Michael Dam took out Footscray Cycling Club’s first handicap event of the winter road season at the weekend.
The race, in which riders competed for the Frank O’Brien Memorial Handicap, was held at the Flinders Avenue course at the base of the You Yangs.
Riders left at six different intervals, with Dam among those riding off a 20-minute handicap.
Dam, Steve Firman, William Hamilton and Quentin Lawler passed the first group of riders to take off on the last corner. “We could see them ahead of us and we just rolled turns and put the hammer down as we went past the limit [first group to take off],” said Dam.
“I had no idea how close any other bunches were. I just kept pushing.”
Dam, Firman and Hamilton finished 16 seconds ahead to take out the top three spots, finishing the course 2 hours and 44 seconds on corrected time. Dom Dudkiewicz, who started from scratch, had the fastest time at 1:43:10.
