Ruth Winder (Trek-Segafredo) started the season in the best possible way by winning the Santos Women's Tour Down Under overall on Sunday in Adelaide. The American champion said the victory gave her confidence for the U.S. team selection for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

"It's obviously an Olympic year and I hope to make the Olympic team," Winder said at the finish of stage 4. But the U.S. has some really strong female athletes, so it's going to be a tough decision to make the team with four athletes."

The UCI announced the number of athletes allocated by the National Olympic Committees to compete in the road events at the Tokyo Olympics. The men's team will have 130 athletes and the women's team will have 67, with Australia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States having the largest number of athletes per team. Each of these countries has secured a total of four athletes.

The elite women's 137 km road race will be held on July 26, also starting at Musashino Forest Park and finishing at Fuji Speedway. The women's course will not cross Mt. Fuji like the men's, but will include climbs over Donushi Highway and Kagosaka Pass, with a total climbing distance of 2,692 m.

Winder has proven to be an all-around versatile athlete, excelling on circuit-style courses and hilly terrain.

She won the elite women's title at the USA Cycling Road Championships last year and is one of the top ranked riders in the country in the world. She will be working with the Trek-Segafredo team to put together a race program for her start in Tokyo.

The Olympics are not her only focus this year. Omloop Het Nieuwsblad next month, Strade Bianche in March, and then the Ardennes Classics, Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April.

"I'm concentrating on the Ardennes. I want to get a good result." My best result in the spring classics was 11th in Strade Bianche last year. So I want to improve on that too."

In the Women's Tour Down Under, Winder entered the race as one of the favorites to win, but all eyes were on Amanda Spratt's (Mitchelton Scott) fourth consecutive victory. The Australian road champion has won the last three times (2017-2019); her former teammate Katrin Garfoot won the inaugural event in 2016.

Spratt won the second stage of the four-day race at Bridlewood to take the overall leader's jersey. The next day, however, Winder won the third stage in Sterling, taking the jersey off Spratt's back. Trek-Segafredo held off a decisive breakaway in the stage 4 criterium to take the overall win over Winder.

Winder won by five seconds over second-place Liane Lippert (Sunweb) and one second ahead of third-place Spratt.

"Spratt is a great competitor and I think [Mitchelton Scott] ran a really good race. 'We managed to pull off a win this year. But I don't think my victory feels any different considering Spratt has won the last three times.

"The finish and Sterling were special for me. The stage win was really, really great. It gave the team a lot of confidence and joy, and racing as a team that day was something special.

"[The overall win] is definitely a bit of a surprise. It's been a pretty cold winter in Colorado this year, so to be able to compete with the Australian riders is pretty cool."