Davison not focused on retaining NRS lead in Tasmania

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Luke Davison's victory at the Goulburn to Sydney Cycle Classic on Sunday was somewhat of a reflection on his last twelve months.

Davison joined Brisbane-based outfit Eclipse Pro Cycling before completing the back end of the year National Road Series season with Budget Forklifts where he found an all-new resolve. With his win in the 170km Goulburn to Sydney, Davison chalked up his 11th victory of 2012, the biggest of his burgeoning career - but it wasn't easy by any means.

"I wasn't feeling fantastic but you've just got to push through it and just persist," the 22-year-old told Cyclingnews. It's a very tough sport and you've just got to keep pushing through the tough times. When you have big wins like this it's awesome but you've definitely got the hard days.

"They [his teammates] had faith in me and there were some moments where I was really starting to struggle but they came back and they spurred me on. It was just a matter of trying to follow all those attacks and moves."

Davison had just enough clear space on runner-up Scott Law (Illawarra CC) and Anthony Giacoppo (Genesys Wealth Advisers) to be able to celebrate his victory in Camden, wearing the white NRS leader's jersey. The Sydney-based rider moved ahead of Giacoppo with his general classification victory at the Tour of Murray River earlier this month, and gained an added buffer of over 200 points on Sunday. According to Davison, the fact that he is able to wear the white jersey is testimony to his Budget Forklifts teammates.

"The boys deserve it. We've ridden like we've wanted to win the race," he explained. "The amount of time and effort that the managers and the sponsors have put into the team is really showing dividends now with the amount of wins that we've racked up. Not only that but it's such... all the boys just get along so well and it's great to be with a team that you enjoy being with and at the end of the day it means you go that little bit deeper."

The NRS landscape changes somewhat as it reaches the pointy-end of the season with five events remaining - four of which are one-day events. The next being the 208km sublime Launceston to New Norfolk on September 30. The lone stage race left on the calendar, the five-day Tour of Tasmania contains three criteriums and a kermesse, a team time trial, and four road stages making it particularly taxing. Davison's lead could well come in handy but while he acknowledges as much, keeping it is not an immediate priority.

"From the get-go I've never really looked at the NRS to be honest," he said. "The Tour of Murray River was a big surprise. Each day we managed to get stronger and in the end we pulled through and I've gained a lot of confidence through that.

"To now pull out a one-day victory is pretty monumental I think. It gives me a lot of confidence going onto the rest of the year but anything can happen," Davison continued. "There's a multitude of riders that want to get up there for wins and they've got very good teams behind them. At the moment I'm just going to enjoy this win and not look too far into the future."