OUT-of-towner Darcy Woolley reigned in the opening round of the Footscray Cycling Club’s winter road season.
Woolley, a Caulfield South resident who races for the Port Fairy Cycling Club, handled the unfamiliar surroundings of the club’s newest circuit at Balliang with aplomb.
A flat prologue followed by a tough double climb was no stress for him. He finished in front of Footscray’s road aggregate champion Ben Johnson and ever-consistent Dom Dudkiewicz.
Johnson set a cracking pace at the start, but Woolley kept in touch and won on a perfectly timed sprint to the line.
“We came out of the last corner and I was out front,” Woolley said. “Ben decided to sit there, and I just had to hit him early from the front as I knew if he got the jump on me I was done.
“So I hit and he was just half a bike length behind when we crossed the line.”
Other first-round winners were: Bob Shannon (B grade), Antonio Marino (C grade) and Graeme Wilson (D grade).
