'Absolutely unbelievable' – Early break prevails at Melbourne to Warrnambool with Josh Beikoff taking a surprise win in tightest of sprints

The favourites were out of luck at the Powercor Melbourne to Warrnambool on Saturday as the early break survived and Josh Beikoff (RCA Bikes Online) delivered a surprise victory in the historic race, which this year is also the third round of the Hertz ProVelo Super League.

An early break of seven went out around 20km from the start of the 267km race stretching out the gap at some points to over 12 minutes. The pursuit was well and truly on in the closing quarter of the race but the strong and cohesive break held, with three of the original seven charging toward the finish line on Raglan Parade to decide the podium places.

Oliver Stenning (Falcons Pedal Mafia Racing) went early and for a while it looked like he would make it but Beikoff didn't let him get away, pushing to the line and winning in the tightest of sprints. Stenning was second by just centimetres after 5:45:14 of racing, most of it at the front.

Individual rider Kevin Biffiger has to settle for third as he didn't quite have the firepower to keep with the front two when they launched and crossed the line seven seconds from his break companions in what was both a quick and surprising edition of the event, which first ran in 1895

"I know that I've got a good kick on myself, so I was happy to just try and keep the group rolling and go to the finish with the boys," Beikoff told Cyclingnews after taking to the podium to accept the winners trophy. "I made sure Ollie was on my hips so I could watch him and as soon as he started sprinting, I started sprinting as well.

"He did it quite early, like 350, meters to go, so that really hurt me. I started to fade but I got a second spring of life and managed to just come around at the very last moment."

Finding that extra bit of energy to snare the sprint at the end of such a long race, particularly one that included a break of nearly 250km, set up a win that the 27-year-old said he couldn't have imagined in his "wildest dreams".

"The goal for me at the beginning of the day was just to get in the early breakaway and try and get a little bit of TV time for the team so this is just absolutely unbelievable," he said, tired and looking for someone to sit as he did the interview but unable to wipe the grin off his face.

"Honestly, I don't care what happens for the rest of the season. This is the coolest thing I've ever done and I'm so, so happy."

It wasn't, however, a dream outcome for Australian champion Patrick Eddy (Team Brennan) who wasn't able to use his clearly strong form to best advantage. He was the first rider from outside the break, and also the first of the key favourites, over the line as he finished in fourth at 2:57 back from Beikoff.

How it Unfolded

The 166 riders lined up in Avalon early and got set for a long day on the bike, with warm temperatures for the race on the final day of summer and fine conditions, as despite the potential for rain in the forecast it was holding off.

It was at only around 20 km into the long day of racing when the peloton was still on the highway that a break of seven got away.

The group was made up of Oliver Stenning (Falcons Pedal Mafia Racing), Josh Beikoff (RCA Bikes Online), Brenton Ryan (Cycling Development Foundation), Logan Taplin (DUDA Cycling), Oskar Von Wyss (Nstrmo x Attaquer x CCACHE) and individual riders Kevin Biffiger and Edwin Britts.

They all worked together as the race moved onto the narrower country roads, pulling the gap to over four minutes by the time they were nearly 40km into the day of racing and by the time it was close to the halfway point of the 267km race it was out to more than 12 minutes. The strong pace, however, ultimately started trimming the numbers, with Von Wyss the first to go.

Key squads Team Brennan and CCACHE x Bodywrap – with a heavy helping of the favourites among them – weren't in the break but the question was when would they start to chase, with the gap still at 11:15 at 125 km to go.

Team Brennan's founder Tim Decker – also the coach of Australia's gold medal winning Team Pursuit squad in Paris and himself a Melbourne to Warrnambool winner – chatted to the commentary team on broadcaster SBS outlining that the squad, with included Australian champion Patrick Eddy, was starting to look at trying to take the edge off the gap of the group.

"Within that 60-odd kilometres to race if its around the six or seven minutes then we're in the ballpark," he told commentators Matt Keenan and Matilda Raynolds.

The team of the 2025 winner may have been hoping for some help to narrow that gap, but wasn't expecting it, however in the end the option the favourites went with was not to drag the whole peloton up to the break but carve off a group to go out in pursuit.

At 70 km to go a powerful chase jumped off the front and all of a sudden the gap started tumbling, but not fast enough.

It become increasingly clear that the remnants of the break may get to decide the podium when there were still three out the front with a gap of more than four minutes at 20km to go.

Australian champion Eddy got the closest, after leaping off the front of the chase group to amp up the pursuit and in the end he was the only rider within three minutes of the podium place filling riders from the early break.