Dardanup Hosts State Road Titles

A hundred of the State’s best road cyclists descended on Dardanup over the weekend for 2018 WA Road Championships.

Competitors were greeted by perfect racing conditions on Sunday morning with the sun shining and no trace of a breeze - conditions that meant the racing was always going to be furious.

The blue ribbon event, open men, was raced over 120km from Dardanup to Lowden and back twice as 18 of the State’s most elite riders engaged in battle on the slopes of the Ferguson Valley.

Matthew Peterson launched an early attack within the first 20km, but the bunch was content to let him go for the time being.

On the climb to Lowden, Darcy Pirotta and local rider JP van der Merwe attacked and quickly reeled in Peterson before being joined by two other riders to establish a breakaway group of five.

The group eventually built up a margin of three minutes despite losing two riders, but on the second ascent of the Lowden climb, Darcy Pirotta attacked again to go solo while the remaining break away members drifted back to the main bunch.

Pirotta was eventually caught with 12km to go where a series of sharp but ill-fated attacks were launched before Tom McCracken rode clear with just under 2km to go.

McCracken managed to hold onto a small gap and take the win in front of a charging Henry Morely and Bunbury local Bryce Lanigan.

Tyler Lindorff took the win in junior men 19s while Danica Wiggins won the junior women 17s event.