Brenton Jones had grown up on the sidelines of the Bay Crits and, as he finished his cycling career, it was his dream scenario to walk away with overall victory in the race, and that became a reality on stage 3.
Jones sprinted to victory on the Ritchie Boulevard “hot dog” circuit, claiming his second stage win and, by the tightest of margins, taking back the yellow jersey of overall leader of the Citroën Bay Crits from Graeme Frislie (CCACHE x Par Kup).
Frislie, 21, crashed during the stage but he rejoined the field and regrouped to sprint for third behind Blake Agnoletto (ARA Skip Capital). It was enough to put Frislie on equal points with Jones, though the retiring 31-year-old had also won stage 1, which put him at the top of the leaderboard.
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“I knew it was going to be hard with the quality of riders in this race but I have experience – I’ve won this race before,” Jones said on the podium as his teammates and family, including his heavily pregnant wife, looked on proudly. “To win it two times now is unbelievable. It is a fairytale.”
“I’m really happy now though to sit down and really support the next generation of riders coming through,” added Jones, who works with AusCycling coaching the next generation of athletes.
Right from the start of the race, Jones made his intentions clear. He was in some of the form of his life and wanted to go out on top at the event, which started in 1989 and had been such a big part of his existence, from the 2014 victory, years of memorable competition and, before that, years of helping on the sidelines as his mother Karin Jones has long been a vital part of the organisation.
Jones was rcing with a Bayside Citroën composite team that included Australian Road Champion Luke Plapp and last year's Bay Crits winner Blake Quick, but there was no doubt who the squad was working for.
Jones said he couldn’t thank his family, wife, sponsors and teammates enough for the support.
“They made this possible for me,” Jones told Cyclingnews. “Blake was the defending champion and he said to me before the race ‘we are all in for you, we are going to help you, it’s your last race and we want to finish on a high, we want you to go all the way to the finish and take the title’. That was four days ago and I’m standing here with a trophy and I can’t thank him and the guys enough. I’m speechless.”
Jones had claimed the yellow jersey on stage 1 on the 1.9km long Eastern Gardens course, when Quick delivered the perfect lead out, gapping all rivals so Jones could take a dominant sprint victory. On stage 2, when the race was run on the same course but clockwise, Jones pulled a foot in the final corner, finishing the sprint in fifth which left stage 2 winner Frislie in yellow with a 4 point lead ahead of the final day of racing.
That meant both riders and their teams were all too aware that there was plenty at stake as they lined up for stage 3 in the fading light of the unusually cool summer day on Tuesday to take on a 650m hot dog criterium circuit on Ritchie Boulevard in Geelong. They were again racing for 50 minutes and then finishing off with three of the short laps.
The pace was high through the race, with riders being shed throughout and the attacks few, though that didn’t mean there wasn’t any drama. There was a crash on the bottom corner at a little over halfway through the racing including Nick White (Team Bridgelane) and Frislie, who quickly regrouped and rejoined the field, slotting back into position and making sure he was ready for the all important final sprint to the line.
In the final lap, Quick once again resumed his position at the front of the field, with Jones slotted in behind and Frislie tucked in on his rivals wheel, knowing that all he had to do to take the series victory was take second on the stage. However, Agnoletto swept up the outside and after a run of third places in the early stages this time moved up a step – good news for the ARA Skip Capital rider and Jones but not for Frislie.
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