Brady Gilmore claims maiden NRS win at Tour de Brisbane

Brady Gilmore has won his maiden AusCycling National Road Series (NRS) race in a sprint finish at the Australian Unity Tour de Brisbane.

The 21-year-old ARA Skip Capital rider found himself in the perfect position on the wheel of Team BridgeLane’s Elliot Schultz around the final corner onto the King Street finish and kicked hard to the right of runner-up Schultz to win by a bike length.

Team BridgeLane’s NRS overall leader Tristan Saunders finished third ahead of teammate and yesterday’s newly crowned Oceania road race champion Liam Walsh.

“Because our GPS was cutting out under the tunnels we didn’t actually have the correct kilometre read, so, the finish came up quickly and we were a little out of position,” Gilmore said.

“We had to do a bit of an effort, but we got there in the end in the front position and pulled it off.”

How it unfolded

The 102.2km Tour de Brisbane stayed together over two ascents of the front side of Mount Coot-tha, with a serious breakaway never allowed the opportunity to stretch a considerable gap over the peloton.

After several attacks of ones and twos, one last move stuck for the final kilometres, formed under the impetus of Tandem Co Pro Cycling’s Max Campbell.

Campbell was quickly joined by under-19 national road race champion Joshua Crange (Criterion Racing) and then later joined by teammate Damien Vesely and Blackshaw Racing’s Andy Sampson.

The quartet held a slight advantage over the peloton through the fast and flat Southern Crossway and Kingsford Smith Drive sections of the route and were only caught in the closing two kilometres heading back into the city centre finish.

From that point, it was a Team BridgeLane versus ARA Skip Capital battle for position.

That battle was won by Schultz, but it was not his teammate Saunders on his wheel through the final corner, which proved to be almost the perfect scenario for Gilmore.

The win in Brisbane is well deserved for the Western Australian, who was second here last year behind Bolton Equities Black Spoke’s James Fouché.

It also caps off an impressive weekend that included the under-23 Oceania Time Trial title and an agonising silver medal performance in the Oceania road race.

Results: 2023 Australian Unity Tour de Brisbane

1. Brady GILMORE (ARA) 2h:21:59
2. Elliot Schultz (BLN) +0
3. Tristan SAUNDERS (BLN) +0
4. Liam WALSH (BLN) +0
5. Blake AGNOLETTO (ARA) +0
6. Mitchell MCGOVERN (CDF) +0
7. Jamie COLES (CIR) +0
8. Brent REES (TPC) +0
9. Keegan HORNBLOW (CPL) +0
10. Hamish MCKENZIE (ARA) +0

Full results