Hart attack: Riley blitzes field
IN Europe, cycling’s popularity is second only to football, and the creme de la creme of the sport is the Tour de France.
IN Europe, cycling’s popularity is second only to football, and the creme de la creme of the sport is the Tour de France.
Last Sunday, a yellow jersey-clad Cadel Evans rode arm-in-arm with his BMC teammates down the Champs Elysees, simultaneously becoming the first Aussie to win the grandest of grand tours, and shoring up the immediate future of the already burgeoning Australian cycling scene.
One of the new breed set to follow in Cadel’s cleats in coming years is rising star Riley Hart.
Hart, 12 recently took out the premier junior road-cycling event in Australia, the Canberra Junior Tour, which attracts the best young cyclists from across Australia and New Zealand. The event boasts former winners such as Matthew Goss, who this week completed the the Tour de France with the HTC-Highroad team that helped Mark Cavendish to the sprinter’s green jersey, and young guns Cameron Meyer and Jack Bobridge.
The two-day tour included an individual time trial, two road races and a criterium.
A hilly 4.5 kilometre time trial opened proceedings, and Hart was second to the halfway mark. He descended superbly though, hitting a top speed of 69 kilometres per hour, to grab the stage win by about 11 seconds and take the overall lead.
Later that day, the peloton took to the road in an 18 kilometre road race. Hart lost his lead in the general classification, however, when he cracked on the final climb of the day and was dropped, finishing sixth.
Day two started with another road race, and while Hart missed a
two-man breakaway, he regrouped and won a bunch sprint to the line to claim third spot overall. Going into the 12-lap criterium, Hart needed to finish two places ahead of the leading rider, and beat the rider in second place to claim the win.
Attack after attack was launched on the demanding circuit, but Hart held his nerve to finish second and claim the win, with neither the first nor second-placed riders finishing in the top four.
“That was pretty hard, but I’m proud to have won from a tough
situation,” Hart said of his win.
“It’s definitely the best junior tour in Australia and I really wanted to add my name to the honour roll.
“Next up is the State Champion-ships on August 6 and 7 up at Wangaratta.
“And I’m also looking forward to riding the Great Vic Bike Ride with school and to racing the Victorian Schools Cycling Championships later next month.”
It’s been a road season to remember for the year 6 King David School student, who won the expert under-13 road race at the Australasian Schools Cycling Cup, as well as junior tour events in Wagga Wagga (New South Wales), Mersey Valley (Tasmania) and Shepparton (Victoria).
“Cameron Meyer is the rider I look up to most. I want to follow a similar pathway, focusing on track cycling, and then hopefully end up riding on the road. I email Cam and we compare times from when he was my age.” Hart said.
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