22 new Granfondo World Champions have been crowned after a hard day in the Great Otway National park and along the Great Ocean road in Lorne. The majority of them in sprints in smaller groups.
In the 19-34 category, Jeroen van Voorden took the gold and crossed the finish line as first of all competitors to win with a small 14 second margin to a group 27 riders from which two Polish won silver and bronze with Gracjan Szelag and Adrian Mrowka.
The next start category of men 35-39 had a tight sprint between three riders for the rainbow jersey. Team Relay hero Wojciech Szczepanik took his second gold ahead of Mark O’Brien from the homecountry and another Polish rider Adam Adamkiewicz.
Danish rider Thomas Vigjerg won the M40-44 gold with a small 4 second margin to Slovenian Gregor Sikosek and Dmitrii Puzanov.
A first Australian gold was for Matthew Sparnon in the M45-49. He won with a small margin to defending world champion Akihiro Takaoka from Japan with American Owen Shott as third.
The biggest category were the men 50-54 with Raul Patino Delgado renewing his title from 2024 in a sprint against Chris Ling from Australia and Borja Jelic from Slovenia. A double worldtitle for Patin
A sprint with 18 decided on the gold in the M55-59. Aslan Adams won ahead of his compatriot Damien Jones for a 1-2 for Australia. Andre van Reek from the Netherlands took bronze.
Australia took the full podium in the M60-64 category with Tim Jamieson and Wayne Sanchez sprinting for gold while Jim McMurray took the bronze almost 2 minutes behind the first two.
American Gilberto Gallardo beated 8 riders in a sprint for the M65-69 gold. Gonzalo Eguiguren from Chile and time trial world champion Alan Nelson from Australia were beside him on the podium.
The rainbow jersey in the M70-74 category was for Wayne Hildred from Australia, beating his compatriot and time trial World Champion Roger Cull by almost two minutes while Ewald Wolf was third at 2m18.
Australian Nigel Davies won the sprint for the M75-79 gold ahead of American Ed Chamerlin and his compatriot Paul Mclachlan.
Again, a complete Australian podium in the M80-84 category with Robert Braszell winning with a large 13-minute margin to kevin Donovan and 25 minutes to Myles Higgins.
Also, Marcel Eve (FRA) took his second gold after the time trial on Thursday in the M85-89 category.
The women who started in combined starts had Matilda Raynolds from Australia as first crossing the finish line. She won the F35-39 gold ahead of Laura Simenc Kramar from Slovenia and Jennifer Powell from Great Britain.
In the same sprint, Gwenaelle Legendre finished second and was first in the F19-34 category, ahead of Emma Drabbe from the Netherlands and Megan Chapple from Great Britain. These 6 ladies from the first start finished together.
The fastest female time of the day was ridden in the F40-44 category who started 5 minutes later with Jill Patterson from the States as fastest, beating time trial World champion Alina Mylka from Poland. Yulia Polevaya was the third one 4 minutes behind the two first.
We also had a complete Aussie podium in the F45-49 category where Cat Haines won the sprint again Kym Lynch to grab gold. Nicole Oh was the bronze medallist.
Jenny Pettenon from Australia was the first female to take the double after also winning the time trial gold. Yoko Nakamura from Japan and Claudia Weidekamm from Australia finished as second and third in a sprint with 10.
Nathalie Champagne took the only gold for Canada in the F55-59. She outsprinted Jill Seeman from Australia while her compatriot Robert Salvatori finished as third winning the sprint of a group of 5 behind.
The F60-64 title was for Jane Despas in again a complete Australian podium with Deborah Latouf as second in the same time while Kate Olgers finished third almost 5 minutes later.
Heather Hamling from Australia won the F65-69 gold ahead of time trial world champion Linda Dewhurst from Great Britain and Maria Nash from Australia.
Glenda Signorini won the F70-74 gold, She had a large 32 minutes gap to Marian Lennon from Ireland and Anna Tykoliz from Canada.
Gaye Lynn finally to the last gold in the F75-79 category with time that was 1h faster than Margaret Docking from Great Britain while Sue Richards from Australia finished third.
