Bendigo teenager Blake Agnoletto wins Golden Mile Wheelrace
Bendigo 17-year-old Blake Agnoletto produced a brilliant ride to win Saturday night's Golden Mile Wheelrace at the Tom Flood Sports Centre.
The Catherine McAuley College Year 12 student showed brilliant speed off his 70m handicap to defeat Kiwi star Dylan Kennett (20m) and Ruby Roseman Gannon (140m).
With the help of fellow 70m handicappers Henry Dietze and Conor Leahy, Agnoletto reeled in the frontmarkers with a lap to go.
He took over 300m from home and never looked being beaten.
"I knew how prestigious this race was, so I thought it would be pretty cool to win it, but being a 1600m race it often favours the frontmarkers,'' Agnoletto said.
Blake Agnoletto crosses the finish line to win the Golden Mile Wheelrace. Picture: ADAM BOURKE
"Conor Leahy, Henry Dietze and I were all off 70m, so we came up with a plan about how we could go about the race.
"Henry started, Conor did the middle and then me finishing it off. It worked.
"I felt really good, but you can never count your chickens before they hatch. I saw I had a bit of a gap and I could hear the crowd cheering me on.
"I'm absolutely stoked to win it."
Blake Agnoletto
Agnoletto added his name to a Golden Mile honour roll that includes some of the greats of Australian cycling Sam Welsford (2016, 2017), Glenn O'Shea (2014), Shane Kelly (2004), Brett Aitken (2002) and Danny Clark (1975).
"The honour roll of riders is amazing. It's awesome to have my name amongst them,'' Agnoletto said.
The Golden Mile win capped a successful week for Agnoletto.
Last weekend he won the points score and individual pursuit at the state track titles.
He has the track nationals and Oceania championships in the next month.
Blake Agnoletto follows Conor Leahy in the Golden Mile Wheelrace.
For now, he has Sunday night's Bendigo International Madison to focus on.
He'll team up with fellow Bendigo rider Connor Sens.
The talented teenagers rode strongly in Friday night's Madison prelude.
"We were over the moon with the way we rode on Friday night,'' he said.
"We held our position really well...and we're looking forward to Sunday night's race."
Meanwhile, Kennett backed-up from his second place in the Golden Mile to win the final event of Saturday night's racing the Bill McLachlan Memorial Aces Scratch Race.
Kennett showed his class to hold off Bendigo International Madison rival Stephen Hall in a photo-finish.
Kennett and his team-mate Blake Quick hold the lead in the Madison after winning Friday night's prelude.
Kennett and Quick (10 points) lead Hall and Michael Frieberg by one point.
Sunday night's Madison is scheduled to start at about 8.20pm.
The women's Madison will start at 7pm.
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