Hepburn wins Australian U23 road title

Reigning 3km individual pursuit junior World Champion and world record holder, Michael Hepburn, added a green and gold road jersey to his collection with an impressive win in the U23 road race at the Scody Australian Open Road Championships.

Hepburn edged Team Jayco Skins teammate Malcolm Rudolph in a sprint for the finish of the 122.4km race which was raced in windy conditions, with temperatures in the high 30's. Another Jayco Skins rider, Canberra’s Michael Mathews, claimed bronze.

“It is pretty special being my first race out of the junior ranks and it will be very special to wear the Australian jersey in the under 23 races in Italy,” said eighteen year old Hepburn.

West Australia’s Ben King set the tone early, maintaining a solo break away for over five laps of the 10.2km course.

However as the temperature soared a chasing group of a dozen riders, lead by five Jayco Skins team members including the placegetters, caught and passed King with three of the 12 laps remaining.

Hepburn and Rudolph made the decisive break inside the last lap and were left to fight it out on the final straight with Hepburn triumphant in a time of 3:20:07, three seconds ahead of Rudolph. Matthews pipped New South Wale’s Joseph Lewis of Drapac-Porsche for third place.

“We had a really strong team with ten starters and at the business end we had the numbers in the race,” said Hepburn. “When (Malcolm) Rudolph came across, we worked together for the majority of the last lap.

“The main goal was for just one of us to get up, so we worked pretty well on the back, he lead out with about a kilometre to go at the top of the hill and then laid off a bit till our run into the final."

Hepburn last year set a World Record in the 3km pursuit on the track at the Australian Championships and lowered that mark twice more at the Junior World Championships in Moscow in July to claim the gold medal in the individual pursuit.

“A world title, it is hard to compare something to that, and a world record, but an under 23 Australian title is pretty special.”

Fellow Queenslander Rudolph, the 2009 Grafton to Inverell champion, was happy with his silver medal.

“It was good to get me and Mick up the road at the end, and as we were in control, we just had to ride to the finish and sort it out between us,” said the 20-year-old.

“(It was) a dominant display by us today which is what we wanted to do after being beaten in Thursday’s criterium. We were very disappointed in that so it’s great to come out today on top," said Rudolph who placed third in the criterium event.

The heat took it's toll on the rest of the field with just 30 of the 106 starters completing the race.

Men's U-23 Road Race (122.4km):

1. Michael Hepburn (QLD) 3h20m07s, 2. Malcolm Rudolph (QLD), 3. Michael Matthews (ACT), 4. Joseph Lewis (NSW), 5. Timothy Roe (SA), 6. Ben Dyball (NSW), 7. Angus Morton (NSW), 8. Luke Durbridge (WA), 9. Geoff Straub (NSW), 10. Rohan Dennis (SA).