Jarrad Drizners takes under-23 men's road race title at Australian Road Championships

New Hagens Berman Axeon signing Jarrad Drizners won the under-23 road race at the 2020 Australian Road Championships in Buninyong, Victoria, on Saturday afternoon, first catching lone breakaway rider Elliot Schultz (Memil-CCN Pro Cycling) on the final lap, and then holding off Sebastian Berwick (St George Continental Cycling Team) to take the title, with Alastair Christie-Johnston (Team BridgeLane) finishing third.

In 2019, Drizners won the U23 criterium title ahead of Kelland O'Brien – who in turn took the 2020 U23 crit title on Friday. Drizners – who has previously split his time between the road and the track – went on to take a stage and the overall victory at the Sam Miranda Tour of King Valley in October, ahead of the November announcement that he'd signed with US Pro Continental team Hagens Berman Axeon for this season.

"There were a lot of team tactics today, so, for me being an individual, it made it a bit tricky," Drizners explained. "I saw the race forming and I could follow. But we – Berwick and I – rode away to the finish and were committed.

"I knew we weren't going to get caught, so it was a case of being patient with him, as I knew I had the better sprint," he said.

"I've been working really hard for this race, and I'm looking forward to taking this jersey overseas this year," Drizners said of his new white, green and gold national champion's garment. "I might sleep in this tonight – you never know."

How it unfolded

In Buninyong on Saturday, the fast-finishing Drizners left it late, but proved to have timed his run to perfection in the end, winning the Australian road title by three seconds from Berwick, while Christie-Johnston trailed home another 11 seconds down – again, alone, just like the rest of the top-10 finishers, after the race developed into one with a frenetic pace in the closing laps.

Also finishing in the top 10 – in eighth spot, 2:07 down on Drizners – was the day's other stand-out rider. Memil-CCN Pro Cycling's Elliot Schultz had spent virtually the entirety of the 139.2km road race at the head of affairs, first as part of an early eight-man move, then as part of a two-man move with Calan White, having bridged up to the lone-attacking Balmoral Cycling Club rider, and finally as a solo breakaway rider, leading into the final lap as the favourites sought to close him down.

Only an elite chasing group was capable of catching Schultz – made up of Drizners, Berwick, Christie-Johnston, this week's U23 time trial winner Lucas Plapp and his two InForm TM Insight Make teammates Rudy Porter and Carter Turnball, and Christie-Johnston's Team BridgeLane's Tyler Lindorff, with the latter having valiantly fought back from a crash earlier in the day to still be competitive by the end.

The day, though, belonged to Drizners and Schultz, with honourable mentions for Lindorff and White – who also just made it into the top 10 – and for podium finishers Berwick and Christie-Johnston.

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Full results
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Jarrad Drizners (Aus) Hagens Berman Axeon 3:37:06
2Sebastian Berwick (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team 0:00:03
3Alastair Christie-Johnston (Aus) Team BridgeLane 0:00:14
4Tyler Lindorff (Aus) Team BridgeLane 0:00:17
5Lucas Plapp (Aus) InForm TM Insight Make 0:00:19
6Rudy Porter (Aus) InForm TM Insight Make 0:00:47
7Carter Turnbull (Aus) InForm TM Insight Make 0:00:50
8Elliot Schultz (Aus) Memil-CCN Pro Cycling 0:02:07
9Zachary Johnson (Aus) Launceston Cycling Club 0:02:30
10Calan White (Aus) Balmoral Cycling Club 0:02:42
11Thomas Bolton (Aus) Oliver's Real Food Racing 0:03:31
12David Williams (Aus) InForm TM Insight Make
13Connor Reardon (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team
14Sebastian Presley (Aus) Oliver's Real Food Racing 0:03:35
15Rhys Robotham (Aus) Futuro Pro Cycling 0:04:11
16Bailey Walters (Aus) Memil-CCN Pro Cycling 0:04:44
17Tom Benton (Aus) InForm TM Insight Make
18Cooper Sayers (Aus) Nero Continental
19Connor Sens (Aus) X Speed United 0:04:47
20Dylan Hopkins (Aus) Ljubljana Gusto Santic 0:05:14
21Riley Fleming (Aus) Oliver's Real Food Racing 0:06:50
22Myles Stewart (Aus) Nero Continental 0:07:42
23Samual Eddy (Aus) Bendigo & District CC
24Mackenzie Edwardson (Aus) Team CCS Canberra Men
25Callum Pearce (Aus) Oliver's Real Food Racing
26Tom Chester (Aus) Rauland Development Team
27Will Ockenden (Aus) Subaru-Giant
28Fintan Conway (Aus) Oliver's Real Food Racing
29Daniel Simpson (Aus) Team CCS Canberra Men
30Matthew Harvey (Aus) Midland Cycle Club
31Jasper Albrecht (Aus) Castlemaine Cycling Club
32Robert Parker (Aus) St George Cycling Club
33Timothy Harvey (Aus) Midland Cycle Club
34Carter Bettles (Aus) St George Continental Cycling Team
35Sebastian Barrett (Aus) ARA-Pro Racing Sunshine Coast
36Cameron Scott (Aus)
37Godfrey Slattery (Aus) InForm TM Insight Make
38Kelland O'Brien (Aus) St Kilda Cycling Club
39Jacob Emmerton (Aus) Avantias Pro Cycling
40Jordan Schmidt (Aus) X Speed United
41Campbell Jones (Aus) Oliver's Real Food Racing
42Tristan Saunders (Aus) Butterfields Appselec p/b Van Dam Racing
43Matthew Dinham (Aus) Team BridgeLane
DNFJoshua Duffy (Aus) InForm TM Insight Make
DNFJarrod Williams (Aus) Avantias Pro Cycling
DNFMichael Harris (Aus) Avantias Pro Cycling
DNFJared Madsen (Aus) Avantias Pro Cycling
DNFLuke Ensor (Aus) Avantias Pro Cycling
DNFSteven Roberts (Aus) Avantias Pro Cycling
DNFSutton Henning (Aus) Futuro Pro Cycling
DNFLiam Walsh (Aus) Futuro Pro Racing
DNFAshley Sek (Aus)Kern Flanders)
DNFKai Chapman (Aus) Oliver's Real Food Racing
DNFDaniel Di Domenico (Aus) ARA-Pro Racing Sunshine Coast
DNFAmarni Drake (Aus) ARA-Pro Racing Sunshine Coast
DNFLuke Britten (Aus) Rauland Development Team
DNFKurt Eather (Aus) Rauland Development Team
DNFGraeme Frislie (Aus) Subaru-Giant
DNFTom McFarlane (Aus) Subaru-Giant
DNFBenjamin Metcalfe (Aus) Team BridgeLane
DNFChase Costello-Manning (Aus) Veris Racing
DNFByron Woods (Aus) Veris Racing
DNFJames Thomas (Aus) Bundaberg Cycling Club
DNFCharles Liebenberg (Aus) Bundaberg Cycling Club
DNFRohan Haydon-Smith (Aus) St George Cycling Club
DNFJack Sewell (Aus) Gold Coast Cycling Club
DNFEdwin Britts (Aus) Dulwich Hill Cycling Club
DNFHayden James (Aus) Midland Cycle Club
DNFDeclan Prosser (Aus) Canberra Cycling Club
DNFLuke Wight (Aus) Midland Cycle Club
DNFJosh Sutton (Aus) Sunshine Coast Cycling Club
DNFBryce Lanigan (Aus) South West Cycling Club
DNFBrenton Ryan (Aus) Ballarat Sebastapol Cycling Club
DNFJoseph Inglis (Aus) Carnegie Caulfield CC
DNFFinley Moutter (Aus) Avantias Pro Cycling
DNFTom Sharp (Aus) Albury Wodonga Panthers Cycling Club
DNFStuart Darling (Aus) Wagga Wagga Cycling Club
DNFNicholas Torney (Aus) Cobram Barooga Cycling Club
DNFNicholas Simpson (Aus) Carnegie Caulfield CC
DNFOliver Clarke (Aus) Brisbane Cycling Club
DNFKael Thomas (Aus) Norwood Cycling Club
DNFJason Woodard (Aus) Kilkenny Cycling Club
DNFStinus Kaempe (Aus) Carnegie Caulfield CC
DNFAlex Durrant-Whyte (Aus) Sydney Uni Velo Club
DNFWilliam Anderson (Aus) Bairnsdale Cycling Club
DNFJames Farley (Aus) Hunter Districts Cycling Club
DNFXavier Cooper (Aus) Midland Cycle Club
DNFJames Moriarty (Aus) Balmoral Cycling Club
DNFNathan Burrell (Aus) Bendigo & District CC
DNFPiper Albrecht (Aus) Castlemaine Cycling Club
DNFHamish Webber (Aus) St Kilda Cycling Club
DNFEthan Egglestone (Aus) Norwood Cycling Club
DNFNicholas Njegae (Aus)
DNSJordan Louis (Aus) Memil-CCN Pro Cycling
DNSSamuel Munday (Aus) Team Novo Nordisk Pro Cycling
DNSTaj Mueller (Aus) X Speed United
DNSThomas Lynch (Aus) St George Cycling Club

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