Australia power to gold to retain mixed relay road world title

KIGALI :Australia retained their title in the mixed team relay at the UCI Road World Championships as they stormed to victory over two circuits of a hilly 20.9 km course in Kigali on Wednesday.

After their male teammates went quickest on the first lap, the women finished it off with Amanda Spratt and Brodie Chapman hanging on up the final cobbled climb to claim victory.

They stopped the clock for a combined Australian time of 54:30 for the 41.8km - five seconds quicker than France.

Switzerland, who had women's individual TT world champion Marlen Reusser in their ranks, were 10 seconds back in the bronze medal position.

Australian rider Michael Matthews, who along with Jay Vine and Lucas Plapp, had laid the foundations for the women, said the team had focussed all their efforts on retaining the title.

"Not often we get a chance to ride with other Aussies and we had full focus for this after we won last year," he said.

"We enjoyed mixing it with the girls and putting it together today was the cherry on the cake."

Teams, including from hosts Rwanda, Benin, Uganda and Ethiopia, comprised of three men and three women.

The men rode first with the women starting their circuit when the second male of their team crossed the line. Team times were taken on the second woman to finish.

Large crowds of enthusiastic fans cheered on hosts Rwanda and they finished in a very respectable 11th, but it was cycling's more-established nations who were always going to dominate the podium.

Australia's men's trio gave their female teammates a 33-second buffer to defend and they needed all of it.

Switzerland were left to rue a mechanical for Reusser near the end of the circuit although she re-joined her two teammates on a spare bike and roared up the Cote de