Australian Road Championships: Graeme Frislie wins U23 men's criterium

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Graeme Frislie (InForm TMX MAKE) won the U23 men's criterium at Australia's Federation University Road National Championships, getting the jump on the rest of the field to ride across the line two seconds ahead of the bunch.

Behind his teammate Josh Duffy took out the bunch sprint while Zachary Marshall (St George Cycling Club) snatched the final spot on the podium ahead of Bay Crits winner Blake Quick, preventing an InForm TMX MAKE clean sweep.

"There were attacks going and coming back and no one was giving an inch," said Frislie, who launched to the front with around five laps to go. "I saw an opportunity with a couple of the other boys so jumped in with them and felt like I had some good legs so I sent it by myself, rolled the dice, and I managed to come away with the win.”

The U23 men raced 33km, riding 30 laps of a 1.1km course right in the heart of the the Victorian city of Ballarat. It was a race that stood out on the schedule as one that would be fiercely contested, with the under 23 riders of Quick and Jensen Plowright  (Equipe Groupama-FDJ Conti) showing the strength of the competition in the category with their first and second placings in the elite field at the recent Bay Crits. 

Plowright ended up in fifth place in the race for the criterium title, riding solo in the race while the InForm TMX MAKE squad lined up with nine riders and took out three of the top five positions. 

"It was pretty hectic all day. We tried to control it as a team. We knew we had a strong outfit and we knew we had the firepower to win," Frislie said. "A chance came up for me in the last handful of laps so I just jumped on it and Josh showed behind that we had the strength to win anyway.”