National Capital Tour winner Lucy Bechtel compared cycling to chess following her clinical 36-second victory ahead of favourite Rebecca Wiasak on Sunday.

Bechtel was riding without a team for most of the tour so she recruited - mid race - and worked her way to a stunning tactical win in the capital.

The 30-year-old said she loves the mind games of road racing and winning with not just her legs, but her brain.

"Because I had no teammates and [Wiasak's team] had a whole bunch of riders, you want to get other people to have the same objective as you, that's the game of chess," Bechtel said.

"Racing is such a strategic game and I love it. You get in people's heads on the road, not in a manipulative or malicious way, it's helping them realise how they can be in better positions themselves.