The place to watch the Tour de France Femmes is right here on SBS. Replays, mini stage recaps, extended highlights, winning moments and live streaming can be found on the and the SBS Skoda Tour Tracker,available for download on and from August 12 to 18.
Brown executed her plan “to perfection” on the 32.4-kilometre course in Paris, finishing 1:31.59 ahead of Great Britain’s Anna Henderson to earn Australia their first gold medal in a road cycling event since 2004.
Pre-race favourite Chloe Dygert took the bronze medal after coming through 1:32.46 behind Brown, the American unable to match the effort of the Australian who will call time on her career at season’s end.
“I had a plan to pace the race to win gold and I was able to execute my plan, like, pretty much to perfection, if not better,” Brown told the Nine Network.
“So, I can’t ask for a better day. It’s raining, but really, it’s not dampening my spirits.”
A two-time runner-up at the UCI Road World Championships, Brown entered the rain-soaked ITT with high hopes of a medal and quickly turned heads by the first time check, coming in 20 seconds faster than Henderson.
Dygert was the last rider to tackle the flat route to the Pont Alexandre III and trailed Brown by five seconds before a crash over the cobblestones cost her significant time.
The American was able to preserve the second-fastest time by the second time check, but found herself 51 seconds behind Brown who appeared to be in blistering form.
Such was the 32-year-old’s dominance, she reached the finish over one minute and 30 seconds faster than Henderson, with Dygert then crossing for third place, followed by Juliette Labour (France), Demi Vollering (Netherlands), and Lotte Kopecky (Belgium).
Until the Olympic event, Brown’s biggest win of her career came at this year’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege, but now, the Victorian has a new gold medal to go with the one she won at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
“It just makes me really proud of everything that I’ve done,” Brown said.
“I’ve come here and given it everything and it’s paid off. I can finish my career really satisfied.”
“It’s all our dreams come true,” added her father, Tony, who was watching trackside with his wife Ruth. “It’s just beautiful.”
Brown will next compete in the women's road race on August 4 at 10pm (AEST).
