Drapac-Porsche dominated the Under 23 men’s criterium championship race, with Daniel Braunsteins making a successful solo break for the victory with two laps remaining. Braunsteins had two team-mates to assist in the eight-man break away and despite his work earlier in the race Thomas Palmer sprinted to second place for the Victorian squad.
New South Wales’ Malcolm Rudolph took the final place on the podium, while Ben Grenda picked up the afternoon’s sprint classification.
“I was just trying to be patient and make my move at the end,” said Braunsteins. “Just as the race started to get hard a group of eight got away with three Drapac riders in it. That let me just sit in and rest my legs a bit more.
“With two laps remaining I just hit them with everything I had,” said the former mountain biker. “I got a gap and stayed away, so I’m stoked.”
The first half of the lap featured constant attacking, with equally as much retaliation from the peloton. It wasn’t until inside the final 15 laps that a break-away was allowed to escape, consisting of six riders.
That group expanded to eight as Rudolph led a two-man Drapac-Porsche time trial across to the lead group. The addition of his team-mates at the front put Braunsteins in the box seat for victory and despite the odds of the team winning in bunch kick, he made the bold move of a solo attack with two laps remaining and never looked back.
Results
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team |
|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Braunsteins (VIC) |
| 2 | Thomas Palmer (ACT) |
| 3 | Malcolm Rudolph (QLD) |
| 4 | Ben Grenda (TAS) |
| 5 | Joseph Lewis (NSW) |
| 6 | Douglas Repacholi (WA) |
| 7 | Geoff Straub (NSW) |
| 8 | Brenton Jones (VIC) |
| 9 | Alex Carver (NSW) |
| 10 | Scott Law (NSW) |
| 11 | Alexander Smyth (VIC) |
| 12 | Nicholas Walker (VIC) |
| 13 | Matthew Benson (SA) |
| 14 | Joshua Taylor (NSW) |
| 15 | Reuben Donati (NSW) |
| 16 | Trevor Griffiths (VIC) |
| 17 | Kane Walker (VIC) |
| 18 | Dylan Wallis (SA) |
| 19 | Aaron Donnelly (NSW) |
| 20 | Ivan Cook (QLD) |
| 21 | Craig Hutton (NSW) |
| 22 | Jeremy Hills (TAS) |
| 23 | Danny Pulbrook (TAS) |
| 24 | Kristopher Collins (NSW) |
| 25 | James Hepburn (QLD) |
| 26 | Merlin Spranz (SA) |
| 27 | Joshua Prete (QLD) |
| 28 | Angus Morton (NSW) |
| 29 | Blair Windsor (NSW) |
| 30 | Mohammed Adiq Husainie Othman (MAS) |
| 31 | Michael Hepburn (QLD) |
| 32 | Dale Scarfe (NSW) |
| DNF | Timothy White (VIC) |
| DNF | Owen Cooke (NSW) |
| DNF | Ruan Benson (QLD) |
| DNF | Daniel Hopper (VIC) |
| DNF | Daniel Swanbury (NSW) |
| DNF | David Abraham (TAS) |
| DNF | Peter Braunsteins (VIC) |
| DNF | Mitch Brogden (VIC) |
| DNF | Patrick Drapac (VIC) |
| DNF | Philip Grenfell (NSW) |
| DNF | Patrick Lane (VIC) |
| DNF | Richard Lang (NSW) |
| DNF | Peter Loft (TAS) |
| DNF | Vivian Mccarthy (VIC) |
| DNF | James Mowatt (VIC) |
| DNF | Ryan Obst (SA) |
| DNF | Glenn O'shea (VIC) |
| DNF | Michael Phelan (ACT) |
| DNF | Thomas Robinson (TAS) |
| DNF | Joel Stearnes (TAS) |
| DNF | James Langedyk (VIC) |
| DNS | Alastair Loutit (ACT) |
| DNS | Johann Esterhuyzen (NSW) |
| DNS | Peter Johnstone (VIC) |
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