Having finished a disappointing 10th in the Australian National Championships time trial last Thursday, Jack Bobridge more than made up for it by storming to the road race title on Sunday.
The three-time track world champion soloed to victory in Ballarat, beating Cameron Meyer (Dimension Data) by nearly three minutes, having been part of the day's breakaway.
While he finished over four minutes down on Rohan Dennis in the time trial, Bobridge showed the kind of talent that prompted Trek-Segafredo to bring him back to the WorldTour after a year racing at Continental level.
“I wanted redemption for Thursday,” he said, quoted on Fox Sports.
“I came here for the time trial and it didn’t go my way. I just had one of those days when the body just didn’t want to work.”
Bobridge was part of a 20-man breakaway in the road race, a break that BMC and Orica-GreenEdge failed to see a threat in.
Having stormed to victory, Bobridge - who failed in an attempt to break the UCI Hour Record last January - hopes to carry his form into the Tour Down Under, although winning track gold at August's Olympic Games is his priority.
“I won’t lie, I’ve started my season really early this year,” Bobridge said.
“I wanted to start the season really good for Trek because they’ve obviously given me the second chance to go back to the WorldTour so this is massive for them and massive for me.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t going to have a go at Down Under next week and now I’ve shown that I’ve got the form to do it I’ll step up and see what I can do.”
Bobridge will likely lead Trek at the Tour Down Under, starting on January 19, where he won a stage in 2015 with a similarly strong performance on the first day.
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