Jack Bobridge (Trek-Segafredo) raced a perfect race on Sunday to win his second Australian road race title from Cameron Meyer (Dimension Data) and Pat Lane (Avanti-Isowhey). Bobridge won his first Australian title after breaking away solo from the field with 30km to go, to win this year Bobridge went solo with 90km to go and held off the Orica-GreenEdge and Drapac teams.
Bobridge was part of the first lap break that included twenty other riders and they quickly built a two minute lead after two laps and a massive five minutes after three laps. Bobridge was content to sit in the 21 rider break as it built a massive 9 minute lead and then he and Bernard Sulzberger broke clear of the other break riders on lap 7 and worked together until lap 10 when Bobridge went alone as Sulzberger suffered in the heat.
Orica-GreenEdge had riders Mitchell Docker and Michael Hepburn in the initial break but the teams favoured riders for the race former champions Simon Gerrans, Luke Durbridge and last years runner up Caleb Ewan were back in the main peloton with the race running away from them, when Docker and Hepburn couldn’t follow Bobridge and Sulzberger the team appeared to panic with the team in groups of two and three over the course. Orica-GreenEdge and Drapac finally hit the front of the peloton on lap 12 with a 9 minute gap to pull back in 65km or around 1 hour 40 minutes of racing.
Jack Bobridge over the course of the next two laps with two teams leading the chase only conceded 30 seconds out of his lead and wasn’t going to be beaten now. Cameron Meyer and Rohan Dennis attacked from the peloton to chase Bobridge with 3 laps to go and soon after Patrick Lane followed in pursuit. Dennis fell off the pace set by Cameron Meyer and dropped back to Lane then out of the race leaving Meyer to finish second and Lane third.
There have been some great solo wins at Buninyong over the years, Travis Meyer in 2010 from a first lap break then attacking on his own in the last lap, Bobridge in 2011, Luke Durbridge in 2013 but this 2016 win by Jack Bobridge will surely go down as one of the most remarkable ever in the Australian road championships.
Results 2016 Road Race Championship
| Place | Rider | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jack BOBRIDGE (SA) | 4h40:30 |
| 2 | Cameron MEYER (AUS) | +2:52 |
| 3 | Patrick LANE (VIC) | +3:53 |
| 4 | Nathan HAAS (ACT) | +4:56 |
| 5 | Jay MCCARTHY (QLD) | +4:56 |
| 6 | Simon GERRANS (AUS) | +4:56 |
| 7 | Samuel SPOKES (NSW) | +4:56 |
| 8 | Robbie HUCKER (VIC) | +4:56 |
| 9 | Patrick SHAW (VIC) | +4:56 |
| 10 | Matthew CLARK (VIC) | +4:56 |
| 11 | Brendan CANTY (VIC) | +4:56 |
| 12 | Mark O’BRIEN (VIC) | +5:02 |
| 13 | Ben DYBALL (NSW) | +9:18 |
| 14 | Timothy ROE (SA) | +9:18 |
| 15 | Jonathan CLARKE (AUS) | +9:18 |
| dnf | Richie PORTE (TAS) | |
| dnf | Rohan DENNIS (SA) | |
| dnf | Caleb EWAN (NSW) | |
| dnf | Simon CLARKE (AUS) | |
| dnf | Adam HANSEN (QLD) | |
| dnf | Neil VAN DER PLOEG (VIC) | |
| dnf | Luke DURBRIDGE (AUS) | |
| dnf | Travis MEYER (WA) | |
| dnf | Lachlan NORRIS (VIC) | |
| dnf | Damien HOWSON (AUS) | |
| dnf | Mitchell DOCKER (AUS) | |
| dnf | Nathan EARLE (TAS) | |
| dnf | Jack HAIG (VIC) | |
| dnf | Alexander EDMONDSON (SA) | |
| dnf | Mathew HAYMAN (AUS) | |
| dnf | Leigh HOWARD (AUS) | |
| dnf | Mark RENSHAW (NSW) | |
| dnf | Jordan KERBY (QLD) | |
| dnf | Brenton JONES (VIC) | |
| dnf | Adam PHELAN (ACT) | |
| dnf | William CLARKE (TAS) | |
| dnf | Bernard SULZBERGER (TAS) | |
| dnf | Graeme BROWN (WA) | |
| dnf | Steele VON HOFF (VIC) | |
| dnf | Glenn O’SHEA (SA) | |
| dnf | Sam CROME (VIC) | |
| dnf | Mitchell LOVELOCK-FAY (ACT) | |
| dnf | Sean LAKE (VIC) | |
| dnf | Anthony GIACOPPO (WA) | |
| dnf | Luke PARKER (VIC) | |
| dnf | Alex WOHLER (QLD) | |
| dnf | Joshua TAYLOR (NSW) | |
| dnf | Tom ROBINSON (TAS) | |
| dnf | Jayden COPP (QLD) | |
| dnf | Alexander SMYTH (VIC) | |
| dnf | Samuel VOLKERS (QLD) | |
| dnf | Craig EVERS (NSW) | |
| dnf | Saxon IRVINE (NSW) | |
| dnf | Tim GUY (NSW) | |
| dnf | Benjamin HILL (ACT) | |
| dnf | Cameron BAYLY (SA) | |
| dnf | Jay DUTTON (NSW) | |
| dnf | Nicholas WOODS (QLD) | |
| dnf | Brodie TALBOT (NSW) | |
| dnf | Stuart WILKINS (QLD) | |
| dnf | David EVANS (NSW) | |
| dnf | Paul ANDREWS (QLD) | |
| dnf | Zeth ROMANIS (VIC) | |
| dnf | Jeremy GILLMAN-WELLS (ACT) | |
| dnf | Peter CASEY (VIC) | |
| dnf | Allan IACUONE (VIC) | |
| dnf | Peter MILOSTIC (NSW) | |
| dnf | Stuart SHAW (ACT) | |
| dnf | Nathan WHITE (QLD) | |
| dnf | Leo SIMMONDS (SA) | |
| dnf | Joel STRACHAN (VIC) | |
| dnf | Tim CANNY (VIC) | |
| dnf | Rowan DEVER (VIC) | |
| dnf | Jai CRAWFORD (AUS) | |
| dnf | Nick BENSLEY (VIC) | |
| dnf | Chris WINN (VIC) | |
| dnf | Frederick BONAIL (SA) | |
| dnf | Christopher TASSELL (VIC) | |
| dnf | Wesley SULZBERGER (TAS) | |
| dnf | Jay CALLAGHAN (QLD) | |
| dnf | Troy HERFOSS (NSW) | |
| dnf | Chris BARLIN (NSW) | |
| dnf | Steven CUSWORTH (VIC) | |
| dnf | Jesse FEATONBY (VIC) | |
| dnf | Callum O’SULLIVAN (QLD) | |
| dnf | Scott SUNDERLAND (WA) | |
| dnf | Sam TREGOWETH (SA) | |
| dnf | Christopher BOOGERT (NSW) | |
| dnf | Travis FRISBY (SA) | |
| dnf | Sam EVANS (VIC) | |
| dnf | Dale SCARFE (VIC) | |
| dnf | Emmanuel BLANCO (VIC) | |
| dnf | Kane WALKER (VIC) | |
| dnf | Allan SATCHELL (VIC) | |
| dnf | Rhys GILLETT (VIC) | |
| dnf | Kieran PATON (VIC) | |
| dnf | Danny PULBROOK (TAS) | |
| dnf | Nathan ELLIOTT (VIC) | |
| dnf | Aaron WATTS (NSW) | |
| dnf | Mitchell MULHERN (QLD) | |
| dnf | Stuart SMITH (VIC) | |
| dnf | Timothy CAMERON (NSW) | |
| dnf | Joshua PRETE (QLD) | |
| dnf | Craig HUTTON (NSW) | |
| dnf | Cameron IVORY (NSW) | |
| dnf | Jeremy MCINNES (VIC) | |
| dnf | Thomas COATES (QLD) | |
| dnf | Ashleigh KEY (VIC) | |
| dnf | Fergus SULLY (VIC) | |
| dnf | Tyler SPURRELL (VIC) | |
| dnf | Ivan MICHELIN-BEARD (ACT) | |
| dnf | Todd SATCHELL (VIC) | |
| dnf | Jeremy CAMERON (VIC) | |
| dnf | Leslie MASTERS (QLD) | |
| dnf | Ben MARSHALL (ACT) | |
| dnf | Trevor SPENCER (VIC) | |
| dnf | Alistair CRAMERI (VIC) | |
| dnf | Shaun O’CALLAGHAN (VIC) | |
| dnf | Sebastian JAYNE (VIC) | |
| dnf | Darcy WOOLLEY (VIC) | |
| dnf | James CUMMINGS (VIC) | |
| dnf | Liam HILL (VIC) | |
| dnf | Mitch NEUMANN (QLD) | |
| dnf | Marcus CULEY (NSW) | |
| dnf | Michael HEPBURN (QLD) | |
| dnf | Daniel BONELLO (NSW) | |
| dnf | Tom LEAPER (VIC) |
Race report – TBL – The Bike Lane
