Meyer makes TT title his own

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Garmin-Transitions professional Cameron Meyer has claimed his first elite men’s national road title, taking out the Mars Australian Open Road Time Trial Championship in Buninyong, Victoria. Team director sportif Matthew White was on hand to watch Meyer take a 29 second victory over John Anderson with a blistering 50:52.74.

"This is a real honour and something I have been targeting for months," said Meyer. "Losing last year by just six seconds in my first year as an elite was tough, so this year I wanted to step up.

"I have won on the track at this level before, but to get one on the road at this level gives me great confidence ahead of my upcoming season," he added.

Many were scratching their heads after hearing Anderson’s name in second place. Anderson had a serious accident at the Tour of Gippsland in 2008, leaving him with six breaks to his jaw and four missing teeth.

"I suppose to a lot of people it comes as a big surprise, but to me, it's been a long timing coming and over the past three years I've had three top ten finishes in the Under-23s," Anderson said. "It is a reward for many, many years of hard work. I have been knocking on the door for a while now.

"I went out a little bit too hard at the top of the hill and faded a bit towards the finish, but obviously it went a lot better than I thought," he added.

Following a disastrous 2009 Luke Roberts got his season off to a strong start with third in the time trial. Roberts suffered a broken hip last February which dogged him throughout the season.

"I would have liked to have been 30 odd seconds faster and taken the win but I can't complain because Cameron is a good rider and all credit to him for his win," he said. “It was a tough course, the wind was probably a little bit favourable for us today. When I rode this course in 2003 I think we had a head-wind along that whole road out the back there and that made it really tough.”

William Clarke and Travis Meyer rounded out the top five finishers. Finishing in an impressive sixth place was former Olympic rower Drew Ginn, who won the Oceania Time Trial Championship in a less competitive field last November as training for his first national championships bid. While Ginn may not have been quickest over the 39 kilometre course, he was the fastest at a Police speed trap on the course, travelling at 79km/h past the radar.

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