Victorian Open Road Cycling Championships - NE

Victoria, Australia, September 30-October 2, 2005

Stage List Preview

The Stages

Stage 1 - September 30: Men's and Women's Criterium Championships
Stage 2 - October 1: Men's and Women's Time Trial Championships
Stage 3 - October 2: Men's and Women's Road Race Championships

Milostic aiming for Victorian open

By Rod Morris

New South Wales rider Peter Milostic aims to snare three titles at the inaugural Victorian open road cycling championships in Mansfield, Victoria, Australia, this weekend. Milostic, 31, is based in Sydney but makes frequent successful trips interstate to compete in cycling events.

Milostic has won the New South Wales time trial championship five times, the Victorian version twice and the Australian club title, held in Queensland, on three occasions. His other interstate prizes include two stages of the Tour of Sunraysia, the 2002 Tour of the Tamar in Tasmania, and an eye-catching third placing in the 2005 Tour of Gippsland.

Milostic will contest the criterium, time trial and road race over the three days of the Victorian open championships, a new event on the Australian cycling calendar. The championships will be held from September 30 - October 2, and will feature a total of six races for men and women.

"This is a great concept and I am very keen to support it," Milostic said. "The best racing in Australia is the very well organised events in Victoria. They make you hungry for success."

The championships will open on Friday with criteriums in the Mansfield township, followed by time trials from Mansfield to Howqua/Jamieson on Saturday, and road races over laps of a 7.9 km circuit in Mansfield on Sunday.

Milostic will face hot opposition in all three events, especially from 19-year-old Victorian rising star Simon Clarke, winner of the recent Tour of the Murray River. Goulburn to Camden winner David McKenzie, runner-up in the 2004 Herald Sun Tour, has entered the criterium and road race, and former world junior time trial champion Josh Collingwood, of South Australia, will tackle the time trial and road race.