ROAD CYCLING: Sean Lake defended his road race title having done the same in the time trial, as Lisen Hockings claimed a maiden title, with Australia winning all six road races at the 2017 Oceania Road Championships, in Canberra, March 9-11.
The elite men’s crown completed a successful three days for Lake who also claimed the time trial for a second year in a row.
"It means heaps to come back to these races and take the wins especially after a disappointing nationals and changing the type of rider I am. It’s huge for the confidence and hopefully I'll have a big year ahead,” Lake said.
"Really tough conditions out there but I really like races that are hard and hot all day, they seem to suit me well!
"I did watch the Australian team riders a fair bit as they were super strong today and I think I managed to play my cards perfectly to drop all the elite riders and get away with them.
"But three on one, it would be nice to take them on but not worth the risk as they are separate races within the race," Lake explained of the battle for both the under 23 title and elite titles in the combined race.
Elite silver went to Neil Van der Ploeg (Australia) with Jesse Featonby (Australia) completing the podium.
Lucas Hamilton won an epic elite men’s race to be crowned the under 23 champion, after the 103 rider field was torn apart in brutal conditions. In a three up sprint for the line Hamilton was too strong taking gold ahead of Michael Storer (Australia) and Jai Hindley (Australia).
After winning bronze in the time trial Lisen Hockings (Australia) was untouchable in the elite women's road. Hockings used her strength against the clock to hold off a five riderchasing group on the final lap to cross the line solo in 3 hours and 34 minutes, more thanthree minutes ahead of the closest rivals.
"I'm really happy to be back on my bike and racing with the Holden Women's Cycling Team and obviously delighted to take the win," said Hockings who claimed the overall victory in the Subaru National Road Series in 2016.
"I missed the whole summer of racing due to injury so I’m delighted to be back on the road and enjoying myself.
"We had a lot of numbers in the race today and the team was defending the jersey after Shannon’s win last year so to be able to go 1-2 for the team is a great result.
"It was very definitely a team effort out there: Louisa [Lobigs], Jaime [Gunning] and Dani [McKinnirey] followed every move or were off the front themselves," Hockings added paying full credit to her team on setting up her victory.
"Riding for the team with the confidence that they had it covered when you got caught was very motivating. I was just lucky that it was pretty hot, hilly and windy so I managed to stay away until the end."
Defending champion Shannon Malseed (Australia) out sprinted time trial champion Lucy Kennedy (Australia) for the silver medal, with Kennedy settling for bronze.
The under 23 women's title went to Jessica Pratt (Australia), having finished just off the elite podium in fourth. Pratt who claimed silver in 2014 and bronze in 2015 in the under 19 race was in contention for the medals in the elite category until the closing kilometres. New Zealand duo Mikayla Harvey and Madeleine Park completed the podium finishing in the main peloton.
On Saturday, Australia dominated the opening day of the 2017 Oceania Road Championships, winning all six time trials, with Sean Lake successfully defending his elite men’s title while Lucy Kennedy took out the elite women’s race in Canberra.
Lake stopped the clock in 54mins 32.7secs for the 41-kilometre course. Silver went to Ben Dyball (Australia- 55:25.4) with New Zealand’s Hamish Bond (55:32.1) completing the podium.
Kennedy time trialed her way to gold in a close battle, with the podium positions in the elite women's race separated by just 17 seconds. 28-year-old Kennedy covered the 25-kilometre course in 40 minutes 4.2 seconds, to edge out Rebecca Mackey (Australia-40:15.1) with Lisen Hockings (40:20.9) completing an Australian 1-2-3.
A close battle for the under 23 women's title saw Jaime Gunning (Australia) snatch gold in 41mins 6.3secs, just 1.4 seconds ahead of Mikayla Harvey (New Zealand-41:07.7) who settled for silver. Madeline Park gave New Zealand two riders on the podium as she took bronze in 41mins 45.1secs.
Liam Magennis (Australia) produced a stunning ride to win the under 23 men's crown in 42mins 57.7secs for the 33 kilometre course. 19-year-old Magennis improved on his fourth place finish last year in a hotly contested category. Jason Lea (43:26.3) and Cyrus Monk (43:39.4) rounded out the podium.
Cycling Australia