Lucas defends Oceania title

New Zealand cyclist Sharlotte Lucas made it back-to-back Oceania road cycling titles, after successfully defending her crown in Tasmania on Saturday.

The 27-year-old from Hokitika finished the 105-kilometre race in 3hr 18min 50 sec, unleashing a powerful sprint to pip Australian Sarah Gigante, who took the under-23 race honours.

Following a tactical and cautious opening three laps of the four-lap course, a group of nine riders emerged to contest the title, with the group trading attacks on the final lap, with every move quickly chased down. As they rounded the final corner with 200 metres to go, Gigante hit out first to gap the field. However, the uphill drag for the line proved too much for the youngster, with Lucas squeaking home.

‘‘It is actually quite a relief,’’ Lucas said of defending her title. ‘‘I had a terrible last couple of days with my time trial bike. It broke on the plane and I basically had to stick it back together and had mechanical problems yesterday, so I was disappointed with that. To come out today and back up from last year has been awesome.

‘‘I felt really marked, obviously I am wearing pro kit and you are always sort of marked and obviously as the defending champion it was quite a mission. I had a couple of goes to get away, but we were reeled back in and I knew obviously on that last lap what I needed to do to win that sprint finish.

‘‘It is quite a technical one coming around that corner, but it is quite uphill, so I was happy to take out the win.’’