The women's edition of the 2020 Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race was an exemplary race that showed how one rider's victory is built on the work of the entire team, and how bad luck due to weather can deprive other candidates of crucial support and affect the outcome The race turned out to be.

Australia's various summer races are known for their intense sunshine and high temperatures. While images of the peloton passing through the scorched bushland were on the racers' noses at the Tour Down Under, the Geelong on February 1 brought very different conditions.

Although the weather forecast spared the riders the storms that were feared to descend on the 121-km race, they were still forced to race in temperatures rarely seen in Victoria in early February. Heavy rain made for hard racing throughout, and the strong southerly winds added another stressor, with several crosswind sections just before the finale, which had a significant impact on the results.

Australian champion and third-place finisher Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton Scott) described the race: "It was epic. It got a bit cold and dangerous, there was a crosswind section from km 97, there were some crashes, and the road surface was a bit slippery.

The slippery surface led to a group crash on a steep downhill about 20 km from the finish that knocked down dozens of riders and left others stranded. [There was a big, big crash with about 20 km to go, and the only rider left in the lead group of 20 to 30 was Mitchelton-Scott. "It was really about trying to be smart and observing Sunweb and Trek, who were outnumbered. We had to use our energy wisely. I'm proud of the third place we ended up with." [Georgia Williams and Jessica Roberts were stitched up, while Grace Brown and Jessica Allen were taken to the hospital for precautionary testing.

Chloe Hosking's team, Rally Cycling, was similarly affected, with all four of Hosking's teammates unable to continue racing. Until then, Rally Cycling had been leading the peloton. The Australian sprinter and her new team have a good relationship, winning the opening stage of the Women's Tour Down Under and battling for wins on other stages and in Race Torquay.

Hosking's in-form teammates were working with Team Sunweb, featuring eventual winner Liane Lippert, to try to regain the breakaway group, but like Spratt, Hosking was left alone. Hosking made the most of the situation, eventually finishing in sixth place, but given that he won the sprint competition at the 2018 event, which was held under sunny skies, he might have wished the weather had been different on the day.

Team Sunweb, on the other hand, escaped unscathed, with all six riders in the lead group for the finale. The team united around Lippert, who attacked decisively on the final climb and rode solo to victory.