Jack Bobridge won the event after a brilliant finish. Picture: Colleen Petch. Source: Herald Sun

JACK Bobridge may not be exactly in a class of his own among Australia's young cyclists - but that's how it looked yesterday.

Bobridge, 21, won the national road race championship at Buninyong with probably the bravest and most brilliant solo finish the event has seen.

The performance confirmed what fans of the sport have known for two years -- the powerful, versatile South Australian will be an international star on the road as soon as he disposes of one other small commitment. That's to ensure Australia returns from the London Olympics next year with a full bag of gold medals from the track.

There appears to be nothing this young man cannot accomplish on a bike over the next decade, including making a major impact on the Tour de France and the other big European stage races.

Even seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong picked him out as a special talent after riding against him at the Tour Down Under in Adelaide two years ago.

He slightly missed a strong six-man breakaway soon after the start of the 163.2km journey, caught it, helped open a gap of more than three minutes, and stayed put until the others started to weaken after the halfway mark.

With about 25km to go, Bobridge found himself alone and a star-studded pack -- the 163-strong field included 18 riders with experience in the Tours of France and Italy -- hunting him down.

Click here to read the full article by Ron Reed as it appeared in the Herald Sun , 10 Jan, 2011

Checkout the SBS Cycling Central coverage of the race highlights below

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