2011 Australian Road Race Championship

01/09/2011: 2011 Australian Road Race Championship

Buninyong - Buninyong: 160.2 km

Plan of the day

The first races any of our riders will be running in this season are the Australian National Championships, where Robbie McEwen will make his debut for our time in both the road race and the time trial. He will not be competitive against the clock, but the road race looks promising if he can stay with the competition over the hills around the Buninyong course.

Robbie McEwen debuts the new look for Team RadioShack and the equipment we will be using for 2011. He is our only representative in the race.

We had to take a chance for McEwen to win, and the peloton sticking together until the last climb wouldn't be it. For a small field, a 10-man breakaway could certainly hold off the rest of the field. McEwen can be see at the back as he became the 11th rider to join the break.

The breakaway was organized well and left the peloton in the dust. McEwen spent most of the day at the back of it rarely contributing, but no one ever left the group. He was sure to have good positioning on the final climb so that he would have the best to chance to not get dropped. However, no one wanted to get in front of him and serve as a leadout since they would have no chance in a sprint... So McEwen attacked with 5 km to go!

He may be the best sprinter in the group, but the extended effort took all of his energy. Still, with the other 10 riders catching him quick, Robbie McEwen held the rest of the group off to pull off the win!

Robbie McEwen is the Australian champion! This is third victory in this race and first since 2005. He is now 1-for-1 on his new team and will not be seen in a road race in this jersey again for the rest of the year.

Race winner

Results

1 Robbie McEwen Team RadioShack 4h39'36"

2 Christopher Sutton Sky ProCycling + 0

3 Leigh Howard HTC - Highroad + 0

4 Graeme Brown Rabobank Cycling Team + 0

5 Jonathan Clarke UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling + 0

6 William Clarke Leopard Trek + 0

7 Benjamin King Team Type 1 + 0

8 Richie Porte Saxo Bank SunGard + 0

9 Timothy Roe BMC Racing Team + 0

10 Adam Hansen Omega Pharma - Lotto + 0