BENDIGO cyclist Jason Lea hopes his King of the Mountain win at the Tour Down Under can be a springboard to a professional contract.
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The 22-year-old defied expectations to claim the mountains classification at his first attempt at the race, which is the opening event of the UCI World Tour for 2019.
His countback win has Lea excitedly looking forward to what’s next in his blossoming cycling career.
“Maybe I’ll get to ride in the Herald-Sun Tour in a couple of weeks down in Gippsland and Melbourne and some Asian races in Taiwan and Malaysia,” he said.
“Now the Tour is out the way I’d really like to try and push on and gets some more good results to get a pro-contract for the following year.
“That would be the number one goal for the season, making a step up to the world tour.”
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Lea showed a maturity beyond his years to claim the polka dot King of the Mountain jersey.
To do so he had to edge out some of the race’s biggest names, including Dutch rider Woueter Poels, who finished third overall behind back-to-back Tour winner Daryl Impey (South Africa), and Richie Porte, who was runner-up.
Lea, who rode as a member of the he UniSA-Australia team, led the mountains classification throughout the entire six stages.
“To be able to hold it (the lead) from the start to finish, the guys rode unreal all week,” he said.
“It was a good tour all-round.
“You don’t know what to expect going into your first Tour Down Under – you have idea what you would like to do, but you never know how things will pan out when you have never done anything at that level before.
“It was great to come away with something at the end.”
The modest Lea reserved congratulations for fellow Bendigo cyclist Chris Hamilton, who won the Young Rider classification and finished the event sixth overall.
“Chris had an awesome week and a great ride in the final stage to complete a top-10 finish and clinch the under-25s classification,” he said.
“It’s pretty good for a country town to have two guys up on the podium.”
With his first Tour and a classification win behind him, Lea hoped to return to South Australia next year for another crack against the ‘big boys’.
“It was pretty daunting leading into the Tour, but it ended well,” he said.
“We (the UniSA-Australian team) managed to hold our own in the bunch.
“There was bit of respect there for us, which was nice – the challenge is to not to be too overwhelmed by the guys you are riding around against.”