Tristan Saunders made the most of an opportunity from an early, large breakaway to win the 2023 Melbourne to Warrnambool, soloing to the victory with an attack with just under 20 kilometres left of the 267-kilometre event.
Saunders left his breakaway companions chasing spots below him on the podium, riding by himself across the finish in Raglan Parade in front of an ecstatic crowd. The 22-year-old was over the moon after the finish.
“This race, it’s such a special race," said Saunders. "It’s my fourth go, and I’ve wanted to win every time I’ve started. This team put it together so well and I can’t thank them enough.”
Saunders was part of an initial 29-man rider group that formed off the front with most of the strong teams represented, including another two members of Saunders' Bridgelane squad.
“We were a little bit confused," said Saunders. "ARA had probably their strongest riders there, but they didn’t want to ride it from the front. We got put in the perfect position by Sammy Jenner, me and Tommy just had to follow the moves.
"We were just trying to keep the race moving and keep us ahead, we weren’t sure what was happening behind with a few different time checks."
Saunders was rarely far from the front any time an attack was made, first bridging with a small group to Jenner, then part of the next major attack that went away with Brendon Green (Cycling Development Foundation) and Bentley Niquet-Olden (CCACHE x Par Kup). Saunders then exploited a moment where Niquet-Olden was forcing Green through to do some pace-making to attack, and his lead grew and grew all the way to the finish.
“I was actually hoping I could go solo, because with a few of the jumps my legs weren’t feeling great in terms of the sprint," said Saunders. "I was a bit worried that I might not go too well in the sprint.
"I tried to get away with those two and the other two didn’t roll through, so I saw that and thought I’d go on my own. If they come back to me, they come back, if not, I put my head down and go for the line!"
“I'm extremely happy and also extremely tired.”
World cycling superstar Chris Froome was on the startline, the four-time Tour de France winner the most decorated rider in the Melbourne to Warrnambool’s 128-year history to grace the race.
The expected strong headwinds from the southwest weren’t as severe as thought in the early stages of the race, and a strong breakaway formed with all major teams and a number of strong individual riders represented in the move.
More and more riders splintered across to the front group to form a large escape of 29 riders, with a chase from ARA Skip Capital keeping the race leaders in touch with the head of the race, with the gap hitting seven and a half minutes. with 100 kilometres raced.
The wind picked up as the riders approached the coast through the forest down through Colac heading towards Port Campbell and the entry onto the Great Ocean Road.
There were a number of attempts to break away from the large front group, with Dan Bonello the most active in trying to force a move clear. He was successful when bridging across to a solo attack of Angus Miller (Van D’am p/b Butterfields) with Sam Jenner (Team Bridgelane) and Daniel Luke making it a group of four with 100 kilometres to go.
Jenner and Bonello attacked again to make it just a duo out by themselves at the front, building a lead of two minutes to the main chasing group, with four and a half minutes further to the peloton with 90 kilometres remaining.
Jenner, the Under 23 National Road Race winner back in 2017, had to do the majority of the pacemaking with Maltese representative Bonello turns more laboured.
The chasing group behind weren’t cohesive, with attacks and surging moves not resulting in any consistent pace-making. Eventually, Jason Thomason (Van D’am Butterfields) launched clear, with Brendon Davids (CCACHE x Par Kup) and Saunders bridging across.
Bonello was dropped by Jenner with 55 kilometres remaining, and soon Jenner was joined by the trio of Saunders, Davids and Thomason, before being dropped himself a few kilometres later.
The remainder of the breakaway attempted to fight hard and stick with the leaders with Liam Johnston, Niquet-Olden, Green, Jordan Villani and Bailey McDonald (NCMG Criterion Racing) hovering just 20-30 seconds behind the front quartet before making the juncture with 35 kilometres remaining.
That led to a cagier period of sizing each other up, with the peloton over ten minutes behind and riders wary of doing too much work ahead of the decisive final kilometres.
An attack by Chris Froome and Ben Hill (Blackshaw Racing) ate into the gap with a surge from the peloton, attacking with a group of six that whittled down to just Froome and Hill in a dual pursuit of the leaders.
At the front, Green slipped away, with the response from Niquet-Olden and Saunders to bridge across. The trio worked clear of the chasers with Jenner and Davids sitting on to protect their teammates position.
Once established, Green started to hang at the back, with Niquet-Olden trying to drop off to force Green to fill the gap. Saunders looked back and saw that he had a small gap, and he put the power down.
The two chasers never looked like recovering Saunders, with the Team Bridgelane rider soloing in for a convincing victory by two minutes and 59 seconds, with Green just a few seconds ahead of the chasing group for second, and McDonald taking out the final podium position with a strong sprint to the line up Raglan Parade.
Hill was the first of the riders not of the early breakaway to finish, four minutes and 51 seconds back with Froome and further 25 seconds in arrears, with the majority of the main bunch finishing over 13 minutes behind.
The racing continues tomorrow with the second edition of the Women’s Warrnambool Cycling Classic, with the 160-kilometre race seeing the top National Road Series riders compete for the win. The broadcast starts at 10.30am AEDT on SBS On Demand.
