Ivory and Mullens take Cape to Cape leads

The 9^th Cape to Cape went off with a bang today. With one of the deepest elite fields in the recent history of the race, many were unsure who would come up with the goods on today's 41km stage from Cape Leeuwin to Hamelin Bay. The iconic lighthouse stood steadfast in the wild winds that blew around the bay above 1350 riders who were on the start line ready to fight the course, their rivals, and previous personal bests. But it was World Cup racer Cameron Ivory who took line honours today, in barely over an hour and a half of racing.

Fast off the front

With a huge boost to the rider numbers this year, there was always going to be extra pressure on the elite riders to really show who was best. All the major teams are represented, with large contingents from Trek Australia, Torq Merida and of course Swell-Specialized.

While the race started with plenty of speed once the race director let the field away, it was a powerful surge from Chris Hamilton on the opening climb that was the major kick in the front end of the race. While most of the top 20 riders were quick to follow, it did put the pressure on the majority, and was just a taste of things to come.

“Tas and Chris pretty much lit it up on the climb. As Torq say, team work wins races. And while it didn't win them the race today it really did break it up” explained Kyle Ward, who won Cape to Cape last year. Today Ward was 5th.

“It's going to be a tought battle with the Torq crew and there's a strong contingent of Trek riders helping Brendan Johnston. But Cam really showed today that he really didn't need much help. It's going to be a tough next few days."

Cam Ivory got away from the leaders in the final kilometres, with Tasman Nankervis. Chris Hamilton came in 3rd behind Nankervis, edging out Brendan Johnston.

"One big difference is how strong the top 10 is. You can't only be worried about moving up, you need to be worried about the people behind you too," said Ward.

Tough tussle in the women's field

In the women's race, defending champion Peta Mullens was going to be put under pressure from New Zealand's Samara Sheppard, but with a previous winner Jenny Blair also in the field, plus Holly Harris, Em Viotto, Briony Mattocks, Jo Bennett and more all in the field – no one would really know how the podium would look until closer to the finish line.

While Sheppard was quick to show her strength on the opening climbs, Mullens fought back to close in on the flying Kiwi in the last kilometre. Racing to the finish almost bar-to-bar, Mullens took line honours and the leader's jersey.

"Up the first hill my legs were feeling pretty good and I rode away from the other girls, just getting onto the back of a men's bunch," Sheppards said post race.

"Coming down the first descent I popped off the back and had a bit of a battle, ending up in no man's land for a lot of the race. I knew I was in the lead of the women's race, but that's all I knew. But At one kay to go Peta Mullens came around me, they caught me and we rode the last bit of singletrack together and it opened up on the road and Peta took it from there. She's super strong on that sort of thing."

jenny Blair was third over the line, and while Mullens and Sheppard are neck and neck, there's no forgetting the fact that this race has only just begun.

"It's a 4 day race and anything can happen, Jenny has so much stage race experience so it's all very much up in the air," said Sheppard.

Tomorrow, Stage Two takes riders from Hamelin Bay to Xanadu Winery over 56km of WA's finest terrain. Racing kicks off at 8am Western Time.