This page contains the podium, decisive moments, tactical analysis, team verdicts, and per-rider performance reports. Read no further if you intend to watch this race unspoiled.
Maggie Coles-Lyster (Human Powered Health) won the fast, flat 94.2 km Women's One Day Race in Tanunda from a bunch sprint, beating Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) and Marta Lach (Team SD Worx - Protime). The whole front group was given the same time after a quick (44.49 km/h average) day of circuit racing in the Barossa Valley.
OPENINGThe Women's One Day Race is the festival's flat companion to the Women's Tour Down Under, a 94.2 km event run on the circuit through Tanunda in the heart of the Barossa Valley. With only 653 m of climbing across the laps and a string of intermediate sprints to animate the day, the profile pointed at the fast finishers from the gun.
UNFOLDSThe peloton kept the race together through the repetitive circuit laps, the bunch staying compact at a high average speed of 44.49 km/h that left no room for a long-range move to stick.
DECIDEDWith the field intact into the closing laps, the day came down to positioning for a bunch sprint — exactly the scenario the flat Tanunda circuit was always likely to produce, and one that suited the sprinters' teams controlling the front.
FINALEMaggie Coles-Lyster (Human Powered Health) timed her effort best to take the win, with Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) second and Marta Lach (Team SD Worx - Protime) third. The entire front group was credited with the same time, underlining how the race stayed together to a mass gallop on the line.
The Continental-level team landed the day's biggest prize, with Maggie Coles-Lyster reading the flat Tanunda finale perfectly to win the bunch sprint ahead of a WorldTour-heavy field — a standout early-season result for the Canadian sprinter and her squad.
Noemi Rüegg was the closest challenger to the winner, sprinting to second from the front group. After a strong Australian summer for the Swiss rider, it was another podium to add to her early-season tally even if the top step stayed out of reach.
Marta Lach took third in the sprint, giving the dominant women's super-team a podium on the flat Tanunda circuit through the in-form Polish classics rider.
Rüegg was EF's protected card on the flat Tanunda circuit and delivered, contesting the bunch sprint and taking second behind Coles-Lyster. It was another podium in a busy Australian summer for the Swiss all-rounder, who showed she can finish fast as well as climb.
The Women's One Day Race rounds out the women's racing in the Santos Tour Down Under festival week with a flat, fast circuit event distinct from the climbing-focused stage race. Coles-Lyster's win from a mass sprint capped a busy stretch of Australian summer racing before the peloton moved on to the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.