Gigante won two road stages of the recent National Tour racing with impressive solo surges and she showed that the step up in competition with the addition of Team BikeExchange's WorldTour stars was no deterrent.
The Victorian phenom attacked with 50 kilometres remaining in the race and consistently stretched out her lead to a maximum advantage of two minutes and 25 seconds before eventually finishing with a winning margin of a minute and 54 seconds as the peloton ramped up the pace as they chased second spot.
"I’m pretty exhausted," said Gigante at the finish line. "That was so much fun! Firstly, I couldn’t believe that I would get away solo on the climb, that was just amazing when I crested the climb and saw I’d dropped Ruby (Roseman-Gannon) in particular for GC."
"When I saw I crested the climb with the breakaway riders Bree Wilson and Chelsea Holmes, I was like ‘Oh my gosh, this is so exciting what do I do?’. The only reason I love cycling is that I love going hard. My radio kept going out so I couldn’t hear so I took it out.
"I thought ‘I don’t really have instructions, so I’ll just keep going'! In the end I had to go solo, I left those two behind and just time-trialled."
Gigante flashed a smile or two at the camera and a quick wave late in the piece, but it wasn't out of cockiness or arrogance.
"I waved because Donna (Rae-Szalinksi, Garmin Australia director) had told me that my TIBCO-SVB teammates were watching me and it was pretty late over there, said Gigante, who now hopes to hold onto the race lead for the remaining two stages. "I definitely love hills so I’m sure I’ll have a blast. I don’t how I’ll go after that long time-trial effort, but I’ll give it a go! I’m just so excited."
Georgia Baker came home in second to make it an impressive 1-2 for the national team Garmin-Australia, with former race leader Peta Mullens shooting home to take third on the day.
