"IT'S a great way to start the year" is how Bendigo's Tasman Nankervis describes his win in the inaugural RADL GRVL race in South Australia.
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Nankervis edged out his long-time rival Brendan Johnston to win the 108km race through the Adelaide Hills by one second on Friday.
The RADL GRVL was raced in conjunction with the Tour Down Under and is part of a series co-founded by Tiffany Cromwell and formula one driver Valtteri Bottas.
The name RADL GRVL is a play on words of Adelaide gravel race, with 28-year-old Nankervis thrilled to etch his name into the record books as the first winner of it.
"The course was through the wineries in the Adelaide Hills and raced on gravel... the new big thing in cycling is gravel racing," Nankervis said on Saturday.
"There was lots of punchy short climbs in the course and some really fast descents.
"There was also some single tracks as part of the course, so you needed some mountain bike skills; it's a bit of a mix between mountain bike racing and road racing."
The course featured 2048m of elevation.
"It was fairly hilly, particularly for an Australian course. No climb was probably more than eight minutes, but there was a lot of undulation throughout," he said.
Nankervis won in a time of 3:03.00.
In a sprint finish to the line he edged out Johnston by one second, with Adam Blazevic a further 12 seconds back in third.
"For the first half of the race there was a bunch of about 20 of us and then I broke away with four others around the halfway mark," Nankervis said.
"It then whittled down to three of us and then down to a sprint finish between Brendan and myself.
"Brendan has got quite a good sprint on him, but fortunately I was able to outsprint him this time.
"I'm super happy to get the win. Around the cycling world this race has received a fair bit of hype, so it's definitely a good race to win and a great way to start the year."
I'm super happy to get the win. Around the cycling world this race has received a fair bit of hype, so it's definitely a good race to win and a great way to start the year.
- Tasman Nankervis
A field of 201 riders contested the male long course race.
Following Friday's victory Nankervis, a member of both the Bendigo District Cycling Club and Bendigo Mountain Bike Club, is preparing for a busy schedule ahead of racing.
"I will be getting back on the mountain bike now. We have some longer mountain bike races coming up over the next month, including the Otway Odyssey down near Lorne," Nankervis said.
"The national cross country championships are on in March, which I will be doing, so it's going to be quite busy."
