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Twenty year old Western Australian Travis Meyer completed a rare double on the tenth of January by winning the National Elite Mens Road Race held in Buninyong on the outskirts of Ballarat in Victoria. Meyer's older brother Cameron had won the gold medal in the elite men's time trial on the Wednesday before giving the Meyer household cause for family celebrations around the dinner table.  You beauty: Travis Meyer with his gold medal in Buninyong. Drawcard Robbie McEwen withdrew from the race due to injury but even he rated his chances as only slim on a course that suits a reasonable climber with plenty of endurance as Mt.Buninyong chews away at riders' legs after 16 laps. Previous winners Matt Lloyd, Matt Wilson and Darren Lapthorne have all worn the green and gold jersey after breaking through the pain barrier in Buninyong and riding solo in the final laps to win. 2009 champion Peter McDonald sprung a major upset when he outsprinted HTC Columbia's Michael Rogers and Adam Hansen, reversing the trend of recent years when the aforementioned had broke clear for solo wins. In this year's race, no-one could have predicted the winning move be made on the first lap when fifteen riders formed and waved goodbye to the peloton, five of them never to see the main field again until changing into civvies after the race! On the second lap the gap had already reached 1:50 minutes and the fifteen reduced to ten and you could be excused for thinking the leaders had committed 'hari-kuri', especially with the temperature on the road hitting the forty-degree mark!  Travis Meyer (Garmin Transitions) celebrates his win on the line in Buninyong. With around fifty kilometres remaining South Australian Jack Bobridge began what is a natural thing for this rising star - attack; trying to bridge the gap with six others including Garmin Transitions team-mate Cameron Meyer, Fly V Australia's Bernard Sulzberger and Genesys Wealth Advisers rider William Clarke. At the same time Matt Lloyd (Lotto), Wes Sulzberger (Francais des Jeux) and another Garmin rider and previous winner Matt Wilson steered the peloton towards the leaders but it was too little too late. In the final two laps four of the initial fifteen that broke clear on the first lap reamined. Meyer, Kemp, South Australian Russell Van Hout and local rider Damien Turner who had already sewn up the King of the Mountains jersey with some heavy work at the front. On the final climb up the Midland Highway Meyer attacked the trio and at the top before tunring onto the road up Mt.Buninyong he passed Garmin Transitions Director Matt White. White yelled encouragement and spurred on his young charge as Meyer headed towards the gold medal. At the finish Meyer had ample time to celebrate well before the line, in almost disbelief holding his head down the straight in-front of in excess of 10,000 fans he crossed the line 31 seconds ahead of Kemp with a further 37 seconds back to a jubilant Turner who rode over the line like a winner. Turner has vision in his right eye only and it was one of the more gutsy efforts seen in Buninyong since the championships were held there in 2002. But the championships belonged to the Meyer brothers who are already being touted as the new Schleck brothers from Luxemburg. Equally adept on the track the duo from the west are headed for greater things in Europe. It will be great to watch the green and gold of the Australian jersey being worn proudly on the back of another one of this country's talented young riders around the racing curcuit in Europe. |
