Sean Lake wins Grafton to Inverell

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Battling some of the most testing conditions in the race's history, African Wildlife Safaris rider Sean Lake has ridden to victory in the 54th Grafton to Inverell Cycle Classic sponsored by McDonalds.

Lake seized an opportunity in the final few kilometres to ride away from four other riders who elected not to chase and crossed the line in 6 hours 40 minutes and 26 seconds, an average of 34.2 kph.

"It's absolutely amazing, if you had of asked me before the race if I thought this was going to happen I would have told you pretty much no chance," said Lake.

"I've had a couple of good results in my rowing career but this is definitely the biggest thing, it’s crazy, it's only my second NRS race."

Oliver Kent-Spark of Search2Retain was second and Kristian Juel of Budget Forklifts crossed in third place.

The race became a war of attrition for the last 110 kilometres as the heat on the Tablelands took effect and hot, blustery winds met them head-on.

Budget Forklifts took the teams classification, Juel was crowned King of the Mountain and Edward White of GPS Sultz was Sprint King.

The final race of the Subaru National Road Series did not impact on the overall standings with Joseph Cooper (33rd) protecting his title for Avanti, and Avanti winning the NRS teams title.

Skybridge Financial B-Grade was a triumph for Liam Kelly of Caravello who outlasted Tom Gollins of Lifecycle in 7 hours 11 minutes 31 seconds, and Lewis Garland of Hunter District was third.

A three-up sprint in Inverell RSM Club C-grade saw Jacob Patterson of Northern Sydney prevail over Inverell's Brett Newton and Simon Anderson of Eastern Suburbs.

The new finish line in Vivian street proved a winner with a good crowd enjoying pre-race entertainment and the shaded areas before welcoming the cyclists.

Joe Cooper (Avanti) was crowned the 2014 Subaru National Road Series having finished safely in the bunch.

"This is one of the biggest highlights of my cycling career," said the 2013 New Zealand time trial champion. "I'm just so glad we got it done today.

"I'm so happy, it means a lot to me. I've put a whole year of hard work into this and to cap it off today and actually survive the race myself is pretty good," Cooper added. 

Cooper finished the season on 68 points, three ahead of Tim Roe (Budget Forklifts) and 12 ahead of teammate Brenton Jones.

Avanti finished the season as the best ranked team on 222 points with Team Budget Forklifts second on 145 points, followed by health.com.au-search2retain in third place on 122 points.

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