Bendigo's Blake Agnoletto scored one of the most impressive wins in the history of the Lindsay Harrington Memorial Wheelrace on Wednesday night.
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Agnoletto, 19, was the backmarker in the 2000m final and conceded 245m start to the frontmarkers, but that mattered little as he roared to a dominant victory.
Agnoletto worked well with his Victorian Institute of Sport team-mates through the first four laps of the five-lap event before surging to the lead as the bell sounded.
For a split second the crowd would have questioned if Agnoletto had hit the front too soon, but those queries were put to bed in emphatic fashion.
Agnoletto found another gear and surged clear to win by the best part of 30 metres.
Bendigo 16-year-old Nate Hadden (105m) showed why he's one of the state's leading junior riders by finishing a gutsy second.
VIS rider Jordan Villani was third.
"It's an awesome race to win,'' Agnoletto said.
"This race has been around for a long time, so I'm really happy to win it.
"I was surprised to hit the lead that early. I thought it was going to be a last minute pass.
"It was great fun and the boys worked really well together."
Winning feature wheelrace finals on his home track is becoming a habit for Agnoletto.
In 2020 he won the Golden Mile Wheelrace at the Bendigo International Madison carnival.
Agnoletto also won the Keirin final on Wednesday night.
The teenager showed his class by storming home over the top of his rivals in the final 100m.
"With all my mates in the stand it was nice to win at the Christmas Carnival,'' Agnoletto said.
Agnoletto has been doing plenty of kilometres on the road recently rather than focusing on the track.
Earlier this month he raced in the four-stage Cycle Sunshine Coast, which is part of the National Road Series.
"I rode pretty well and it got me in some good form,'' Agnoletto said of his trip north.
"I'm looking forward to the Bay Crits (January 8-9) and then the (road) nationals.
"I'm really looking forward to racing (in 2022). (Through COVID) you could do the training, but you can't work on that top-end speed that you get with racing."
Bendigo's Alessia McCaig won the women's A-grade scratch race.
Her VIS team-mate Lucy Stewart won the feature women's event of the night, the 1600m Wheelrace Final.
The 17-year-old also won the women's 10-lap motor pace omnium.
"The Christmas Carnival has been really fun,'' Stewart said.
"It's good fields and some good racing. It's a good lead-up to the road nationals."
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