PETER Shandon could barely contain his excitement as Oliver Kent-Spark crossed the finish line on Saturday afternoon.
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"We just won a Warrny, can you believe it?" he could be heard asking as he raced to embrace the 21-year-old victor.
Shandon owns rising National Road Series (NRS) team health.com.au-search2retain, which Kent-Spark is a key member. It's the third consecutive NRS race where a member of the team has claimed overall victory this season.
"To be honest, I'm absolutely elated. It feels like I'm floating," Shandon said.
"I'm incredibly proud of how all the boys rode today and especially Ollie.
"He's a great young cyclist and a great person. I couldn't be happier for him."
Shandon said the Melbourne to Warrnambool was earmarked as a race Kent-Spark could win as soon as he joined the team, adding it was a race that suited his style perfectly.
He said the team was confident of a victory and went in with the tactic of staying out of the spotlight.
"As a smaller team, you can just sort of slip under the radar a little bit and not get noticed as much," he said.
"We are still a relatively new team and we have been picking up bits and pieces from the best teams on the series.
"This is one we have wanted to win for a couple of years, We've watched how other teams approach it and learnt from the masters like (Avanti team owner) Andrew Christie-Johnson."
"To finally have a Warrny to the team's name is pretty special feeling. I think we are all on cloud nine."
jwoolley@fairfaxmedia.com.au
