It was once a protracted solo effort for males’s Grimy Warrny victor Tim Cutler, whilst within the ladies’s race, it was once a combat until the tip for Matilda Raynolds, who gapped final yr’s winner Courtney Sherwell at the run into the road of the 246km Australian gravel tournament.
The pair had additionally long gone toe to toe on the Gravelista International Collection tournament in Beechworth, simply two weeks in the past, however this time the order of the highest two steps within the ladies’s class was once reversed. That gave Raynolds a Grimy Warrny identify so as to add to her two victories on the street race which galvanized the gravel tournament, the long-running Melbourne to Warrnambool.
“There’s simply one thing concerning the Warrny,” mentioned Raynolds in an interview immediately after the end line, shared at the race’s Instagram web page. “I sought after this one as a result of I’ve were given somewhat of historical past right here, I received’t swear as a result of I will see kids …but it surely was once very difficult,” she mentioned in a tone that obviously indicated that the level of problem may just now not be conveyed by means of a cautious, measured description.
Raynolds took 8:41:24 to finish the race from Geelong to Warrnambool, which integrated over 3,000m of elevation achieve. Sherwell was once simply 4 seconds in the back of when she crossed the grassed end line, whilst in 3rd it was once Movistar rider Sarah Gigante, who was once greater than 25 mins again.
Within the males’s race, there was once no ready round for Cutler – who got here to note when he made his power transparent along with his efforts within the ruin on the Melbourne to Warrnambool in 2022. Cutler leapt out the entrance on the very get started of the race, briefly pulling out a cast hole and not relenting.
“I used to be simply in the market having a move and it simply one way or the other paid off, implausible,” mentioned Cutler, who expressed his disbelief after the road.
The 28-year-old crossed the road in 7:49:26, with the ever-competitive Mark O’Brien just about 5 mins again in 2d whilst Hayden Jarvis claimed the overall spot at the podium, completing simply over 9 mins again from Cutler. Ultimate yr’s winner Brendan Johnston came visiting the road in 6th, whilst anticipated challenger Connor Sens had an unrelenting move of punctures which put the Australian champion out of the operating.
FDJ-Suez rider Grace Brown claimed the 140km ladies’s tournament from Forrest to Warrnambool whilst Jack Aitken received the boys’s class in that distance.
It was once the second one version of the Grimy Warrny, which is administered in south-west Victoria on 85% gravel roads and. with its tough surfaces because it weaves thru small regional places, harks again to the historical past of the long-running street race which first ran in 1895.
| Place | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tim Cutler | 7:49:26 |
| 2 | Mark O’Brien | 7:54:17 |
| 3 | Hayden Jarvis | 7:58:32 |
| 4 | Brendon Davids | 8:03:28 |
| 5 | Louis Perriman | 8:08:39 |
| 6 | Brendan Johnston | 8:16:00 |
| 7 | Oliver Penney | 8:16:00 |
| 8 | Ryan Schilt | 8:16:18 |
| 9 | John Davis | 8:16:25 |
| 10 | Nick Locandro | 8:16:34 |
| Place | Rider | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matilda Raynolds | 8:41:24 |
| 2 | Courtney Sherwell | 8:41:28 |
| 3 | Sarah Gigante | 9:07:16 |
| 4 | Nicole Mitsigeorgis | 9:55:48 |
| 5 | Fiona Morris | 10:01:39 |
| 6 | Bizzy Butterworth | 10:01:51 |
| 7 | Lisa Jacob | 10:01:59 |
| 8 | Kathryn Whalley | 10:02:14 |
| 9 | Berenice Heuberger | 10:46:40 |
| 10 | Irina Baimatova | 11:00:53 |
