Sweet As.

Grafton to Inverell is a 112k Australian Road Racing classic, starting with a 40k loop with rolling hills and one short then a longer section of dirt roads, followed by approx 70km of rolling and sharp hills, with two distinct climbs: Waterloo Range and Wire Gully. These two climbs are embedded in folklore of Australian racing and once again would prove pivotal.

Bundaberg Sugar’s goal for this race was to work as a team to get Simone Grounds to the line in the best possible position for her overall NRS standing. Friday night the plan was laid out by Terry Peters our legendary Sporting Director.

Bundaberg Sugar hasn’t raced like this before with such specific aims for each individual for the teams goal.

So the race itself…

The standard was set before the race, Wayne treating us like princesses, Sim looking at herself in the mirror and flexing her arm muscles etc. But rolling to the start line at 8:30am game faces were on!

The starting gun went off at 9am in Inverell. The neutral zone was shaken up with a bit of excitement as the rough roads caused some teams water bottles to fly out of their cages, …this sent panic through the peloton as girls begun weaving and dodging! And the dodging game didn’t stop there!! A couple of k’s later and the peloton was held up by a herd of cows!

As the peloton became hesitant with the disruptions, Sal Robbins shot through like a bullet with no fear and ended up breaking away with Miffany Galloway. Sal did a great job in releasing pressure from the team and our rivals were forced to work. Soon though we were all back together and Nat and Brielle were representing the team on the front. The idea was for Bundaberg Sugar to be driving the race as we hit a 2km stretch of unsurfaced road...with all of Bundaberg Sugar on the front.

Unfortunately we didn’t stay there with Sim crashing on the tough surface. However the show must go on and it did….Sim knuckled down after a tough crash, Angie dropped back and we were in mode to get back to the pack. We were nearly there but struggling until Brielle did a really solid effort to get Sim and Angie back to the main race group.

The middle section of the race was settled. There were sections being driven by Jazzy and Angie covering the moves as we were coming back into town, both giving it a go and Nat being very present on the front. The race stayed together untill the last hill: Wire Gully. The girls did a good job in getting over the top. The race grouped back together except for two riders: Jo Hogan (VIS) and Lauren Rowney. The Bundy team worked hard but the two riders were too strong against a tiring peloton. Lauren out sprinted Jo for the finish to claim the victory. There was still a big race behind for third, and Sim, after a tough day in the saddle delivered for the team with a great third.

Each girl gave it everything and we played the best to our strengths. We wanted the win but were satisfied with 3rd after a really tough day in the saddle.

This race is considered one of Australia’s toughest, and the whole team worked well with Simone getting a strong podium and consolidating another good NRS points return.

These points see Simone again as one of the top road racers in the nation after a hard season punctuated by crashes and tough racing...4th in the final tally of the NRS!!