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Fergus Browning (Trinity Racing) had perhaps the worst final day’s preparation for a National title race, being knocked off his bike by a car in a hit-and-run incident. He then had to run around with his supporters to get health checks, source replacement parts for his bike and get to Ballarat in one piece to contest the race.
That he would end up winning the race was nearly unthinkable, but it was the remarkable conclusion for Browning at day’s end as he prevailed in a two-person sprint against Matthew Greenwood (Team Bridgelane).
“Yesterday was crazy, just running around the physios, getting my shoulder taped and fixing my bike,” said Browning. “I just wanted to give it my all, I knew I’d done the work and I knew I had the form, I finally backed myself and I can’t believe it, I’m just over the moon.”
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U23 Men's Road Race Highlights
episode • Australian Road National Championships 2024 • cycling • 15m
episode • Australian Road National Championships 2024 • cycling • 15m
Browning had to do it against the superior numbers of other teams throughout the race, coming back from being caught behind some mid-race attacks before eventually reaching the front of the race on the final ascent of Mt Buninyong and outsprinting Greenwood at the finish to take out the Under-23 Men’s Road Race title.
The race is a prestigious one, and often a springboard for a young rider to a professional deal, with Browning racing a couple of levels below the peak WorldTour riders at present, though perhaps not for long given the impressive nature of his performance amid such a disrupted preparation.
How it happened
Matthew Fox, John Carter (X-Speed United) and Adam Maccan formed the first proper breakaway of the race, but Fox was having issues with his saddle and with a slow fix from the neutral service car, he was left to chase with Angus Miller (Van D’am p/b Butterfields) in between the leaders and the peloton. Carter and Maccan continued on, pushing out their lead to a maximum of two minutes, before the race between the top teams kicked off in earnest.
Matthew Greenwood (Bridgelane) and Tyler Tomkinson (ARA Skip Capital) jumped out of the peloton with just under 70 kilometres remaining, and quickly picked up Fox and Miller and then Carter and Maccan over the course of one ascent of Mt Buninyong.
The presence of the top two teams and some of their better riders going on the move prompted the individual riders in the peloton to wake up, with Oscar Chamberlain (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development) prominent in attempts to bridge across.
A group forged clear of the splintered peloton, with ARA Skip Capital and several pre-race favourites well represented, but it was Team Bridgelane’s Jackson Medway who would provide one of the more impressive moments of the race, as he jumped clear off that top-tier group to bridge over to the front of the race, which had whittled down to just Greenwood, Tomkinson and Fox.
Medway then took over driving the pace, with Greenwood swapping the occasional turn and the other two passengers. It continued this way for a few laps until Greenwood made a decisive move with 37 kilometres left to race. Tomkinson wasn’t able to follow, and the trio behind Greenwood dropped back to the strong chasing group as they formed up with a bit over a minute’s gap for Greenwood with three laps, or 35 kilometres remaining.
Browning had to come from a long pursuit to make it to that chasing group, eventually making it with a few laps to rest up and contemplate an assault to take the win.
Greenwood’s gap gradually dwindled in the run into the final lap, with just 25 seconds lead over the chasers, and attacks flowing from the base of the climb with Browning powering clear and over to Greenwood on the second half of the climb. As Browning came up to Greenwood, he tested the climber on the final stretches of the Mt Buninyong ascent, but Greenwood was able to hang tough to stick with Browning.
Browning tried a few surges after cresting the climb but had to do the majority of the pace-making himself on the back half of the course, eventually sprinting clear of a fatigued Greenwood to take the victory. Greenwood was metres behind, with Matthew Fox taking out the small group sprint behind to complete the podium on the day.
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