Chris Hamilton wins men's U23 criterium title

The Avanti Racing Team won the first national title of the 2015 Australian national championships via an aggressive Chris Hamilton who got the better of breakaway companion David Edwards (CharterMason Giant) in the final sprint by two seconds. A fast finishing Jesse Kerrison (BMC Development Team) won the sprint for third, seven seconds in arrears to Hamilton, ahead of Alex Edmondson (SASI) who raised his arms in protest of being impended.

"This is by far the biggest result of my life," Hamilton told reporters after his win on the 33km course. "I won an U19 national cyclo cross championships. I can't even explain how happy I am to win this.

"My best chance to get a result is in a breakaway as I am not much of a sprinter," Hamilton continued. "I got away and we were working really well together with two riders left and I was feeling good in the final laps and I knew I just had to play it smart. It just went from there."

While his attack was not not 100% pre-mediated, Hamilton explained that at the start of the race he knew an aggressive approach would be his best bet to claim a debut road title.

"I was hoping to get into a good break as it was going to be the best chance for me against the top sprinters so my manager Andrew Christie-Johnson told me that would be the best way to get a result via break," Hamilton said.

With Edwards the more likely victor in a sprint, Hamilton attacked after the final corner with the long drag to the finish his only obstacle to victory and threw his arms up in celebration.

With light rain falling during the race, Hamilton said that he was hesitant to attack too early in case of fall, explaining his tactics on the final lap.

"I wasn't 100% sure," he said of his thoughts of winning when entering the final corner. "I was feeling really good and I knew that if I was in in second wheel that would be my best opportunity. I nearly had a crash on that bottom corner when it started raining so I was bit cautious and I didn't want to take too many risks but I got round it ok and went from there."

Despite his win, Hamilton isn't committing to a future on the road just yet with Rio 2016 firmly in his sights.

"Definitely going to Rio for the mountain bikes is something has always been a dream of mine and something I want to aim for and really put my head down on the mountain bikes," Hamilton said of his long-term aims. "I am only 19 so I have a few years to sort things out and I just love mountain bike so much ever since I started riding bikes and I definitely don't want to give up on that dream."

A fast start to the race saw several riders try their luck to get clear but it was all back together again as Darcy Woolley (African Wildlife Safaris) won the first intermediate sprint point. With the peloton all together, the pace slowed for a lap before Matt Lane was the next rider to launch an attack with Robert-Jon McCarthy also giving it a go. Back in the peloton, CharterMason Giant were controlling the chase as the first drops of rain began to fall before Edwards burst out of the peloton.

A crash in the bunch saw several forced to take a lap out, including Kerrison, with six circuits left as Hamilton and Edwards tried to build their advantage. Alistair Donohue was driving the pace in the chasing peloton which brought the gap down but the two leaders were still clear as the bell rang and there would be no stopping Hamilton as he skipped away to the win.

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