Felicity Wilson-Haffenden (Lidl-Trek) claimed the elite women’s Australian time trial title on Thursday, riding to victory in Perth by trumping defending champion Brodie Chapman (UAE Team ADQ) in a tight battle.
The 20-year-old Wilson-Haffenden, who was contesting the elite category at the Westbridge Funds Road National Championships for the first time, crossed the line with a time of 40:15.71 for the 29.3km effort around Bold Park.
Chapman had a deficit of 22 seconds with ten kilometres to go, but a huge final lap enabled her to pull back the gap significantly. But after finishing fourth in the individual time trial at the Kigali Road World Championships, ultimately Chapman had to concede defeat on home soil as well.
Chapman was quick to go over and offer her teammate in the World Championship-winning Mixed Relay team – whom she had predicted would be a dangerous rival – a hearty congratulations when it became clear she had lost by 3.8 seconds.