Fergus Browning (Trinity Racing) won the U23 men's road race at the Federation University Australian Road National Championships on Saturday, quickly turning around after the worst of lead-ins to the event, having been 'knocked off by a car' while out on a final preparatory ride just the day before.
Browning won the two-way sprint with Matthew Greenwood (Team BridgeLane) who had headed out solo on his own with three laps to go in the 139.2km event on the Buninyong circuit. Greenwood had been caught by Browning on the final lap as the Trinity rider took advantage of the shrinking gap to bridge from the chase.
It was then down to a sprint of the chasing group of seven for the final podium place, with Matthew Fox claiming third. Oscar Chamberlain (Decathlon AG2R La Mondial), winner of the Junior World Time Trial title in 2023, was fourth.
Browning, in the meantime, was celebrating having pulled off the win at the race which was a key early season target he’d been working toward, training in Bright. But that had looked so close to being derailed on Friday, when he hurt his shoulder and snapped his handlebars after being cut off during a last preparatory ride in Melbourne.
"When I hit the ground it was just that initial shock waiting to see what was injured and the shoulder was a bit sore. But I think I was just so lucky that it wasn't worse than what it was and I was able to get to the start line," said Browning.
“All the pain went away when I started riding,” he added, though the strapped-up shoulder may have made it a bit tough getting bottles on the warm Ballarat afternoon.
It was hard to spot that Browning's preparation had been so far away from ideal as he perfectly played his hand in the 12-lap race – which accumulated more than 200m of elevation gain with each circuit passing over the climb on Mount Buninyong Road.
It was well and truly clear long before the final laps that most of the field was out of the running for the title, given the gaps the shattered peloton were facing to a group of four at the front of the race and the following chase of seven.
The dynamic out the front continued to change, with Greenwood going solo and the remaining three riders from the lead group absorbed by the chase behind. The Tour of Tasmania winner held firm as the ringing of the bell signalled one lap to go but the chasers had been chipping away at the size of the gap.
Browning took advantage of that situation to launch off and quickly made the catch, with Greenwood clearly pushing to hold the wheel but managing it nevertheless.
“I just had to hold on no matter how much it hurt,” said Greenwood later, telling reporters that all that was going through his mind when he was caught was "I will not let this wheel go."
He didn't, but Browning had the measure of his rival at the line, taking a clear-cut victory in the sprint.
“It’s just crazy,” said Browning when asked what it felt like to pull on the green and gold jersey. “I knew it was the last year in Buninyong, for a while, and I knew this course really suited me and I'm just stoked to pull it off."
The road race was the last U23 race of the National Championships, with Blake Agnoletto (ARA Skip Capital) claiming the criterium title and Jackson Medway (Team BridgeLane) the time trial. The elite/U23 women's and elite men's road race are the final events on Sunday.
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