Miles DaCosta won a torturous A-grade race in the fifth round of the Footscray Cycling Club’s winter road season.
The race, which doubles as the opening race of the five-race Salter Cycles Super Series, was held at a hilly She Oaks circuit in the Brisbane Ranges, where gale-force winds gave riders a buffeting on Saturday.
The small field fragmented as riders were subjected to the tough climbs.
DaCosta showed a return to form after a broken collarbone sidelined him for most of the summer, with Andrew Bonello and Josh Toohey rounding out the podium.
The B-grade race provided Mark Micallef with his first win at She Oaks after an extremely tough race.
With the climbs dropping a few riders, a bunch of six was part-way through the third lap when an innocuous stick on the track claimed the scalp of Michael Dam.
It jammed his rear wheel while he was travelling at speed, causing him to lose control and crash, ricocheting off Micallef in the process.
“When Michael went down, I was right behind him and just managed to keep myself from falling as he hit me on the way down,” Micallef said.
The field was now down to four with Geoff Robertson, Ben Norden, Steve Firman and Micallef bravely starting the last lap.
“The conditions were pretty marginal, especially some of the descents through the crosswinds,” Micallef said.
“Being thrown around at 75km/h isn’t for the faint-hearted and by the last lap we were all pretty punch- drunk.
“I was second wheel coming into the sprint and just launched with as much as I could muster with about 200 to go, and I crossed the line unable to turn another wheel. I was totally spent.”
Norden crossed the line to take second. Firman was third, with Robertson a well-earned fourth.
