Graeme Frislie and CCACHE x Par Küp dominate men’s Tour of Gippsland

Victorian cyclist Graeme Frislie has won the Tour of Gippsland while his CCACHE x Par Küp team reigned supreme, winning all four stages and all but one overall jersey.

Frislie, 23, scored two stage wins while a rare dead heat between teammates meant four different riders took stage victories.

With the win, Frislie also secured the overall individual classification in the 2024 AusCycling National Road Series.

The American-born rider took out Wednesday’s opening stage on the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit after his young teammate, 19-year-old Will Heffernan, featured in a two-man breakaway with Adam Maccan (Cycling Development Foundation).

Frislie was part of a select group that bridged to the leaders towards the end of the 102-kilometre race. He attacked on the final lap and was joined only by Aiden Sinclair, whom he comfortably outsprinted for the win. Impressively, Heffernan had enough left to sprint to third, while the peloton was over a minute behind.

Stage 2’s short time trial over 8.9km had an unlikely result when John Carter and Tali Lane Welsh, both from CCACHE x Par Küp, could not be split at the top of the leaderboard. Both clocked a time of 11 minutes and 19.8 seconds, so they were awarded joint stage honours.

With a strong third place, Sinclair took the GC lead by just two seconds from Frislie and set up what looked like it would be a close tussle for the leader’s jersey. However, Sinclair’s hopes evaporated in Thursday afternoon’s 80-kilometre road race, which was again held on the GP Circuit, but in the reverse direction. The Novocastrian suffered a mechanical, losing over nine minutes to the peloton, and he would withdraw from the race the next day.

Up front, Frislie was quickest in the bunch sprint, taking his second stage win in as many days and reclaiming the yellow jersey of Tour leader.

That left Friday’s Stage 4 criterium at Rhyll, which CCACHE x Par Küp controlled to set up their fourth stage win. This time, it was Dubbo’s Kurt Eather who got the nod. His powerful early sprint held off a fast-finishing Craig Wiggins to complete the sweep for the team in purple.

Frislie, who finished fifth or higher in every stage, secured the GC win ahead of Heffernan, who also took out the young rider and points classifications. Hamish Keast took the last step of the overall podium, while Maccan won the climber’s jersey by a single point over Heffernan.

“I’m super happy. We weren’t too sure what to expect coming into it,” said Frislie.

“It caps off an awesome year for the team and for myself, personally. I’ve been super happy how the team’s evolved over the last few years. I’ve been grateful to be a part of it, and I felt like we’ve been building something great.

Frislie (centre) with some of his CCACHE x Par Küp teammates. (Auriol Carruthers)

“We’re all really good mates and you can see how it’s played out over this year, especially. We’ve had great results from a lot of different guys on the team, so it’s a really good culture.

“If there is anyone in a position to win, we’ll back them in and we’re all more than happy to support.”

Frislie adds the NRS title to his growing palmarès on the road and track. The Ballarat-raised rider is a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and has twice been the under-23 criterium national champion.

The men's and women's Tour of Gippsland, won by Keely Bennett, close out the 2024 AusCycling National Road Series, which makes way next year for the inaugural ProVelo Super League, a new domestic road racing series.

Results – 2024 Tour of Gippsland – NRS Men

1. Graeme FRISLIE (CCACHE x Par Küp)  5h11:20              
2. William HEFFERNAN (CCACHE x Par Küp) +54
3. Hamish KEAST +1:03
4. Dylan PROCTOR-PARKER +1:04
5. Cameron FRASER +1:08

Photos: Tour of Gippsland / Australia Cycling Photography