KEY POINTS:
Alison Shanks' first national road race title in three attempts left the Otago rider's father, Roy, speechless.
Shanks had finished seventh in her national road race debut in 2005 and third last year.
To win just 18 months after taking up the sport seriously, let alone complete the time trial-road race double after winning the shorter race on Thursday, was a feat that was roundly applauded by her rivals.
The track rider, who is making the 3000m individual pursuit her speciality, rode a blinder on Saturday and was a deserving winner, said 2004 Olympic Games champion Sarah Ulmer, who finished third.
"Alison had a brilliant ride, she was just too strong for the rest of us," said Ulmer, the last rider to do the double in 2005.
Defending champion Catherine Cheatley, of Wanganui, Te Awamutu's Melissa Holt, who finished second, and pre-race favourite Joanne Kiesanowski echoed Ulmer.
Shanks clocked 2h 59m 1s for the 101km journey.
The first person to ring her after the race was her dad, Roy, and Shanks said all he could say was: "Woohoo, I don't know what to say."
Shanks, 23, added: "I'm fizzing at [completing] the double."
The cyclist, who heads to a World Cup round in Manchester in February and then a three-week build-up in Valencia before the world track championships in Majorca, Spain, in March, said she had not expected to win.
"After winning the time trial, there was no pressure to win this."
Coming into the final 10-12km, all the big names were there - Ulmer, Holt, Kiesanowski, Cheatley and mid-race leader Rosara Joseph, of Wellington.
Shanks went to the front of the group with an Ulmer-like surge up the final hillclimb.
"I thought, I'll put in an attack and see what happens, and it just stuck."
Once she cleared the hill with about 10s in hand, she went into "time trial mode".
- NZPA
