Canberra cyclist Rebecca Wiasak led from start to finish in the latest round of the National Road Series, but may miss the remaining races including her home event to chase her Olympic Games dream.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Wiasak capitalised on a significant lead in the opening stage's time trial to take out the general classification title at the King Valley Tour in Wangaratta on Sunday.
The 30-year-old will now put her road bike in the garage to resume her commitments on the track as part of the national high performance squad.
Wiasak will fly to Adelaide on Tuesday for a six-week training block in preparation for the Oceania championships in November.
Her long-term goal is to represent Australia at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, using her omission from this year's world championships and Commonwealth Games as motivation.
"Rio is still my big goal, and I'm going to do everything I can to prove myself on the track and cement my place in the teams pursuit," Wiasak said.
"Last year I was taken to all three World Cups, and didn't get selected for the world champs and unfortunately missed Commonwealth Games selection in the individual events.
"All of those disappointments are fuelling my fire to continue and really cement myself on the track.
"These results on the road help give me another option if things don't work out for me."
Those ambitions could force Wiasak to bypass the National Capital Tour from September 19-21 after winning two stages at last year's event.
The ACT round of the National Road Series clashes with a track competition in New Zealand.
"There's a chance I won't be doing any road racing for the rest of the year," Wiasak said.
"I'm a little bit torn, because I'm a part of the high performance program funded by the track team and it'll depend on what [national team coach] Gary Sutton decides," Wiasak said.
"Obviously I want to be at the Canberra tour, so it's a little bit unknown at this stage."
Wiasak completed the four stages of the King Valley Tour in six hours, 47 minutes and 14 seconds – one-and-a-half minutes in front of her nearest rival, Ashlee Ankudinoff, with Ruth Corset in third (+1.39min).
It was an all-Canberra victory, with Allison Rice, Alexandra Nicholls, Emma Viotto and Laura Darlington providing Wiasak with valuable support.
Wiasak won the tour's first three stages, gaining a dominant one minute and 16 seconds advantage in Friday's time trial.
"We did a great job to hold the jersey from stage one to the finish and kept everything under control," Wiasak said.
"All the other teams tried everything they could to get some time back, but I think I had a pretty commanding lead after the first day.
"For everyone to be up on the podium was an amazing feeling."
