Quick goes back-to-back to claim Bay Crits overall title

It was a case of deja vu for spectators at the Lexus of Blackburn Bay Crits powered by PSC Insurance, as Blake Quick (Inform TMX MAKE) again exploded off his leadout to take the win and overall title.

Blake Quick celebrates his win during the Mens Elite Lexus of Blackburn 2022 Bay Crits on January 9, 2022, at Eastern Garden, Geelong, Australia. Source: Con Chronis/Bay Crits

Quick, in his first attempt at the Bay Crits, was the beneficiary of some strong teamwork from his Inform TMX MAKE squad, before finishing off the race in style as he had on the previous day.

There were some early attacks before a rider managed to get a gap, and just as it ticked over 25 minutes of the hour-long event the lone breakaway race leader Bentley Niquet-Olden (Olivers Racing) unfortunately pushed too hard to maintain his small advantage, clipping his pedal as he pedalled through a corner, crashing heavily. He was conscious after the incident, and treated on-site for multiple lacerations.

While this slowed proceedings a little it wasn't long before Simon Clarke (All Stars) strung out the peloton, using his WorldTour legs to put pressure on the local riders. That set up the race for another move, with Dalton Stretton (All stars) and Liam White (Olivers Racing) attacking to lead the race and getting out to a 23 second lead with 10 minutes to go.

White attacked with a few laps remaining and rolled the dice in the hope that he could leave behind the opposition, but in the end was unsuccessful as the peloton positioned itself for the final sprint. Clarke again animated the race with a surge before it was all bunched up again. Inform TMX MAKE Took control and powered Blake Quick to the line again ahead of Jensen Plowright (Lexus of Blackburn) and team mate Brenton Jones (Inform TMX MAKE).

"It was very chaotic, everyone was racing for the last corner," said Quick, "obviously you couldn't make up a lot of ground, you had to slow down a lot going into the corner. Jensen on the outside, BJ on the inside, I held him out a bit and from there it was the quickest man wins."

"The run-in didn't go according to plan, it just got a bit chaotic with the wind as well down the bottom, just made it very hard. Coming into the last corner was perfect, BJ and I spoke before the race and obviously, he has won this race before and he said you basically have to be first or second through that last corner and the inside always wins."