Blake Agnoletto steps up to claim Australia's U23 men's criterium title

Blake Agnoletto (ARA Skip Capital) celebrates with a roar after he claims the U23 men's criterium title at the Australian Road National Championships in 2024 (Image credit: Con Chronis / AusCycling)

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Blake Agnolettto jumped up a step in the U23 men's criterium at the Federation University Australian Road National Championships on Friday, crossing the line in Sturt St with a roar to claim the title.

The rider, who came second in 2023, had put himself in prime position, out in front in a break of six where his ARA Skip Capital team dominated, then powered away in the sprint ahead of Matthew Fox and John Carter. Time trial winner, Jackson Medway (Team BridgeLane), just missed out on making a second trip to the podium in fourth.

“We had a plan and we executed it perfectly. A big up to Declan Trezise and Oli Bleddyn; I owe them big time," said Agnoletto of his two teammates who helped drive the move which went with eight laps to go.

"I just wasn’t getting second today. I just knew coming in, I was like, 'I need to win this'.”

The criterium played out on the Sturt St course, totalling 33km as riders took on 30 laps of the regular 1.1km hot dog course in the centre of the regional city of Ballarat.

The competition for the U23 men continues on Saturday with the 139.2km road race, which takes on 12 laps of an 11.6km circuit in Buninyong.

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Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.