Footscray had a clean sweep across the grades in the opening round of cycling’s annual Footscray versus Geelong Challenge Cup at Little River on Saturday.
With a large contingent in every grade, it was Dom Dudkiewicz who made the most decisive move of the day, breaking away to record a solo drive to the line to take the A-grade race.
“I wasn’t planning to go solo, but I noticed there were two guys up the road on lap one, so I rode across to them and, when I did, the Geelong guy lost the wheel and it was just Leigh Kelly and me, so we kept going,” Dudkiewicz said.
“Leigh told me he was hurting, so he went back to the bunch.
“I just kept going and had no idea how close the bunch were and, in the end, they were two minutes and 45 seconds back.”
In B-grade, Williamstown resident Vlad Djuric took the win in a long, drawn-out lead-out sprint.
“It was a tough race and I felt pretty cooked after a few of the breakaways and chases, but I got a great lead-out from Oliver Dillon, and then Michael Dam when he jumped early, and it worked out well for me at the end,” the 26-year-old said.
In C grade, veteran Vito DePetro had an eventful race but managed to take the spoils.
“It was an excellent-sized bunch and it drove pretty hard. I noticed there were two Geelong guys who were doing it easy at the rear of the bunch and I figured they were going to
be there for the sprint, so I joined them at the back and kept an eye on them,” the 46-year-old said.
“At the end, a Geelong guy tried to blow the bunch up and I just kept following wheels and had a dream run to the line.”
In D-grade, up-and-coming 18-year-old Altona Meadows resident Sebastien Chetcuti took a strong win by taking the bunch sprint in a race of attrition. “By the time we got to the line, it was me and one other rider,” he said. “It was a good race.”
