Howe won by a margin of 42 seconds, ensuring that she would overtake overnight leader Maeve Plouffe (ARA-Pro Racing Sunshine Coast) and move to the top of the overall standings.
“The plan was always to attack on the climb. Inform were setting a good pace, Emily (Watts) attacked, and as soon as I saw that she was coming back, I chose that time to attack, hoping someone would come with me, but it ended up just being me, myself and I. I just choofed on, picked a powerzone and stuck to that.”
Behind Howe, there were discussions within the much-reduced peloton among the squads about who was primarily responsible for the chase, with the resultant lull in speed giving Howe more space than was prudent for the teams hoping to prevent her from winning.
“To be fair, I was doing about 40 kilometres an hour,” said Howe, “so the bunch would have to have been pretty organized to bring that back. I was confident that if I just stuck to that power and got my head down that I could go to the line.”
An early attack from Inverloch was neutralised by the peloton, with the imposing climb of Mount Misery an early spark point in the race.
The chasing group during the NRS Womens Tour of Gippsland Stage 2 Inverloch Road Race, Monday, February 14, 2022. Source: Con Chronis / Tour of Gippsland
Emily Watts (Knights of Surburbia) started the attacks on the climb, surging away from the group before counterattacks from Alyssa Polites (Sydney Uni-Staminade) and Georgie Howe (Knights of Suburbia) caught and passed Watts.
Howe kept going over the top and pushed out to a solo lead, the former rower steadily expanding her lead with a strong, sustained effort. Around the Kongwak circuit, Howe pushed out her lead to a maximum of two minutes and seven seconds with 25 kilometres left to race.
The continued pace of the larger group saw Howe’s lead diminished on the run to the finish, but she powered through, punching the air as she crossed the line 42 seconds ahead of the chasing group, which was led home by Amber Pate (Inform TMX Make) ahead of previous race leader Maeve Plouffe, who relinquished the yellow jersey to Howe.
Georgie Howe during the NRS Womens Tour of Gippsland Stage 2 Inverloch Road Race, Monday, February 14, 2022. (Photo by Con Chronis) Source: Con Chronis / Tour of Gippsland
