Blake Agnoletto (Team Brennan p/b TP32) captured a hard-earned victory at the 267km Powercor Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Classic with the Team Brennan p/b TP32 rider proving impossible to catch once he launched his sprint toward the well worn finish line on Raglan Parade.
The historic race, which this year is the second round of the new ProVelo Super League, came down to a group of five that included the winners of the last three editions of the event. The 2022 winner Cameron Scott (CCACHE X Bodywrap) came second to Agnoletto in the charged final sprint which unfolded after six hours, 19 minutes and 29 seconds of racing. Hamish McKenzie (Hagens Berman Jayco) was third.
Mark O’Brien (Trappist) took fourth in the charge to the line after trying time and time again to replicate his race winning move of last year and get away solo. 2023 winner Tristan Saunders held on for fifth after positioning his teammate for the win.
“Once Tristan got on the front at about 2km to go I was just like ‘prep, calm down’ and the sprint just seemed to happen,” said Agnoletto, who was being encouraged from the car by the founder of the new team and 2007 Melbourne to Warrnambool winner Tim Decker. “I thought I was going to cramp but I got it done and I just can’t believe it.”
“What a team, what a day.”
The key move of the race formed at around the 40km mark, initially six riders but as a spate of attacks unleashed at about 12km to go Scott’s CCACHE x Bodywrap teammate Tali Lane Welsh’s tenacious fight to stay at the front ended. That meant Scott was facing up to the final run into the line and sprint alone.
“I had to be aggressive just to be there, I knew there were going to be a lot of attacks and I had to be on them straight away or it would have been very difficult to get a result,” Scott told Cyclingnews in Warrnambool. “I did everything right and we came into the sprint and he just beat me fair and square. A win would have been nice, but I’m also not too disappointed.”
How it unfolded
The 267km race, which first ran in 1895, set out from Avalon on Saturday morning. The 168 riders on the start line were facing mild conditions with temperatures heading toward the low 20’s but winds building.
It didn’t take long for the early break to establish, with Terance Hore (Duda) and Tim Cutler (Royal Bikes), who won the Dirty Warrny in 2023 with a long solo effort, establishing a gap and then stretching it out to six minutes by the time a little under 200km of the race remained.
The peloton, however wasn’t prepared to sit intact behind for too long as splits started occurring and chase groups were flying behind the 2 leaders with 160km still to race but didn’t make the junction to the leading duo. Then at under 100km to go the pressure was noticeably on in the peloton again, teams gathering and getting ready for the wind to intensify as they headed towards the coast.
It was with around 85km to go that Cutler and Hore finally succumbed and that of course was the signal for others to go. There was an effort out front by Olympic gold medallist Oliver Bleddyn, taking the pressure off the rest of Team Brennan p/b TP32, but leaving the peloton strung out along the coast in pursuit. This was when the splits intensified and with around 50km to go the field just kept breaking up.
A lead group full of the key race favourites formed but by under the 40km mark it had being whittled down to a group of six out the front, Agnoletto and Saunders for Team Brennan p/b TP32, Scott and Lane Welsh for CCACHE x Bodywrap, plus 2024 victor O’Brien and McKenzie.
Zachary Marriage (Butterfields Ziptrak) attempted to drive the pace of a group of three behind but was not finding a lot of support given Jack Ward and Brendon Davids of Team Brennan p/b TP32 had two riders out the front. That meant at 13km to go it seemed certain enough that the lead group of six would decide the podium that Agnoletto was at the back slapping his legs to try and get ready for the all-important final effort.
O’Brien, who won solo in 2024, started the attacks at just under 12km to go and, while others also got in on the action, the rider who was taking on his 14th edition of the race had every reason to be persistent.
“As we know I can’t sprint so I basically just needed to get away and everyone else knew that so I wasn’t even getting a split second hesitation,” O’Brien told Cyclingnews. “I just needed a little tiny gap and I was on my way, I was still feeling really good, but once Tristan took it up to ride for the sprint for Blake there was no point really attacking.”
With it all down to the sprint, the two riders everyone was looking to were Agnoletto and Scott.
“Scott’s a great sprinter and he’s not an easy person to bring to the line and I tried to avoid it,” Agnoletto told Cyclingnews. “When no one had opened up and it was maybe 150-200 metres to go I went. I knew I might cramp, and I did, but I got to the line just before.”
Agnoletto even made it with time to celebrate, carving out a clear gap to Scott with the strength of his sprint.
More to come …