Upset Melbourne to Warrnambool victory for Nathan Elliott

Image 1 of 4

Second in the opening one-day race of the 2016 National Road Series (NRS) at Grafton to Inverell, Nathan Elliott enjoyed the biggest win of his career yet with an upset victory on the 101st running of the Melbourne to Warrnambool. Elliott was without teammates for the 277km race but proved to have the strongest legs inside the closing kilometres as he launched an attack from the six-man breakaway. 

Despite a slow leaking front tyre, Ayden Toovey won the sprint for second place with Avanti IsoWhey Sport's Robbie Hucker coming in third. Patrick Lane, the winner of Grafton to Inverell ahead of Elliott, was next across the line in fourth place for Avanti IsoWhey Sport, while Mathew Ross (Pat's Veg Cycling) placed fifth.

"I'm stoked to get the win! After coming second at Grafton to Inverell, I'm so happy to have pulled this one off for sure," said Elliott. "My parents were here supporting me, it was awesome to see them here at the finish line. They were pretty teary! I had thought about getting into the early break but wanted to play it by ear. Once the break went I knew it was going to be a good one as I saw all the major teams were represented so I knew the peloton wouldn't chase us down," he added.

"I was pretty confident we would stay away, but then the chase group started coming back around Camperdown. Although I knew that if they did catch us, they would have been pretty cooked, so I was feeling pretty confident towards the end."

Despite not racing, Joe Cooper sealed the overall NRS title for the second time in his career with Pat Shaw finishing in second place on the standings to complete a one-two for Avanti Isowhey Sports. The Tasmanian Continental team also secured the overall team standings for a sixth straight year.

Full Results