Jones seals Tour of the Great South Coast overall victory

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Brenton Jones (Avanti) put the disappointment of losing the Tour of the Murray River due to a mechanical to seal his first NRS overall victory at the Tour of the Great South Coast. The win also propelled the 22-year-old to the top of the NRS standings.

Ryan MacAnally (Wormall Civil) took out the final stage in Port Fairy ahead of Angus Tobin (health.com.au-search2retain) and Jones.

"It's unbelievable, I'm ecstatic," said Jones. "To win the Tour overall today is really emotional for myself and the team as well. We worked hard all week and to keep the lead and have the chain stay on today unlike at [The tour of] Murray is a good feeling," said Jones who lost his overall lead at the recent Tour of the Murray River on the final day.

"It's my first overall Tour win in the NRS and now I have the lead in the NRS too, so it's good to keep the [leaders] jersey it in the Avanti family," said Jones who now teammate Joe Cooper by six points.

Jones started the final stage 12 seconds ahead of closest rival Jesse Kerrison (Budget Forklifts). Time bonus' on offer throughout the race saw the gap narrow to seven seconds.

"Jesse was sprinting well, he did roll me in the first four intermediate sprints and he brought my lead down, but there was one intermediate sprint which I won and I saw that in himself, he knew he was beaten," said Jones.

"With three laps to go he said to me 'mate well done, let's just stay upright' and when he said that, I knew I'd won. The week was a tough battle and Jesse really made me earn it, but that's what racing is all about."

Jones won the Bay Criterium Series in January this year and has added wins in Asia to his palmares as well.

"This is up there with the best win of my career, a close second to my win at the Bay Crits," explained Jones. "The NRS is so big at the moment and we've seen many riders develop to be Pro Tour riders and that's where I want to go."

Jones finished 12 seconds ahead of Kerrison while Raphael Freinstein (CharterMason Giant) rounded out the podium 30 seconds in arrears.

MacAnally's victory was his first Subaru stage win after 17 podium appearances.

"I'm ecstatic. It's taken three years to get this and at the start of the year I had a big fall so to be back is great," said MacAnally who suffered spinal injuries following a serious crash during the series' opening stage in Perth.

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