THE form of promising young Armidale cyclist Toby Inglis continues to improve, with podium finishes in three events at the 2021 Port Macquarie Junior Tour held at Port Macquarie on 29-30 May.
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In the under 17s 13.5km individual time trial on the Saturday morning, Toby recorded the third fastest time, just two seconds behind the winner Ben Anderson from Dubbo Cycling Club.
"I went out first and with 30 second intervals, so without anyone to chase - so I set my goal at a certain pace and held that to the end," said Toby, a 15 year old student at The Armidale School.
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That afternoon he joined with Avantias teammates Oliver and Thomas Ludlam of Sydney and Kobi Mathiske from Taree, to win a 13km time trial in a time of 19:36:60.
But it was the way he notched up his first NSW open win by taking out the under 17s men's 65km road race the following day that prompted Cycling NSW to describe him in its event report as 'the revelation of the Tour', a result that also bumped him to second place on general classification.
"At the start there was a bit of healthy competitive tension between our team and another," Toby said.
"The first two laps were really full on, then on the third lap a team-mate said now was the time to make my move."
With 26km to go, he attacked, managing to push his advantage out to 95 seconds at one stage, before comfortably crossing the line 49 seconds ahead of the peloton.
"I definitely surprised myself when I first got away from the peloton," he said.
"It was initially a tactical advantage for my team, but I put my head down and went for it."
Ninety five junior riders from under 9s to under 17s contested the Junior Tour, held at the Port Macquarie Cycle Club clubhouse at Lake Innes.
The event was the second of four qualifying tours used for NSW state team selection, with Toby to compete at both the Sydney Junior Tour on 19-20 June and the Hunter Junior Tour at the end of July.
"Riding has always been a love of mine," said Toby.
"I feel fortunate to be able to enjoy Mountain Biking as my school sport, which has enabled me to get into road cycling as well.
"The Armidale Cycling Club have been unreal in supporting me on the road."
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