Ally Wollaston. Photo: FDJ-Suez
New Zealand cyclist Ally Wollaston sprinted clear of a powerful field to clinch a first WorldTour title, at the Cadel Evans Road Race near Melbourne.
Wollaston stormed home ahead of the Netherlands' Karlijn Swinkels in a sprint finish to claim victory for her FDJ-Suez team to cap a tactical four-hour battle over the 142.4km course.
Her previous win at WorldTour level was on stage one of last year's Tour Down Under in Adelaide.
It capped a brilliant week for the 24-year-old, who won the leadup one-day race, the Surf Coast Classic, also in Victoria.
A renowned track cyclist - Wollaston is the Omnium world champions and won two medals on the track at the Paris Olympics - the Auckland rider has unveiled a maturity on the road.
She timed her move perfectly in the final dash to head off Swinkels and Switzerland's Noemi Ruegg, who won last month's Tour Down Under which opened the World Tour season.
"I knew that what I had to do is conserve all day. I was really lucky that my teammates were strong enough to follow all the moves," Wollaston said.
"So proud of the girls (teammates) that just went all in for me in the final and yeah, just so happy to take the win today.
"This is actually my first one-day World Tour win. I'm so proud to win, and I knew the last two weeks I felt super strong, and today I'm just so happy that it all came together."
Wollaston had too much speed for Swinkels and recent Tour Down Under winner Noemi Rüegg of Switzerland while American star Chloé Dygert was fourth.
On a memorable day for New Zealand, Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) won Queen of the Mountain honours.
A field of 82 riders from 14 teams completed the race, which began and ended in Geelong and took in the southern coastline of Victoria.
While largely flat, there were two late steep ascents of Challambra Crescent, with the second splitting the peloton to a leading pack of 14 which then made a charge for the line.
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