Cam Scott claims U23 criterium gold
Sunderland second, Welsford third
Cam Scott finished off a perfect debut for new Continental team Australian Cycling Academy in the U23 men's criterium, outkicking Dylan Sunderland (Bennelong SwissWellness) in a two-up race for the title.
Scott's teammate and two-time track world champion Sam Welsford surged from the closing peloton to take bronze.
Scott, who turns 20 on Thursday, continues a recent trend of emerging track riders to claim the gold medal on Ballarat's Sturt St following in the footsteps of Alex Porter and Caleb Ewan.
"I saw we had a pretty good gap over the bunch and I was taking hard turns up the straight and recovering on the downhill," Scott said. "I was always watching for Dylan Sunderland, I know he's a dangerous rider, and I was waiting for him to make a dangerous move.
"We have a couple of strong riders for the finish with Toby Orchard and Sam Welsford as well and a few other guys who are climbers and can mix it up a bit in the breakaways. We were initially looking for a sprint finish but I found myself off the front with a few guys and had a teammate with me so we rode with that and changed our plan a little. We just had to be smart about it."
A solo rider in the race, Sunderland explained he needed a canny ride to win. Having made the final selection, Sunderland tipped his hat to Scott, explaining he simply couldn't match his speed.
"I had to be willing to lose it to try and get the victory," Sunderland said. "I knew it was a hard task to come off Cam in the sprint. I had a crack but I didn't have the speed quite in the finish. That's racing."
How it unfolded
Starting under sunny skies, the new Continental teams of the peloton, Brisbane Cycling, Australian Cycling Academy, Mobius-BridgeLane and Oliver's Real Food, were quick to show they meant business. A flurry of attacks came from the start but with no moves sticking.
The race-winning move came a little over 10 laps into the 33km race around the 1.1km circuit when Sunderland and Aidan Kampers (Australian Cycling Academy) forced a break. Scott and Samuel Munday joined the move with the quartet working together and gently extending a lead over the peloton. With two riders in front and Welsford in the bunch, Australia Cycling Academy let the likes of Oliver's Real Food Racing take up the chase.
With two laps left, the quartet had 15 seconds over the chasing peloton when Scott and Sunderland rode clear of their breakaway compatriots. Although Scott was the superior sprinter of the duo, he took front position for the slight uphill sprint to the line. Despite Sunderland's best efforts, he was unable to come past, so Scott had time to soak in the occasion and celebrate.
Behind, Welsford stole in for bronze to cap off a dream start to 2018 for Australian Cycling Academy.
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Cameron Scott (Aus) Australian Cycling Academy | 0:47:07 |
2 | Dylan Sunderland (Aus) Bennelong SwissWellness | |
3 | Sam Welsford (Aus) Australian Cycling Academy | 0:00:04 |
4 | Toby Orchard (Aus) Australian Cycling Academy | 0:00:05 |
5 | Lachlan Holliday (Aus) PMR | |
6 | Bryce Lanigan (Aus) Satalyst Verve Racing | |
7 | Daniel Luke (Aus) | |
8 | Harrison Bailey (Aus) GPM | |
9 | Mathew Ross (Aus) | 0:00:07 |
10 | Aidan Kampers (Aus) Australian Cycling Academy | |
11 | Craig Wiggins (Aus) mobius BridgeLane | |
12 | Julian Thomson (Aus) | 0:00:09 |
13 | Braden O'Shea (Aus) SASI | |
14 | Tom Chester (Aus) | |
15 | Joshua Corcoran (Aus) GPM | 0:00:12 |
16 | Joshua Beikoff (Aus) | |
17 | Nicholas White (Aus) Oliver's Real Food Racing | |
18 | Bailey Walters (Aus) | |
19 | Liam Lawlor (Aus) Van D'am Racing | |
20 | David Randall (Aus) Van D'am Racing | |
21 | Daniel Simpson (Aus) | |
22 | Ethan Berends (Aus) mobius BridgeLane | |
23 | Tim Lennon (Aus) | |
24 | Isaac Buckell (Aus) | |
25 | Leighton Taylor (Aus) | |
26 | Michael Potter (Aus) Australian Cycling Academy | |
27 | Daniel Newman (Aus) MTR | |
28 | Bradley Soden (Aus) | |
29 | Callum Dolby (Aus) | |
30 | Alexander Holden (Aus) | |
31 | Jordan Schmidt (Aus) | |
32 | Nicholas Simpson (Aus) AMR Renault Racing Team | |
33 | Thomas Bolton (Aus) Oliver's Real Food Racing | |
34 | Matthew Gassner (Aus) | |
35 | Richard Cartwright (Aus) | |
36 | Lachlan Scott (Aus) | |
37 | Tom McCracken (Aus) | 0:00:20 |
38 | James Pane (Aus) Drapac EF p/b Cannondale Holistic Development Team | |
39 | Patrick Kennedy (Aus) | |
40 | Frahn Sequoia (Aus) | |
41 | Liam Edwards (Aus) mobius BridgeLane | |
42 | Jonathan Noble (Aus) Brisbane Continental Cycling Team | |
43 | Ross Gordon (Aus) InForm Tineli | |
44 | Thomas Hodge (Aus) Balmoral Cycling Club | |
45 | Tony Doherty (Aus) | |
46 | Samuel Munday (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk | 0:00:23 |
47 | Jake Brooker (Aus) | |
48 | Henry Pennell (Aus) | 0:00:27 |
49 | Calan White (Aus) Brisbane Continental Cycling Team | |
50 | Brandon Conway (Aus) | |
51 | Ashley Mackay (Aus) Australian Cycling Academy | 0:00:31 |
52 | Thomas Allford (Aus) Van D'am Racing | |
53 | Riley Fleming (Aus) GPM | 0:00:33 |
54 | Riley Terrens (Aus) | 0:00:35 |
55 | Hamish Webber (Aus) | |
56 | Jordan Louis (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team | 0:00:52 |
57 | Nathan Aver (Aus) | |
58 | Xavier Cooper (Aus) | 0:01:04 |
59 | Thomas Green (Aus) GPM | 0:04:41 |
DSQ | Richard Maher (Aus) | |
DNF | Oliver Hartung (Aus) | |
DNF | Kaden Groves (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team | |
DNF | Amarni Drake (Aus) Australian Cycling Academy | |
DNF | Nicholas Darling (Aus) AMR Renault Racing Team | |
DNF | Fintan Conway (Aus) Oliver's Real Food Racing | |
DNF | Benjamin Andrews (Aus) Oliver's Real Food Racing | |
DNF | Jasper Albrecht (Aus) AMR Renault Racing Team | |
DNF | Chris Powell (Aus) | |
DNF | Cooper Sayers (Aus) SASI | |
DNF | Fergus Brown (Aus) | |
DNF | Ray Hunter (Aus) | |
DNF | Darcy Whittaker (Aus) | |
DNF | Jake Van Der Vliet (Aus) | |
DNF | Myles Stewart (Aus) | |
DNF | Timothy Sellar (Aus) | |
DNF | Callum Pearce (Aus) | |
DNF | Kallum Parlevliet (Aus) InForm Tineli | |
DNF | Liam Nolan (Aus) mobius BridgeLane | |
DNF | Bentley Niquet-Olden (Aus) | |
DNF | Dylan McKenna (Aus) AMR Renault Racing Team | |
DNF | Thomas McFarlane (Aus) | |
DNF | John Maguire (Aus) | |
DNF | Jade Maddern (Aus) | |
DNF | Peter Livingstone (Aus) mobius BridgeLane | |
DNF | William Hodges (Aus) GPM | |
DNF | Ian Herman (Aus) | |
DNF | Alex Clairs (Aus) | |
DNF | Mackenzie Hastings (Aus) | |
DNS | Oliver Smith (Aus) Brisbane Continental Cycling Team |

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