Place-getting teams on the podium. Photo: Supplied.
Esperance cyclist Toby Dhue said coming second in the Australian national championship team time trial in Perth was bittersweet after a crash on the last turn cost his team first place.
Dhue said the competition day on January 8 was the second time he had raced with his fellow Peel District Cycling Club (PDCC) team members in person, with the first being during a practise run the day before.
“We didn’t get a chance to train together. We only rode together the day before the race officially,” he said.
“We did four laps of the course the day before but because they hadn’t set up that final corner we couldn’t rehearse it.”
On race day, Dhue said the team unexpectedly found themselves ahead of other competitors.
“We didn’t think we were in chance for the podium, and we were surprised,” he said.
“We were actually in gold medal position, we were ahead by 10 seconds.”
As Dhue and his teammate neared the finish line in the lead, the final unrehearsed corner stood between them and victory.
“It was a lot tighter than it looked,” Dhue said.
“I crashed…and took out one of my teammates.”
Despite the upset, Dhue said they were able to cross the finish line in second place, only 1.7 seconds behind the first-place getters.
The team didn’t expect to leave the race with any medals, but Dhue said knowing they could have had the gold was a hard reality to face.
“It’s got another two years remaining in Perth so we could have another crack,” he said.
As well as his national accomplishments, Dhue had also recently achieved cycling success on a global scale in the Gravel World Championships in Belgium last year.
He said he completed the 182km race in 200th place for his age group after six hours and seventeen minutes of cycling.
Dhue is an avid member of the Esperance Cycling Group who meet for social rides on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
“The club has previously been super strong,” he said.
“It’s not as strong as it was.”
Dhue said the dwindling enthusiasm for cycling in Esperance had seen the “Tour De Esperance” cancelled last year and this year.
He encouraged those interested in cycling to get in contact with the club and said Esperance was a great place to cycle.
“It’s relatively flat and there’s not a huge amount of traffic and no traffic lights,” he said.
The Esperance Cycling Club can be contacted on Facebook.
