Alex Edmondson wins thrilling Australian road race title

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Alex Edmondson (Mitchelton-Scott) held off a charging chase group to claim the Australian national road race title in thrilling fashion. Edmondson and Chris Harper (Bennelong SwissWellness) had attacked with 30km to race and proved the strongest riders of the last break of the day.

Holding a narrow lead over of a small and select bunch that contained the likes of Richie Porte (BMC), Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) and Nathan Haas (Katusha-Alpecin) into the last kilometre, it was a nervous finale.

With the finish line in sight, Edmondson opened up his sprint to gain a small gap over Harper as a slight hesitation in the chase played into his hands. Jay McCarthy (Bora-Hansgrohe) had the best sprint from the chase but the move was left too late as Edmondson has time to sit up and celebrate the biggest win of his road career by a meagre second.

How it unfolded

The early morning overcast conditions that welcomed the women's peloton cleared for the men's 12:15pm start time. As before the women’s race, a minute of silence was also observed in memory of Jason Lowndes.

There was no ease in the first breakaway of the day forming with the peloton crossing over for two of the 16 laps before a group could take shape. On the fourth lap, Dylan Newbery (mobius BridgeLane), William Clarke (EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale), Robert Power (Mitchelton-Scott), Troy Herfoss, and Sean Lake (Bennelong SwissWellness) were two and a half minutes to the good. Dangling behind was David Edwards (Brisbane Continental Cycling Team).

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