Braunsteins claims solo victory

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 Drapac-Porsche dominated the Under 23 men’s criterium championship race, with Daniel Braunsteins making a successful solo break for the victory with two laps remaining. Braunsteins had two team-mates to assist in the eight-man break away and despite his work earlier in the race Thomas Palmer sprinted to second place for the Victorian squad.

New South Wales’ Malcolm Rudolph took the final place on the podium, while Ben Grenda picked up the afternoon’s sprint classification.

“I was just trying to be patient and make my move at the end,” said Braunsteins. “Just as the race started to get hard a group of eight got away with three Drapac riders in it. That let me just sit in and rest my legs a bit more.

“With two laps remaining I just hit them with everything I had,” said the former mountain biker. “I got a gap and stayed away, so I’m stoked.”

The first half of the lap featured constant attacking, with equally as much retaliation from the peloton. It wasn’t until inside the final 15 laps that a break-away was allowed to escape, consisting of six riders.

That group expanded to eight as Rudolph led a two-man Drapac-Porsche time trial across to the lead group. The addition of his team-mates at the front put Braunsteins in the box seat for victory and despite the odds of the team winning in bunch kick, he made the bold move of a solo attack with two laps remaining and never looked back.

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