RIDERS from the Footscray Cycling Club were greeted with blue skies and a moderate north-westerly wind on Sunday afternoon to vie for the title of 2013 Road Champion.
They were tackling the notoriously difficult Balliang-Granite Road circuit out at the Brisbane Ranges.
The A-Grade race became a battle between the heavyweight contenders, Targettrek rider Dom Dudkiewicz and bikebug.com’s Ben Johnson.
However, it was Dudkiewicz who gave himself a 30th birthday present to remember by becoming the FCC Road Champion for 2013.
The bikebug boys put the pressure on the bunch from lap one, which Dudkiewicz expected.
“The three bikebug boys, who are all in very good shape at the moment, put it in the gutter on the first lap in the northerly crosswind, which caught a few guys off-guard and a few got dropped,” he said.
This pattern continued for the initial four laps, and then the tactics changed.
“On the fourth lap I put in the gutter after an attack and counter-attacked; and Jason Costin and Ben Johnson went with me,” Dudkiewicz explained.
“Jason and I took turns as Ben was maybe wanting to bring us back to his teammates.”
Johnson then attacked, dropping Costin and making it a two-man break. The two rolled turns for a while, both trying to attack and drop the other.
Eventually Dudkiewicz wrestled a small gap from Johnson and it became a 10km duel.
“Ben was not far behind me; I just kept building the gap,” Dudkiewicz said.
“It was agonisingly slow and it was mentally and physically like a time trial to the end. I rode to the finish feeling absolutely elated and winning on my terms.
“It was nice to get this win, especially as my team manager Marco Bramucci jokingly told me to win or not turn up to training.”
Dudkiewicz, who had ramped up his training and commitment to getting a place on a team, was elated with the offer from Targettrek.
“My plan was to train harder than I ever trained and hopefully get picked up by a team, and it was great to get the call and I finally can see what I can do in the National Road Series.”
