Damo there was something I really appreciated. He was my roommate and had heaps of advice before the stage or after the stage. He knew how the race was going to unfold, and almost 99 per cent of the time, he was correct."

The team earned plenty of TV time thanks to their attacking style.

Likewise, Polites was full of praise for her teammates and the wider support staff.

"The national team for the road is always an exciting and honourable team to be a part of," Polites said.

"Historically, their main objective coming into these races is to be the more 'aggressor' or opportunistic team in the peloton, and as a team we truly reflected this ethos. Donna [Rae-Szalinski] put together a great team yet again, and for not being teammates before and instead as competitors and rivals, I think we did a great job of gelling and working harmoniously together throughout the three stages.

"The QOM jersey is a testament to all of our individual 'mountains' we’ve climbed personally, and I can’t thank the girls enough for really looking after me, especially into the last stage."

The ARA Australian Cycling Team will return to action this week at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.

Photos: Zac Williams