SHE's 'bummed' she won't get the chance to defend her Bathurst Tour crown in 2021, but Emily Watts will have plenty of opportunities to test her legs in South Australia's Festival of Cycling.
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Last March Watts won the inaugural women's Bathurst Tour honours as Bathurst Cycling Classic officials made to move to acknowledge the strongest riders across their hill climb, criterium and road race events.
Watts enjoyed a clean sweep of all three events as the Bathurst Cycling Club graduate added to an already impressive list of results from past classics.
Unfortunately in 2022 there will be no Bathurst Tour, the three-day program of cycling cancelled due to COVID-19 safety concerns.
"Yeah, I am really bummed that's not on. I'm was very surprised it's not on," Watts said.
"It's a really good race and I think the format they've had the last two years of the criterium, the hill climb and the road race has worked well for the women because we normally wouldn't have that sort of racing.
"Like those three races in that time period - it's really well organised too."
However, Watts is still hoping she will get to contest a full National Road Series season with her team the Knights of Suburbia.
That campaign starts this Sunday with the Festival of Cycling - an event which replaces the Tour Down Under.
Watts will tackle a three-stage road race which covers 258 kilometres then a criterium on Wednesday night.
She brings good form after picking up Road National Championships under 23s bronze medals in the time trial and road race.
"That's four days which will be really exciting because I haven't done a tour in ages, it will be a year and a bit now. I think my last NRS tour I did was Tour of Tweed in 2020," Watts said.
The Festival of Cycling road race will take Watts and her fellow competitors through South Australia's picturesque Barossa, Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu Peninsula. They face some leg-burning climbs, unpaved sections and no doubt hot sprints.
The criterium will run for 45 minutes plus one lap on a 1.35km course in Adelaide's Victoria Square.
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