ProVelo Super League: Finlay Walsh claims record-breaking Grafton to Inverell as Kirsty Watts flies solo in Mt Mitchell to Inverell

Finlay Walsh (CCACHE x Bodywrap) won a speedy record-breaking edition of the men's Squadron Energy Grafton to Inverell on Saturday, while Kirsty Watts flew solo to claim a clear-cut win in the women's Kennards Hire Mt Mitchell to Inverell.

It was Maria Laurie who was next over the line in the 110km women's race, 1:46 back from Watts, while Keely Bennett (Butterfields Ziptrak) claimed third at 5:14 back in the competition, which started the fifth round of the Hertz ProVelo Super League.

"I got away just after Quinn, my teammate, had made an attack," said Watts on broadcaster SBS, who also sponsors the women's league. "There was a small bunch, I was just off the back of it, and I decided to go over the top of that bunch and on my own for the next 100 kilometres."

It was a closer battle at the end of an attacking 229km men's race with a small group charging toward the line. Walsh and Lindon Milostic (Team Rauland) were at the front after hitting out on the final climb in the race with a 60-year history, while Jeremy Smith (Butterfields Ziptrak) and Levi Hone (Team Brennan) were quickly closing. With the pair behind breathing down their necks, Walsh claimed the uphill sprint ahead of Milostic while Smith and Hone had to settle for third and fourth.

It was close enough that all four recorded the same time on the line, a speedy 5:26:59, which dropped more than ten minutes off last year's time, which in itself broke the record pace of 5:46 set by Neil Van der Ploeg in 2017.

"It was really hard, really fast," Walsh told SBS. "Big taily on the highway so it made for a really hard crosswind day and really hard for sure."

The racing continues in the fifth round with an hour-and-ten-minute-long criterium on Sunday, taking place on a 1.4km circuit for the men and women at Lake Inverell.