After 266 days of no outdoor racing, Sarah Gigante is back in action. The Australian time trial national champion claimed the opening TT at the National Road Series, a nine-day event in New South Wales.
“I can’t even express how excited I am to race on the road again,” Gigante said. “Despite the lack of racing for me this year, I have been kept motivated by the team’s successes in Europe in the second half of the season, and I also set lots of goals with my coach, Dylan Lindsey.”
Sporting her Voler national champion skinsuit for the first time, Gigante clocked 21:26 on the 15km course, taking the win by 38 seconds on her Cannondale SuperSix EVO road bike (time trial bikes aren’t allowed at the National Race Series).
Despite Covid-19 restrictions wreaking havoc on her race season, Gigante remained motivated, and trained mostly on her indoor trainer. “Quite a few riders here are in the same boat as I am and haven’t raced for many months, so we have a strong field lined up, filled with very eager riders,” Gigante said. “As a pro, I’m not allowed to join a team for the series, so I’ll be racing on my own throughout the tour. I am looking forward to the challenge, though. There is even a TTT on the second last day, with teams of five riders, and it looks like I’ll be allowed to do it on my own as an ITT – I wonder how that will go.”
The National Road Series consists of five road races, an individual time trial, team team trial, and two criteriums.