Crits are a lovely way to start the National Championships and get all the locals hyped about the sporting legends in their midst. Names like Robbie McEwen, Mark Renshaw and defending champion Jonathan Cantwell were enough to have Ballarat residents out and about in the main street for the first races of the 2012 Australian National Championships, which culminate with the time trials on Tuesday.
The U23 men took the 1.1km circuit in their stride, defending champion Ben Grenda joining with the peloton in the one-minute laps of Ballarat's Sturt St. With the usual contention for points at the intermediate sprints, the 33-kilometre race passed without incident; Aaron Donnelly's breakaway being reeled in just in time for a bunch sprint at the finish. 19-year-old Scott Law of New South Wales already had the winner's salute down pat, arms outstretched to the sky as he led Jay McCarthy and Ben Grenda over the line. “These criteriums suit me very well,” he commented on the podium after receiving his national champion’s jersey. “I’m usually good on the track.”
Due credit to the other medallists, too. As he left the podium area, instead of handing it to his girlfriend or mother, Jay McCarthy passed his flower bouquet to the nearest female spectator, which appreciative recipient happened to be my mother/photographer waiting nearby (thank you, Jay, they look lovely on our fireplace!). ACT cyclist Mitchell Lovelock-Fay’s mother just got a kiss on the cheek, but it was easy to see her pride in her son. The sprint classification winner’s career has made huge progress in the past 18 months, hinting at a bright future for the track/road rider, who turns 20 next week.
Alexis Rhodes was the golden girl of the day, making an early break in her new GreenEDGE kit and never looking back. Her GreenEDGE teammates sat on the front and kept the pace as low as possible, allowing Alexis to build up a lead that hovered between 10 and 15 seconds for the final half of the race. She stated afterward that her win was due largely to her confidence in her teammates to keep the peloton off her back.
To the encouragement of the crowd she came home in just under 50 minutes to take the gold medal, her teammates crossing the line behind her. South Australia’s Annette Edmondson took out the bronze medal with Rhodes’ GreenEDGE compatriot Melissa Hoskins rounding out the top three for silver. At 21, Hoskins also took out the under-23 title, shivering, “I’m cold now,” as she waited for the under-23 medal ceremony, soaked in champagne from the elite women’s presentation. Edmondson, who rode the entire race with her mobile phone in her back pocket after choosing not to stop mid-race to remove it, also claimed U23 silver, while defending elite and U23 champion Lauren Kitchen took U23 bronze. GreenEDGE fans were also pleased to see Tiffany Cromwell on the platform as the winner of the criterium sprint jersey.
But as always, it was the elite men’s race that everyone was waiting to see. The presence of triple Tour de France green jersey-winner Robbie McEwen was enough to have spectators spellbound, myself notwithstanding. Add in the best lead-out man in the world, Mark Renshaw, and a goodly portion of Australia’s new ProTour cycling team and the atmosphere was electric. Ballarat boy Pat Shaw put on a good show for his hometown crowd, joining in or initiating every breakaway effort and stubbornly refusing to die, in an effort reminiscent of FDJ’s Jeremy Roy in the 2011 Tour de France. The crowd cheer of ‘Go, Pat!’ can’t have hurt either.
But finally tuckered out, Shaw was reeled in to allow for a bunch sprint, the green and orange jerseys of Robbie McEwen and Mark Renshaw respectively creeping up from the middle of the peloton towards the front. Though McEwen was out of shape with food poisoning all through the race, Renshaw saw his chance at the end and went for it, only to be pipped across the line by a flying orange form. Genesys Wealth Advisers’ Anthony Giacoppo had been perfectly placed by his omnipresent team to race up behind the world-class sprinter and take gold, with teammate Steele von Hoff following him across to claim bronze. Giacoppo referenced the number of Genesys riders as a strategy for Sunday’s road race, mildly stating that there’s “…quite a few of us.”
But the prize for the biggest team would have to go to GreenEDGE, with 16 riders entered in the Elite Men’s Road Race, including several popular favourites like defending champion Jack Bobridge and Milan-San-Remo winner Matt Goss. The competition will no doubt be fierce on the hills of Buninyong, but will the numbers be enough for the Australian team to achieve their dream of claiming an Australian jersey?
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