arah Gigante secured an incredible overall win at the National Road Series in New South Wales, Australia, this past Sunday, despite entering the nine-day team event as a solo participant.
“It was really hard racing, especially as an individual against teams of seven riders,” Gigante said. I wasn’t expecting to race the National Road Series this year, so to win it was a very special feeling and rewarding after a tough year.”
Gigante started the event by crushing the opening individual time trial. However, she lost the leader’s jersey after the criterium on the second day. During stage 4’s road race, the reigning time trial champion clawed her way back into the GC lead after a long solo attack.
It came down to the last stage in a three-rider GC battle, but with another road race win up her sleeve on Stage 7, Gigante held onto the overall by a slim margin and finished with top honors.
“It was a fantastic nine days, with a great mix of stage types and varied terrain, including a couple of incredibly hilly courses,” Gigante said. “I was thrilled to be back racing again, after having trained hard since March through strict lockdown and without any real-time competitions since my last Belgian kermesse.”
Gigante will get another chance to race tomorrow morning (12/9) when she represents Australia in the inaugural UCI Esports World Championships. Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank teammates, Lauren Stephens and Kristen Faulkner will join Gigante, virtually, as part of Team USA.
Zwift will be streaming the race live, along with Flosports starting at 5:45 a.m. PST.