Rising Australian cycling star Ruby Roseman-Gannon has made the perfect start to her debut professional season, winning the opening race of the Bay Classic series.
Roseman-Gannon took out a reduced sprint at the end of the Saturday afternoon criterium on Geelong's Eastern Park circuit.
The 23-year-old Melbourne rider has signed with top Australian team BikeExchange Jayco on a two-year deal.
She is racing the weekend's two Bay Classic races in the composite Lexus of Blackburn team, which set up Roseman-Gannon perfectly for the win.
One of her teammates in the Bay Classic is Tokyo Olympian Grace Brown, who has left BikeExchange Jayco to join French team FdJ.
Brown was part of a break that went clear early and then she gained a 10-second lead on her own.
But the race came together midway and Lexus of Blackburn set up the finish for Roseman-Gannon, with seven riders contesting the sprint.
"I didn't know whether I'd have it in that last little bit, it was a bit tight around that corner," she said.
"But I really wanted to pull it off, because when you have a rider like Grace Brown riding for you, she's one of the best cyclists in Australia, I can't let her down.
"It was cool to pull it off today."
Alex Martin-Wallace finished second and Matilda Raynolds was third, while Brown took eighth.
Roseman-Gannon is targetting the criterium next week at the national road championships in Ballarat.
"That's an itch to scratch, because I've been up there for three years, I really want to win that," she said.
