Il Nuovo Postiglione - Australia win tense cycling mixed relay world title

The Australian men Luke Plapp, Michael Matthews and Jay Vine were on their feet cheering as Felicity Wilson-Haffenden, Brodie Chapman and Amanda Spratt raced up the last hill of the closing leg of the relay win.

Having won the event last season Australia successfully defended their title with limited preparation on the 42.4km course just five seconds ahead of France and 10s ahead of Switzerland.

"It's not often we get the chance to ride with a full Aussie team," said top men's rider Matthews.

"We only arrived a couple of days ago and we didn't ride out there on the roads until yesterday," he said, explaining they had arrived for the elite road races that will be contested at the weekend.

"Today it all came good," beamed Matthews, known in the team as 'Bling' due to a penchant for diamond earrings.

The women were dragged gasping from their bikes after a ride at altitude and with high humidity.

"I knew it was going to be like hell, Brody was strong and I held her wheel. I could hear them (the men) screaming 'sprint, sprint sprint' coming to the close" said Spratt.

Combining men and women the event was created in 2020 with three male riders completing a lap and the women going down the starters ramp when the men finish theirs.

There were 16 nations riding Wednesday with five of them from Africa - Benin, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Rwanda and Uganda.

G.Palmiero--INP