Kelland O’Brien delivered such a powerful lead out for Jayco AlUla teammate Blake Quick that he rode himself into the green and gold jersey of the Australian criterium champion in Ballarat on Friday.
"I still can't believe I crossed the finish line first," O'Brien said straight after stepping off the podium to collect his green and gold striped jersey. "It was all in for Blake and I took it up in the back straight so I had a good 30, 40 seconds in my legs before I opened up my sprint. I took the bottom corner nice and slow and just started up my acceleration really really slow out of the corner and the tailwind helped I guess."
The one-two placing – the second in a row for the team at the AusCycling Road National Championships after Amber Pate and Alex Manly claimed the top two steps for the elite women – came from a lead group of nine after they stretched out the gap so far that it was race over for the rest of the field, which was pulled from the race after sprinting for tenth to let the break have a clear run in the final laps.
That left the closely watched three-time elite criterium winner Caleb Ewan out of the running as he missed the break and couldn’t haul himself over once he realised how dangerous a group it was.
Taj Jones (Israel Premier Tech) took the final podium spot from the break while Jensen Plowright (Alpecin Deceuninck) took the sprint for 10th that took place among the main group before it was pulled, with a three-lap warning, to give the break a clear run into the final laps.
It wasn't even ten laps into the 40-lap race when there was a flurry of attacks that led to the formation of the dangerous nine-man group, including Jayco AlUla's O’Brien, Callum Scotson and Quick, along with Ryan Cavanagh (Kinan Racing Team), Taj Jones (Israel Premier Tech), Daniel Luke (CCACHE x PAR KÜP), Brent Rees (Tandem Co Pro Cycling) and two Team BridgeLane riders, Samuel Jenner and Rhys Robotham.
With Scotson among those driving the pace, the gap quickly opened and it wasn't long before riders like James Whelan, Ewan and Plowright realised just how dangerous it was to let a break like that go and fought to jump across, however, their efforts were to no avail.
As the laps ticked down and the gap stretched beyond 40 seconds the race commissaire made the decision to step in, warning the field that they had just three laps to go and then they would sprint to decide the tenth place on, while only the lead group of nine would be left on the course and in contention for the podium, with five clear laps to let the race play out.
It was clearly advantage to Jayco AlUla at this point as they not only had three in the break but also one of the favourites, with Quick. Team BridgeLane were the only other team to have more than one rider present and while Taj Jones may have beat them to that last podium spot, Jenner took fourth for the Australian-based Continental team.
The elite men's criterium, 40 laps of the 1.1km Sturt St course, marked the opening men's event in the National Championships, with the elite road races set to play out on a hot Sunday of racing while the time trials have been shifted from event starter to finale instead. Both the elite men's and women's titles in the races against the clock will be decided on Tuesday January 10.
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