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The under-23 men’s road race is traditionally one of the most hotly contested of the national championships. This year, Cyrus Monk arrived at the finish on his own… riding into a green and gold jersey.

Here is another ‘Nationals Gallery’ by Jean-Pierre Ronco, presented by Cervélo.

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There’s a new sponsor in cycling and on Saturday 5 January 2018, EF Education First earned its first victory. Admittedly, this is the “holistic development team”, a subsidiary of the larger EF Education First-Drapac (powered by Cannondale) WorldTour outfit that’s US-registered, but Cyrus Monk is a rider poised to graduate to the top-tier in the coming years.

Monk took the title in the under-23 road race on Saturday morning, beating James Whelan, Michael Potter and Dylan Sunderland by 26 seconds, giving himself a fine start to the season.

The 21-year-old from Warragul did a stint as a stagiaire with the WorldTour team in 2017, then known as Cannondale-Drapac, and he had hopes of representing Australia at the world championships. He was denied the opportunity to race in Bergen, Norway and one day the story of that odd selection process may be revealed… but for now it’s time for Monk to celebrate a fine ride and a fitting performance from a rider with a huge future.

He responded to his frustration at the missed opportunity late last year in fine style in the first week of 2018, duly pulling on a green and gold jersey as national champion.

 

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Below you’ll find another ‘Nationals Gallery’ by Jean-Pierre Ronco, presented by Cervélo.
The under-23 men’s road race, in pictures…

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Jean-Pierre Ronco is a photographer who lives near Bright, Victoria. He has been covering cycling for several years now and although it’s very much a passion project, he has been refining his craft at the nationals in 2018.

RIDE Media is pleased to be working with the Frenchman who now calls Australia home.

We hope you appreciate his work: he’s captured a great series of images from races throughout the week and his prompt supply means that we can have some of our ‘Nationals Galleries’ online only hours after the race has concluded.

 

(We are also grateful for the support from our sponsor, Cervélo, which is one of the key product suppliers of the Bennelong-SwissWellness team that debut its new-season colours in the criterium earlier this week.)

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Get a little bit of background on Cyrus Monk, a 21-year-old with a bright future in cycling. Like all members of the Drapac-EF Holistic Development team he is studying while racing… and although he aims to become a WorldTour professional in the coming years, he is always already considering what the future holds after racing.

“Next year [the WorldTour team] decide whether they want to put me on the full list or whether I’ve got to look somewhere else,” he told RIDE Media last year just before he did his internship with Cannondale-Drapac.

“For me it’s basically ideal with uni because I get this chance and I can still finish off my degree.”

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