Jack Bobridge is the new 2016 Australian Road Race champion.
The climax of the Australian National Championships in Ballarat saw a 183.2km mens elite road race and Bernie Sulzberger, Josh Taylor, Sam Crome, Fergus Sully, Dan Bonello, Peter Milostic, Jack Bobridge, Tim Roe, Mark Renshaw, Alistair Crameri, Mitch Docker, Ben Hill, Michael Hepburn, Wes Sulzberger, Rhys Gillett and Peter Casey plus Jayden Copp and Nathan Elliot were in the break.
With fifty kilometres gone that lead had gone out to seven minutes and on lap seven with just over a hundred kilometres left, Jack Bobridge and brothers Wes and Bernie Sulzberger, rode clear on Midland Mountain.
Ten kilometres later and Jack Bobridge decided to shed his company and off he went.
By lap thirteen, Bobridge had put seven minutes into the Sulzberger's. Time Trial Champion Rohan Dennis and Cameron Mayer tried to chase down Bobridge who was 6.25 ahead going into the final lap.
Dennis opted to quit so Mayer gave chase. However, it mattered not, as Jack Bobridge pressed on and won in a time of 4.40.30 ahead with Cameron Meyer, in second place 2.52 down and Victorian Patrick Lane in third.
"In the back of my mind, it thought Rohan and Richie would probably be a bit too strong to go with at the finish but when I saw that big group go at the start, 20 guys that had a lot of teams represented, I put myself there," Jack Bobridge is quoted by cyclingnews.com as saying
"I guess I got away with Bernie and he was umming and ahhing whether to stay there or not. At that point in time, if I was to go back I've spent too much energy already so I am not going to win the bike race anyway. I got myself into a good rhythm. I guess that time gap I got with nine minutes was enough to start the descent as they were starting the climb."
"I wanted redemption after Thursday. "To be honest, I trained more than over before for the time trial on Thursday but it just didn’t go my way. I had one of them days when the body just didn’t want to work. Everyone has them days but I was pretty annoyed with Thursday. At the end of the day winning the road race is probably better than winning the time trial because I get to wear the jersey more often.
"I honestly didn’t think going that far from home I’d be able to hold on on this course. This course is brutal, the time gaps stayed the same and even went out a little bit so probably four, five laps from home I could probably do this if I keep riding smart.
"I’d always gone well around here but it was the situation of being in a big team like Orica so I wanted to start the season strong, obviously moving teams is a little bit of motivation and you want to prove it was a good choice and I came out today and showed I had good legs. It’s a good start for me. "