FDJ United-Suez's New Zealand rider Ally Wollaston claimed back-to-back victories in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Geelong

Geelong (Australia) (AFP) - New Zealand sprinter Ally Wollaston powered to her third World Tour win of the season to claim back-to-back victories in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Geelong on Saturday.

Wollaston, coming off her two stage wins in this month’s women’s Tour Down Under in Adelaide, swept to victory in the 141.2-kilometre race on the back of her FDJ-United Suez teammates on the two final climbs.

Wollaston beat off Britain’s Josie Nelson (Team Picnic PostNL) and Spain’s Mireia Benito (AG Insurance-Soudal) at the finish.

“I wasn’t on it over the final two climbs and I owe it to my teammates, if they weren’t there today I wouldn’t have come back to win it, that was a real team effort today,” Wollaston said.

“When you see one kilometre to go it’s like you’ve got a new set of legs. I knew I had to get to that point, but the girls got me back to that front group.”

Australia’s Mackenzie Coupland (Liva AlUla Jayco) was fourth ahead of Poland’s Dominika Wlodarczyk (UAE Team DQ) in fifth.

Wollaston was the favourite to defend her Cadel Evans Race crown and, once her rivals could not shake her on the steep climb up Challambra Hill in the two laps of the finishing circuit, she was always the rider to beat.

Saturday’s race came down to a front group of 12 and Wollaston, who had two FDJ-United Suez teammates in support, including Dutch domestique Amber Kraak, timed her finishing sprint to perfection.

Wollaston came into the event in peak form after winning the first two stages of the Tour Down Under before finishing 39th overall.

Swiss Mauro Schmid, who rides for the Australian Jayo AlUla team, is the defending men’s champion for Sunday’s event and comes off a second overall at the Tour Down Under.