Ally Wollaston’s Tour of Britain win thrills Gisborne supporters

Podium joy ... Ally Wollaston on the podium after her Tour of Britain victory. Photo / Cycling New Zealand

Broken sleep comes with the territory when you’re a grandmother to a world-class cyclist.

Gisborne resident Allison Dalrymple woke at 1am on Monday to a text message alerting her to granddaughter Ally Wollaston’s part in unfolding sporting history on the other side of the world.

That morning, Wollaston became the first New Zealander to win the Tour of Britain women’s cycle race.

By crossing the finish line of the fourth and final stage in third place she took overall victory by four seconds. It was Wollaston’s first World Tour general classification (GC) victory in a stage race.

Wollaston, 24, is a two-time world champion on the track and last year won silver and bronze medals at the Paris Olympics. In February she won a World Tour one-day race in Australia.

She is the daughter of Gillian Wollaston (nee Dalrymple), who attended Te Wharau School, Ilminster Intermediate and Gisborne Girls’ High School, and now lives in Hamilton with husband Brent.

Allison Dalrymple is Gillian’s mother, and says Gillian keeps her up to date with the cycling news.

Ally Wollaston had not long finished another tour, in Spain, when she took part in the Tour of Britain, which finished with a stage comprising 10 laps of a city-centre circuit in Glasgow on Sunday (UK time).

Ally Wollaston celebrates after her victory in the women's Tour of Britain cycle race. Photo / screen shot

Wollaston went into the stage three seconds behind British rider Cat Ferguson, but picked up time bonuses in the three intermediate sprints, then gained four bonus seconds by finishing third in the stage. Those four extra seconds were her winning margin.

Wollaston is in action again this weekend, in the three-stage Tour of the Pyrenees, which starts late Friday (NZ time).

Her ascent in the cycling world has not been trouble-free. In the 2022 women’s Tour de France, she crashed and injured her wrist and missed competing in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games that year as a result.

In 2023, she won her first national title, the women’s New Zealand National Road Race Championship, but at the end of March 2024 she had surgery for knee problems.

She recovered well to be part of the Olympic silver-medal-winning pursuit team and pick up a bronze in the omnium.

At the track cycling world championships in Denmark in October, Wollaston became the first New Zealand rider to win two titles at the same track world championship meeting, in the elimination race and the omnium. She also won bronze in the scratch race.

Allison Dalrymple said they knew Ally had a good chance in the Tour of Britain but “you just never know”.

“The English girls were on home territory, which makes a difference,” she said.

The leaderboard at the end of the Tour of Britain, showing New Zealand cyclist Ally Wollaston at the head of the field.

“She also had an incentive because her godmother’s husband [from New Plymouth] died on the Saturday, and she said she was going to ride for him.”

Ally is the youngest of three sisters. Eldest sister Nina had three years in the Cycling New Zealand programme and won a bronze medal in the team pursuit at the 2014 junior world track champs. She went on to compete successfully as a pilot rider in para-cycling events.

Middle sister Claudia had not been interested in cycling but had athletic potential that was stymied by knee problems.

Allison Dalrymple said that watching Ally race was “very emotional”.

“I get pretty worked up and I’m very proud of her,” she said.

“But Ally doesn’t even rave on about it. If she gets beaten, it doesn’t get her down. She has a very even temperament.

“She’s a determined girl. She has high aspirations and knows she hasn’t reached her peak yet. She’s aiming to be up with the real top cyclists.”