Growing up in the suburbs of Sydney, Sarah was an active child who spent her early years as a gymnast. It was then that she first dreamed about representing Australia on the world stage. While gymnastics didn’t pan out the way she had hoped at the time, she held on to the dream of competing for Australia. Years later, Sarah competed in triathlon for fun as a university student and was invited to join a cycling talent ID program at the Australian Institute of Sport.

“I was terrible,” Sarah said of her early bike races. “I always came dead last. I did not grow up watching cycling. I had never heard of the Tour de France. I didn’t know anything so they had to teach me everything at the talent camps. I rode around some cones and had some really good lab data, especially my VO2."

Despite injuries and setbacks along the way, Sarah stayed patient and several years after that initial introduction to the cycling talent ID program, she began racing professionally in Europe in 2013.

Since then, Sarah has taken wins at the Australian road race national championships, the Navarra Elite Classics, Gooik-Geraardsbergen-Gooik, and the SwissEver GP Cham-Hagendorn, and claimed stages at the Bretagne Ladies Tour, the Simac Ladies Tour, and the OVO Energy Women’s Tour.

EF-Oatly-Cannondale general manager Esra Tromp said, “When meeting Sarah, there was an immediate click. We understood each other. From the beginning, it was clear she understood what her role could be and the impact she could have on the team, and also recognized some of our challenges. Sarah is a rider with a lot of experience, on and off the bike. She will strengthen our classics squad as an extra card to play in the finales and as a fierce teammate."

With her versatility, Sarah is an asset in both stage races and one-day races, but her heart belongs to the classics.

“One-day races, stage races – I like it all. And I think that's what's really cool about my ability as a rider, being versatile. And I really like that. So in the first part of the season, I can be focused on the classics, and I really want to be a lead rider for some of the classics. But that takes a lot of mental and physical energy which I enjoy but it’s also refreshing to then switch to stage racing where I can go 100 percent all in for my teammates. I love motivating and encouraging other people and helping them get the best out of themselves. I love getting to mix up my role throughout the season,” Sarah said.

Now in her late 30s, Sarah sees her age as an asset.

“Every year I’m getting stronger still,” Sarah said. “I know how my body responds to training so I know what to do to get the best out of myself. There are a lot of things I still want to achieve. I want to be competitive. I want to get right the things that are under my control and show up on race day, ready to give my all, whether it’s for me or a teammate, and be satisfied with the outcome at the end of the day. I love to race and I love to get the best out of myself. That’s what I focus on.”

“I'm at that point in my career where I’d like to give back and share my experiences now,” she added. “I have to admit, I don’t know when that transition happened: one minute I was a development rider and the next I’m this very experienced, older rider. Here I am now and I want to make the most of that experience. I am really passionate about growing with the team. I feel there is so much value to come from riders contributing to the growth of teams, and vice versa. As athletes and teams, we are always looking at how we can better ourselves, and to collaborate on that forms a culture where individuals are valued. I think EF-Oatly-Cannondale really appreciates that and is the kind of environment I want to be in.”