Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton Scott) hugs and congratulates Ruth Winder (Trek Segafredo) for winning the overall despite her first loss in four years at the Santos Women's Tour Down Under. Humble in victory, graceful in defeat. .......

It is a victory that Spratt has celebrated on three previous occasions when she won the overall title in 2017, 2018, and 2019, and her Mitchelton Scott team also won the overall title with Katrin Garfoot in the 2016 competition.

Winder ended the streak for both rider and team, finishing five seconds ahead of Liane Lippert (Sunweb) and six seconds ahead of third-place Spratt.

"Of course, I came here to win, but I am really proud of third place. My domination of the Tour Down Under had to end at some point," Spratt said.

Spratt went into the four-day race looking for his fourth consecutive win. There were no summit finishes this year, but the tough and unpredictable stages were a boon for Spratt.

Spratt won the second stage to Birdwood and took the overall leader's jersey.

However, Winder won the third stage to Stirling, moving into the overall lead.

The race ended with a criterium in downtown Adelaide, where a total of 19 seconds of bonus seconds were contested, but neither Spratt nor Mitchelton-Scott were able to outpace the American champion, and the first overall title in a major Australian stage race in the first major Australian stage race.

Italy's Simona Frapporti (Bee Pink) won stage 4 from a 12-rider sprint competition, while Chloe Hosking (Rally) finished 13th, 10 seconds behind the stage winner in a bunch sprint.

"I can't blame the team this week. Especially in yesterday's stage [stage 3], we were beaten by stronger riders. [especially in yesterday's stage [stage 3]," Spratt said. It made it pretty exciting and I was able to get out of my comfort zone today."

Spratt will compete in the Women's WorldTour Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race on February 2 before returning to Europe.

She has been selected to represent Australia at the Tokyo Olympics in July and is focused on leading her team to gold. However, she will have a similar race program to last year, focusing on the Ardennes Classics, the Giro Rosa, and the Olympic and World Championships.

"It will be a similar season to the last two years in terms of getting the natural flow of the season and peaks," Spratt told Cycling News during an off-season interview.

"It will be similar in terms of having a good run in Australia, but not in peak conditions. We'll look at the Ardennes again and then head to the Giro Rosa and the Olympics. I want to be in good shape by that time

"The big challenge is the gap between the Olympics and the World Championships. For me, the biggest challenge will be how I go from the Olympics to the World Championships."