Jensen Plowright beats Sam Welsford to Australian elite men’s criterium title

Jensen Plowright (Alpecin-Premier Tech) charged through the final corner at the front of the bunch on Friday at Western Australia’s Northbridge circuit and delivered a powerful sprint to hold that position right through to the line to secure the elite men’s criterium title at the Westbridge Funds Road National Championships.

He gave his team its first win with new sponsor Premier-Tech on board, though with the kit not yet ready it was a plain white jersey in the winners photo as the 25-year-old crossed the line ahead of last year’s victor Sam Welsford (Ineos Grenadiers).

Leading through that final corner was, in fact a tactic that Plowright had picked up from Welsford. “I took on his advice and it was nice to beat him,” a grinning Plowright told broadcaster SBS.

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Kurt Eather (CCACHE x Bodywrap) took third place in the 70-minute, two-lap race which unfolded on a 1.2km course.

On the spectator-lined course with six corners for the attackers to hide around, the moves came early with Tristan Nash and Matthew May (Cycling Development Foundation) kicking off a solid break that was then joined by Max Campbell (CCACHE x Bodywrap), Bryan Staring and Stephen Hall (Falcons Pedal Mafia Racing).

The local-heavy break worked together smoothly and at 30 minutes in, the gap was around 24 seconds. While there were some solid turns at the front, including by Team Brennan’s Patrick Eddy and Conor Leahy, it was still holding around 16 seconds at 42 minutes into the race.

The pursuit of the break continued, although the ever-present form near the front of the bunch of defending champion Welsford may have been a bit of a disincentive, as there was no doubting how tough he would be to overcome if a bunch sprint finally materialised.

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Finally, the dwindling peloton looked within reach and after 55 minutes Luke Durbridge (Jayco-AlUla) gave the spectators another hometown rider to cheer for as he crossed over to the front group. However it was then quickly all brought back together.

After the hour was up and it came down to three laps to go CCACHE x Bodywrap and Team Brennan were assembling at the front but the squad in orange no sooner lost key rider Thomas Cornish to a crash. Even so, they quickly formulated a plan B and Eddy flew off the front, getting a gap, but ultimately he was caught not far from the end, thanks to a full-on pursuit.

Plowright then hit the final corner in front and that is where he stayed, well and truly putting a tough illness-hit season behind him and delivering the perfect start to a new year.

The criteriums mark the mid-point of the Australia Road National Championships, which is in Perth for a second year. Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) claimed the elite men’s time trial on Thursday and the elite men’s road race championships will close the competition on Sunday evening in a 177km finale.

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